Everything Clayton White said about South Carolina's defense ahead of Oklahoma matchup

South Carolina defensive coordinator Clayton White spoke to the media ahead of the Gamecocks game against Oklahoma.

Here is everything he had to say:

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Opening Statement

“Good afternoon. Hope you guys are doing great. Brand new week here for us. Uh, we’re excited, obviously, for a tradition-rich program like Oklahoma coming into town. Obviously, our weekly routine is really always starts with us. Meaning just starting with the coaching staff of just motivating, trying to be a positive influence on everybody around the building.”

“I think most importantly, trying to get their focus as the week goes on, increase their readiness to play, and obviously it starts with their style of play with their offensive coordinator, coach (Ben) Arbuckle, and obviously their quarterback (John) Mateer. I think they do a really good job. Their running backs are really athletic, really athletic tight end, big old line. So excited to get this thing going on South Carolina State Fair Week.”

How frustrating is it when your defense can get goalline stands, force turnovers, and then the points aren’t coming from the offense?

“Well, really, um, you know, we always tell our guys yards don’t equal points. So, obviously, yards, you know, you don’t want to have those long sustaining drives to get down to the goal line to start with, first and foremost. But very proud of how they kept playing.”

“One of our mottos is put the ball down, and we always say we don’t care where the ball is located at. It’s a next-play mentality. And obviously, they put that on this play on Saturday. We can’t get frustrated with what’s going on outside of us, what we can’t control. So, we’re on the field. We can’t say nothing ”til somebody gets zero first downs, zero touchdowns, and zero points. Then we can start expressing our frustration out. But, uh, it’s life. You’ve got to keep on moving.”

When you’re watching the tape on Oklahoma against Texas, what did you see that made you feel like they were doing so well against Mateer? Is that a blueprint you can follow?

“We feel like when you’re watching that caliber (of) football, I mean, there’s some high-level football between Oklahoma and Texas, you’re going to see some really good things on tape, and you got to make sure they fit your system. If you think it fits, it fits..

“But it’s always fun to watch those games because there’s some big time players and so obviously we take things from that some things that hurt them, things that where they hurt Texas, make sure we’re not catching ourselves in those situations and obviously we watch our game from last year and the previous games, but it’s part of the process, but it’s not everything.”

Obviously, Oklahoma’s offense is different with Arbuckle and Mateer. When you watch them on tape, what are some of the differences you notice?

“Well, it’s two different systems. First and foremost, a lot of respect for the system that Arbuckle grew up in. Those guys have always been able to strike up points and keep fans excited and players love that kind of system. So, you can tell their players are having fun. You can tell their players, they know they have a quarterback that can lead them down the field at any time and can make plays. But I think, just doing my due diligence on my studies and making sure I’m crossing all my T’s and dotting all my I’s. 

Again, on Mateer, threw three interceptions last week. How much can you learn from that tape, knowing he was injured and do you see some things to exploit?

“Well, those kinds of tapes are tough to watch because, really, he might have had his worst game that he’s played. You’ve got to make sure that no one, everyone can’t think that’s who he is. I watched all the Washington State tape, watch the tape from the previous years, that wasn’t him. So we got to make sure we make sure our players and all of our coaching staff understand that wasn’t him. So just make sure we don’t watch that too closely.”

Have you guys done anything different this week to try and help prepare the offense and offensive line to respond better and not jump early?

“Well, our job as a defense is just to handle what we can handle. Coach (Shawn) Elliott did come up to us one day and told me to do a couple things to try to help the O-line, just to distract them a little bit. But, I mean, that’s just some coaching tactics. That’s kind of how we work together as a staff. But, you know, whatever the offensive coaches need from us, we’re willing to help. It’s also vice versa too. So I asked them a lot when we need some things, and we collaborate pretty easy. So it’s a great staff to work with.”

On Jaron Willis getting more playing time on Saturday

“Yeah. Really what’s going on like our guys uh between Fred (Johnson), JO (Justin Okornkwo), and Shawn (Murphy), they kind of got the bulk of the reps. And, you know as we get into game six, guys get dinged up and I didn’t want to wait too late (into the season) to get guys going if we needed somebody to finish the game and just trying to make sure our guys stay fresh.”

“But Willis is always uh trying to improve, trying to get better, and I think that’s my job as a coach to give him opportunities to make plays and see what he can do. I was proud of him (and) how he played. Obviously, we all make mistakes. Every player (has) missed a tackle in their life, they’ve made a mistake. So, we’re just trying to see how to respond and keep him confident. But definitely, it was nice to get another body out there. for sure. Proud of him.”

How challenging is it to keep the continuity with the injuries in the secondary?

“Yeah, a lot of people sent me a picture of me on the TV screen. They said I looked like when (Brandon) Cisse was down, I looked like my life was over or something like that. So, that picture, if you can find that picture, that pretty much tells you how I felt. But I try to keep my poise in front of the players, but sometimes you can’t hide it. Those guys know they know me very well.

But it’s frustrating, but your ultimate job is to make sure you’re training other guys because you don’t know. I want to say our South Carolina State game, we had like four guys get hurt in the first 20 plays as well. But you got to keep coaching and teaching and influencing and motivating the guys behind them so when their time comes, they’re at least halfway ready.”

There’s a lot of discussion on whether or not Dylan Stewart has been held on every play. How have you seen him deal with potential frustration and with any player, if there’s a PI call, addressing that and what they should or shouldn’t do in those cases?

“Yes. I mean, Dylan, he’s handling it. He’s trying his best to not get frustrated. I took a class my senior year in high school (where) I was a peer mediator, and I feel like, at times, I feel like (with) Dylan, I have to go do that because he’s getting frustrated and I want to make sure that him and Coach (Sterling) Lucas are (on the same page.)

Coach Lucas can be the bad guy, I got to be the good guy, or it’s flip. But he gets frustrated. We all do. And I feel like that’s a part of it. But he’s doing a really good job of not losing his cool, and he’s longer in games. We’re very proud of how he’s taken that next step to just to just trying to finish games and trying to influence his guys beside him because he’s getting better at that stuff.”

 How did you react to Coach (Lonnie) Teasley’s firing? Have you yourself had to talk to some of his players that he coached or recruited to settle them down and keep them focused?

“I’d rather just let that one go to the next question, if you don’t mind. I’d rather not answer those kinds of questions in a public setting like that. Thank you.”

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