Everything Clayton White said ahead of South Carolina-Alabama

South Carolina defensive coordinator spoke with the media ahead of the Gamecocks’ homecoming matchup against the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Here is everything he had to say.

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Opening Statement

“Good afternoon. Hope you guys are doing great. Definitely want to go ahead and jump right into Alabama week. Definitely really excited about the game opportunity. Obviously, a football team that’s very physical, a team that really has a good quarterback, offensive line physicality in front of running backs, or guys who play downhill play fields where they block well, wide receivers, with a bunch of playmakers. But we definitely know this kind of test you want to be in this league, we want to definitely test our execution, our discipline, our physicality, ourselves. So it’s a great opportunity for us to really showcase that stuff this coming up weekend, and our guys are ready for it. Looking forward to it.”

Stats are stats, but Oklahoma came into last week’s game and had not been able to get the run game on track. What enabled them to kind of get on track early and often last week?

“Yes, last week there were some runs where I feel like we did a better job in the second half. There was some runs early in the game where we didn’t execute our calls and missed some tackles early, but we got to do a better job of starting those games. And we do feel like there’s been some times where we fit runs better, (but) it’s either the tackling or it’s just one or two runs that kind of get that number a little higher. But we’re definitely grinding on it. We definitely want to be a team that’s consistently stopping the run for four quarters in the whole season.”

What’s the challenge of figuring out what Alabama is going to do with the weapons they have?

“Yeah, they have a really good system to, where, I mean, I think their backup running back has 16 receptions themselves. So it’s like they do a great job of spreading the field, and make sure they hit their open spots in the soft spots in zones, and they find their matchups they want. So we have to do a great job of doing our job, winning your one-on-one battles when your numbers called, and just be ready to be a playmaker when the time gets here.”

“But as a play caller myself, we have to do a great job also of understanding they have options all over the field. Make sure everybody’s covered, and make sure you’re not focusing on one guy too much. You can’t go double (Germie Bernard) because they have other guys that’s gonna be (in) one-on-ones. So you’ve got to play it very smart, very intelligent.”

What is the challenge when you face a guy like Ty Simpson who doesn’t turn the ball over a lot?

“I would say it comes back to them just spreading the ball around. He understands the first read, the second read, the third read, or if it’s left, the right read, he does a really good job of just taking checkdowns, like his running backs has, you know, I think they both have over 10 receptions, but I know for sure that us just doing our job and making sure we executing our calls.”

Do you practice or play any differently when you’re preparing to face a quarterback who can make every throw on the field?

“Not really, because most quarterbacks that we play at this time of the year can kind of, you know, stretch the field with their arm and their legs, or whatever system we’re playing. But obviously, you know his quarterback, he’s doing a really good job now. So you definitely, you know, you shouldn’t have to practice that much different, but we have to keep our guys aware that he will come back to the backside out route or comeback (route), or just make sure we’re not falling asleep on the backside of any concept.”

“Or, he’s an athletic quarterback as well. He’s very poised in the pocket. They do a great job of letting him stand upright back there. So we have to cover a little bit longer down the field this week, and just make sure we do a great job of our leverages and understanding where our help us at”

When Coach (Mike) Shula was in here, he talked about being confident in what you guys are doing, because you guys asked that of the players. Is that a consistent week-to-week thing that you guys have to portray, especially when things aren’t going as well for the team?

“I think it starts individually. Starts with myself. I have to walk in the building every morning with chest high, chin high, shoulders up, make sure I’m standing tall at all times, because I do believe that I can influence someone else. That’s kind of my job, really is to influence others in the room and people around me.”

“So I hope that you know, my confidence, myself, and some of our staff’s confidence is rubbing off on our players. And hope that’s the same thing all throughout the building, or we would definitely want to be. I mean, we’re in the SEC with college football coaches, with college football players, regardless of what’s going on in life, or on the football field, you’ve got to get up the next day and keep it going. So if you don’t have confidence, it’s a great chance (that) it’s not going to be a good day for you. So we really want to make sure we stand tall at all times.”

