Dabo Swinney on Sellers, Gamecocks, Denson, Klubnik, Clemson's defense, The Rivalry

CLEMSON — Late Tuesday morning Clemson head football coach Dabo Swinney again addressed members of the media during his weekly news conference.

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The Tigers are of course preparing for Saturday’s noon road matchup vs. rival South Carolina.

The following is an abbreviated transcript of Tuesday’s presser.

Opening Statements

“Good morning everybody and Happy Thanksgiving. I hope everyone is ready for a great week with your families. We all have a lot to be thankful for. And you don’t have to look very far to know how blessed and thankful we are. We’re looking for a great week. I always enjoy this week.

“It’s fun being a part of a rivalry game and it’s even more fun when you win. This is a historic game. It’s kind of my norm in my life with 13 Alabama – Auburn games and just growing up as a fan. And then 23 years here. It’s fun to be in the fight and be a part of it. I look forward to a great game on Saturday.

“I have a lot of respect for Shane Beamer in how he does things. They’re a really good team, very talented and a lot of good players on both sides of the ball. Offensively it starts with their quarterback. He is an elite player who can change the game on one play. It’s a big task there. We did a poor job with him last year. All of their backs are good players and all powerful runners. No. 8 is probably the most improved player on their team. He can run away from anybody. They’ve done a good job getting their playmakers involved. A lot of shots down the field. They’re still committed to running the ball and No. 16 is a huge factor there. We have to play really well on defense.

“On the other side, if not the best, they’re as good as anybody we’ve played at defensive end. They’re very talented and they’re strong inside. They have good depth inside. No. 17 and No. 0 are good players. No. 24 has played a million snaps. No. 15 at corner, we saw him at N.C. State. He’s another good player. They’re a four-down team that executes their scheme well. They’ve been in every game.

“Special teams are always a factor in this game. They’ve taken a couple to the house. We have to make sure we don’t allow any big plays in the return area.

“It doesn’t matter what the records are. We all know what this one is about this week. We look forward to the competition.”

Question: How much has Stephiylan Green progressed, having missed last week’s game?

SWINNEY: “Better and better everyday.”

Question: Your senior class would lose three of the last four in this series if it happens on Saturday. Is that extra motivation?

SWINNEY: “We’ve also won two of the last four and we’ve won 8 out of the last 10. However you want to do your math to spin the story. If you win, it’s a great day. If you lose, it’s a bad day in your life. This game means a lot to a lot of people. We’ve won two of the last four. You can spin the math however you want. You can look at 100-something years or look at whatever narrative you want. Everyone wants to win because it’s a huge game. It’s the state championship. No one needs any extra motivation for this game.”

Question: You look back at last year’s game in what LaNorris Sellers did, do you have an added emphasis to get him down this year?

SWINNEY: “We had him tackled about 50 times. I don’t know how many missed tackles we had. They all know what they’re dealing with. He’s strong and hard to get down. You have to try to keep him in the pocket. When someone gets to him, they have to find a way to hang on. It was the difference in the game last year.”

Question: You have talked about your team wanting to win with class, especially in this game. Do you emphasize that more this week in light of what happened the last two years?

SWINNEY: “Both teams have to be better. I just don’t think it leads to anything good (planting a flag at midfield on the other team’s logo). The extra stuff on people’s fields, we need to be better on both sides. Celebrating with fans is good, but disrespecting the other team’s logo … bad things come from that. We almost had a fight last year. I’ve been a part of that. 2004 was a bad, bad, scene. Compete your butt off and dislike each other, fine, but be classy. The people in the arena, we have to compete and respect the game and the history of this game better. It was a nasty scene last year and Shane and I talked about that. I’ll do everything I can if we’re fortunate enough to win.”

Question: With this game being so emotional, is it more difficult for players to be composed?

SWINNEY: “I don’t think so. I just think it’s something that we have to emphasize. Let’s do what’s right.”

Question: What makes that place so difficult to play in?

SWINNEY: “Their fans do a great job. They’re loud and they show up. They do a great job in supporting their team. I’ve been here a long time and they always have. They’ve always been incredibly supportive of their team. It’s a great, loud, loud, environment. Throw in the rivalry game and it’s even more intense. I love going on the road and facing a hostile crowd. That’s part of it.”

Question: Do you have a favorite memory down there?

SWINNEY: “My first time down there, 1993, I was a grad assistant at Alabama. That’s my first memory. We won the game. I went and visited Woody McCorvey. I spent a day with him and a weekend with him in 1998 when Brad Scott was the coach there. I have a lot of great memories. Got some bad ones, too. My first game down there was the 63-17 game, my first game as a coach at Clemson. That was a crazy game. We just hit some big, explosive, plays right out of the gate. 2013, we had five or six turnovers and we had a really good team, but couldn’t hang on to the football to save our life.”

Question: Speaking of those tough moments, you have brought up the five-game losing streak recently. How did that help you?

SWINNEY: “Just as a person when you can look back on things in your life that you went through, it gives you more confidence in where you are and what you will do in your future. Tough times don’t last. Tough people do. We were just struggling in that game. We had 15 turnovers to their three during that streak. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that’s a problem. When we turned it around, you look at the turnover margin and it was different.”

