Clemson loses Brayden Jacobs and Walker Parks for the remainder of the season

CLEMSON — Sunday afternoon Clemson head football coach Dabo Swinney again addressed members of the media during his weekly teleconference.

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The Tigers (5-5, 4-4) will begin preparation for Furman on Monday before turning their focus to rival South Carolina in the regular season finale.

The following is an abbreviated transcript of Sunday’s teleconference.

Opening Statements

“We are back at it today. It’s nice to have a little bit of a unique situation yesterday to have a day (off). We got back around 4:30 (a.m.) or so Saturday. We have two weeks left in our season to try to build some momentum and to try to have the best finish we can have.

“That’s a hard-fought game, three in a row we’ve won on the road. A lot of good things but a lot of things that usually get you beat. We made just a couple more plays and were fortunate to win the game. I’m proud of our effort and will to win. Special teams were just awesome … just a really good performance. That’s 10 in a row Hauser has made. Jack Smith has been good all year. We had bad, bad, timing with the snap but our defense went out and answered the call. Punt coverage was outstanding. Our field goal block team did a great job of making them feel the pressure.

“Defensively, I was disappointed with some of the things we did in the run game, some fits, spilling it and some basic stuff they took advantage of. When we had to have the stops, we got them. That was good to see because that hadn’t always been the case this year. We have several guys who are flashing. Avieon Terrell, Corian Gipson has taken some steps forward, Ashton Hampton is playing well. Again, just disappointed in our run defense. We covered well for the most part. We had one play that got away from us; we didn’t quite see the over-route. The trick play just got outside of us.

“Offensively, we ran the ball well. We scored to start the game and in our first drive of the second half. Adam Randall was awesome. Adam was at seven yards a carry, Gideon Davidson was at six yards a carry. Antonio made some plays. We were just really poor on third down and shot ourselves in the foot. We had a critical situation on the goal line, just a mental error there by Cade. We had some untimely drops. Just disappointed in some of the routine things we didn’t do well.

“Name of the game is to find a way to win it and they did. I can’t say enough about their resilience and their fight. It’s fun to be a part of that.

“We have Senior Day this week so we look forward to that.”

“We had two big losses coming out of the game. Walker Parks had an ankle injury and that’s pretty much going to end his season. I’m thankful for Walker. I wasn’t sure he was going to play football again two years ago. He has had to overcome a ton. I love Walker Parks. I’ve never seen a more committed and dedicated player to his team, coaches and school. He’s special. Football is a tough sport and it rarely ends the way any of us want it to end. I do think in a weird way to go out as a captain in his home state was something he’ll be able to hang on to. This guy gave everything he had to Clemson for the past six years. I’m just really proud of him. I know he’ll do everything he can to help this team finish the way we want to finish. I love that kid. My heart just breaks for him.

“Brayden Jacobs has a foot injury and that will pretty much put him down for the remainder of the season with a couple of games left. He was celebrating after the game on the field and came down on his foot wrong. So that’s two big losses there. Collin Sadler is back, so that’s a blessing. We’ve kind of played musical chairs on the offensive line all year. Brayden should be able to be back for the spring.”

Question: On that catch by Chris Bell, the 37-yarder, the rules analyst thought it might have been a fumble. What did you see?

SWINNEY: “That’s kind of what we thought. We turned it in (to the league office) to get more clarification on it. They reviewed it and I don’t know if they had enough to overturn it with their angles. They called him down. To me, it was either his knee was down like they called it or it was a touchback. What they ruled on the field, I don’t know that they had enough to overturn it. We hope to get more clarification on it. The ruling on the field matters as well.”

Question: Did you identify where the miscommunication was there on the goal line with Cade and Peter Woods?

SWINNEY: “Yeah, he (Cade) just had a brain fart. Peter was the lead blocker there. For whatever reason, he had a mental error.”

Question: Is Gavin Blanchard now going to be thrust into action?

SWINNEY: “Yes, we’ll get Sadler back and we have Harris Sewell. We haven’t had continuity with the depth and rotation this year. Sadler will hop in there as well as Harris. Gavin, for sure, we’ll get him ready to go. Ronan O’Connell is another guy. Dietrick is another one who will have an opportunity.”

Question: What gives Avieon Terrell a knack for creating turnovers?

SWINNEY: “Just a knack, an instinct, something he takes a lot of pride in. He makes plays on the ball. We’ve seen him do that throughout his career. He’s very instinctive, very smart and has a great awareness. It was a huge play in the game and it created momentum. We scored on the next play. He and Ashton have really played well these last few games … Strozier and Gipson, they’ve really made a move for us.”

Question: How do you evaluate your defensive tackles after Friday night?

SWINNEY: “Some good, some bad. For the most part, pretty steady inside. We had a couple of things we didn’t fit right. We created an extra gap. One time the end was supposed to be coming inside and he was outside and we didn’t fit it properly. For the most part, the d-tackles played pretty good in this game.”

Question: Looking at the screen game, how did you evaluate that from Friday?

SWINNEY: “We hit a big play to Antonio which was huge and then got a hold call. We took another shot to TJ Moore that we thought we should have hit. We didn’t throw and catch as well as we needed to. We had some untimely drops that could have helped us get into rhythm. When you’re 1-of-13 or whatever we were on third down, it’s hard to have the kind of sync you need to have. The first third and six on a swing pass was a drop. We were probably going to score there. I’m just proud of how they hung in there and found a way to win.”

Question: Have you ever had a player get hurt while celebrating?

SWINNEY: “Yeah. Heck, I lost a receiver for the year running down the hill – Gene Pate. I’ve been a part of it.

“That was kind of crazy on Friday. I think he just kind of jumped up and came down on it awkwardly. It’s enough of an injury that will put him out the remainder of the season.”

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Question: How much of an asset is Corian’s speed in terms of disguising pressures and coverages?

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SWINNEY: “Yeah it’s good. He’s developing a knack. He was mostly playing corner and then we ended up moving him inside . He’s gotten better and better. He can run and he’s physical. It’s good to see his personality come out. He wasn’t very confident last year coming off the injury. He wasn’t confident in being able to do what he needed to do. He’s coming into his own. He’s a real bright spot for us right now. He’s a guy where there is a lot more we’ll be able to get out of his game. He’s just a redshirt freshman.”

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