Where have you seen Bryan Thomas grow the most this season, on or off the field?

“I think the best thing that I’ve seen from Bryan is just his everyday work habits, his everyday, you know, in the meeting room and practices, his big picture football IQ has grown. I do believe that he’s taking coaching a lot better. He’s a really good teammate. He’s picked up his special teams play. I don’t think he’s playing a lot of special teams, but he’s definitely working on special teams every single day. And he’s influenced a lot of people on this football team with the way he practices, with how physical he practices.”

“He’s banged up a little bit now, which everyone is, but he’s still, you know, not putting on the blue jersey. He’s working hard, he’s trying to get better. He wants to continue to make plays, and it’s nice seeing them getting in the backfield on Saturdays in big games.”

Shane has often talked about how sometimes he comes to the office after just an hour or two asleep, like after a road game. Have you ever seen that guy tired, even when he’s in that situation where he hasn’t had a lot of sleep?

“Nah, I haven’t seen Coach Beamer tired. He’s definitely a high-energy guy, so I do think that does rub off on a lot of people. He’s in the building a lot, working out with Coach (Chip) Morton. I think that’s pretty cool. Now, you know that kind of motivates a bunch of us in this building to make sure we’re taking care of our bodies, our mental health, and all that stuff.”

“And it does help when your head coach is a guy who works out, because now you don’t have the guilt trip of being out of the office for 30 minutes throughout the day. Go get you a walk, walk to the stadium and back, and walk around the field, or do any type of workout in the weight room. But it does help. Have I ever seen him tired? Haven’t really, be honest, which I have not seen him tired.”

You faced Bernard and (Ryan) Williams last year and tried to defend them in Tuscaloosa, in particular, Williams, I mean, his reputation as a great receiver, how do you approach him in particular, how much extra attention does a guy like that draw in your game week preparations?

“I mean, if you just put on his highlight rate, highlight reels from the past two seasons. I mean, you’re watching it, this guy’s a great player. He really is. I do think he’s a guy that you have to make sure you understand where he’s at. They move their receivers around so well, you have to just really play left and right. You have to understand what jersey numbers in front of me. It’s not just a body, it’s a jersey number.”

They also have another receiver in (Isaiah) Horton from Miami, who’s a playmaker. He’s new to their system, but he’s doing a great job of stepping in. (Lotzeir Brooks), he does a great job. And then (Rico Scott), those guys got playmakers. But this is a receiving core, I mean, Coach Jamarcus Shepherd, their receivers coach, he has a great history of having a bunch of guys playing receiver.”

“So you’ve got to do a great job of just knowing what jersey number is in front of you, what he likes to do. You’ve got to win your one-on-one. You can’t really, there’s no beats or anything for us in regards to what they’re going to do, particularly, but they got good playmakers, and we’ve got to do a great job, and our guys are ready for the challenge. They’re fired up about it, to be honest with you.”

Coach Beamer was pretty thorough with his explanation of Vicari (Swain)’s injury last week.
What did you see from him being able to tough that out and get on the field on Saturday?

“It was kind of weird, because he never saw Vicari on Wednesday. He just knew that (it was) something with his finger. I’m not sure how much Coach Beamer went into his finger, but (he) wasn’t able to put it back in place, basically. So practicing, like, Where’s Vicari? Where’s Vicari? It’s not like a big alarm goes off and they say Vicari’s hurt, you do hear that Vicari’s out, he’ll be right back. He never came back.”

“So I was just impressed (by) the fact that, you know, literally had surgery on Wednesday, was able to play. And not only play, but catch punts. So I was worried about that more than the defensive part because I know that’s a big part of our team, and we kind of go off those returns, and he did a really good job. Just super impressive things like that. You watch a guy grow up, and it makes you proud as a football coach.”

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