Question: Does it feel any different to you because for so many years you’ve had something big to play for but now you don’t?

SWINNEY: “No. That’s just your season. We’ve gone to seven playoffs in 10 years and the league championship eight out of the last 10 years. Last time we went down there, we weren’t going to the championship or 2021, but we had bowls we went to. It doesn’t matter if you’re in the playoff of league game … it’s always about this game. I hope that doesn’t ever get lost. For me, it’s never been about where we’re going the next week or the next month. Our focus has always been on this game this week. We understand the importance and the value of this moment. You want this to be a good memory, so you better be locked in.”

Question: You didn’t give up sacks to them last year. What made you so successful there?

SWINNEY: “We have good players, too. Blake Miller and Tristan Leigh got their jobs done. We did some good things, but we didn’t finish.”

Question: How do you feel Harris Sewell and Collin Sadler did last week?

SWINNEY: “I thought our ones were great. We gave up just 77 yards at the half. Our ones were great on both sides.”

Question: Was your inability to tackle Sellers in this game a year ago a big reason in your moving on from Wes Goodwin?

SWINNEY: “Not much. Wes can’t tackle him. A lot went into that, a lot of reasons. I just felt like it was time for a change.”

Question: How often have you made Chris Denson live in practice?

SWINNEY: “We’ve done it many times with third and fourth team quarterbacks over the years. We’ve done it a lot with him this season. He helps us prepare. Unfortunately he got his foot stepped on yesterday on the scout team and wasn’t able to finish (practice). He was wearing No. 16. He’s just different. Sellers is bigger. They’re both explosive.”

Question: Has he worked himself in a spot where we could have a package against South Carolina?

SWINNEY: “You think I would answer that? I wouldn’t answer that if it were the case. You never know.”

Question: You’re underdogs in this game for the first time in 12 years. Do you ever share that with your players?

SWINNEY: “I don’t ever talk about that stuff. I’m sure someone else will tell them that. They don’t need me to tell them that.”

Question: Are you surprised you’re underdogs?

SWINNEY: “No. Nothing surprises me anymore. Very little surprises me these days. They’re a good team, it’s at their place and they beat us last year.”

Question: LaNorris Sellers’ rushing totals are down year over year. Why do you think that is?

SWINNEY: “You’d have to ask Shane that. He’s a great player to me. He’s special.”

Question: How much different do you think Cade will be this time versus two years ago?

SWINNEY: “I was confident with him two years ago down there. It wasn’t a great game, but we did what we needed to do to win. Cade has a lot more experience now and has been on the road a bunch. You don’t win this game if your best players don’t play well. This is a championship game. You get a chance to play for a championship every year. They hand a trophy out after this one.”

Question: How does Thanksgiving factor into your preparation?

SWINNEY: “It doesn’t impact Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. You do have more meeting time. It puts a little bit more on the coaches because you don’t have a full Thursday. Our team meeting is 10:30 on Thursday, so you lose a couple of hours and prep, so you have to grab that between Sunday and Wednesday to stay on schedule with your prep process. We make sure our players are somewhere, either at my house or a coach’s house. We don’t want anyone to be alone. We do our team meal on Wednesday night, that way on Thursday everyone has a little time. We come back in here on Friday. We get the Swinney tree out on Thursdays.”

Question: What’s on the Swinney menu?

SWINNEY: “Turkey and all the usuals. My mom is in town. She makes dressing. Potatoes. She’ll probably start today to get going.”

Question: How much can Sammy Brown help you as a spy in this game?

SWINNEY: “It’s not just him. Everyone has to spy this guy. You can’t lose your leverage on him. If you do, you won’t catch him. When you do spy him, you can’t get caught up and you have to have some separation. It’s your defensive tackles not burying their heads and keeping their eyes on him. This guy can push the ball down the field, too. I mean he can rip it. Some of these throws are a long way. That No. 8 is unbelievably fast. He’ll just run it out of the stadium.”

Question: How much has identifying Corian Gipson as a reliable nickel eliminated some stress for you?

SWINNEY: “We’re proud of him. He’s finding his condfidence. He’s tough and gritty. He can run. he has all the attributes. He had a year to kind of find himself. It was just getting his confidence back, too. He can play corner. He’s really grown into that nickel role, so that’s big for us. He’s been a bright spot for us. We haven’t had a great season in terms of what we expected and hoped for, but he’s been a bright spot.”

Question: You said the other day your secondary has improved. How?

SWINNEY: “We haven’t had as many busts. We had some really bad busts with guys running wide open, blitzing the safety and the corner. We had some situational things where we did a poor job. These last three games, they’ve all grown and taken ownership. Communication has been better in our meetings, practice and in the game. It’s a new defense and new terminology, but they’ve gotten better over the course of the season.”

Question: You changed up some meetings?

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SWINNEY: “Just making sure we don’t get some things lost in translation.”

Question: Antonio Williams made his announcement to turn pro the other day. Do you have a beat on other players who have made that decision?

DISCUSSION: Join Tigerillustrated.com subscribers on our off-topics forum

SWINNEY: “A couple but I won’t steal anyone’s thunder. Antonio, he came back last year for this to be his last year. He was almost gone last year. I know he’s glad that he came back. He’ll graduate in a couple of weeks. He’ll be a great pro.”

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