Everything Clayton White said ahead of South Carolina-Texas A&M

South Carolina defensive coordinator Clayton White spoke to the media ahead of the Gamecocks’ trip to College Station, Texas, to face the Texas A&M Aggies.

Here’s everything he had to say.

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Opening Statement

“Glad to be back here after a bye week of work, of trying to get better as a football team, as a defense. We’re ready to go up to College Station and face a top-five football team. (They) have a lot of talent. They’ve done a really good job this year of playing winning football. Our job is to go out there and play clean football, play South Carolina brand of football that we know how to play. Looking forward to it.”

You’ve seen your share of great mobile quarterbacks in this league; you practice against one every day. Where does Marcel Reed rank, and is there anything he does differently?

“Yes. I mean one, over the years past, I love giving respect to quarterbacks (that) I’ve seen improve their game. I feel like Marcel has definitely done a great job of trying to be more complete, and obviously, when he takes off, he’s definitely a threat that can take it all the way. He took one against LSU for 50-plus. We got to do a great job of understanding his game and understanding how they like to use him and definitely doing a great job of understanding the type of player he is and what he likes to do.”

Texas A&M runs the RPO incredibly well; their running attack is very efficient. What’s the challenge of staying disciplined when they do get into those?

“Discipline is definitely the key to the game in regard of, it’s basically like option football. You have to really protect the run inside on the perimeter and also the perimeter passes, and then the quarterback. So that to me makes it feel like option football and discipline and technique and understanding your initial assignment, I think is the most important part and understanding there are secondary things you have to read and react to. We have to be great at those fundamentals. Those are just base fundamentals, football, and just technique and understanding read and react football and leverage and angles, and understanding where your teammates are. You hit the keyword with discipline, and I do believe that’s going to be key.”

What was the main focus for you guys coming into the bye week?

“With us defensively, I think the main thing is we were focusing on finishing plays, and I think that we’ve been in places, we’ve had opportunities to put out some really good defensive efforts, but we haven’t finished at the end of games and the end of quarters and plays. I like how we’re playing for the most part, but it’s like two plays at the end of each game right now where we can almost have some historic performances. But we just got to find a way to dig deeper as a football team and practice that way and meet that way and just, kind of get in their brains a little bit in regards to what we can really do as a football team. We kept us in a lot of games and just want a chance to win them at the end. But, just mainly fundamentals and some other stuff coaching-wise.”

What are the keys to limiting a receiving core as good as Texas A&M has?

“How do we limit them? One, make sure we’re matched up correctly. They do a lot of motion so we can’t get confused on the motions. They have a bunch of good receivers, obviously, they have two guys with over 40 catches, but the other two guys are really good as well. We want to do a great job of understanding where they are, and they do a good job of moving (KC Concepcion) and (Mario Craver) around to make sure they get their touches. So, that’s the first thing, and we got to keep them in front. We got to tackle them. They’re unbelievable after the catch, those two guys are. Great job of finding those two guys and getting them into their system. Two receivers with that kind of yards after catch is dangerous, so we got to be great there.”

What have you seen from Justin Okoronkwo and Fred Johnson as they’ve continued to improve as second-year linebackers?

“Fred, what he brings to the table is he’s very intelligent. One of the smartest guys, not gonna say in the building, but he’s up there. He can take a lot of information. He loves football, he loves the way he plays, he’s very aggressive, he’s a downhill linebacker. Great retention. All three of those guys are super smart in that way, and that’s really fun to coach, and it’s also fun to watch them coach other players. I think the main thing that he does, he’s aggressive, he’s downhill, he likes to tackle, he likes contact. We got to make sure he keeps his head up on most of his contact so he can not get dinged up or concussions, or his shoulders. He has a great read and react ability, love how he runs, and he’s played square for the most part. I think that’s very important for a linebacker, and he uses his hands great. I really didn’t give any negatives, right? No, but he’s pretty good, though.”

How have you seen Coach Mike Furrey’s confidence radiate through the building and the offense on the practice field this week?

“It’s definitely one of those vibes where, one thing I love about coaching here is Coach (Shane) Beamer lets us be ourselves as people, as coaches, and I think, obviously, with the promotion of Coach Furrey, he’s being himself. You heard him when he was a receivers coach. You heard him when he got the passing game coordinator title, you hear him as a coordinator, so. I think the most important thing as a coordinator is (if) you’re able to be yourself, if you’re able to implement your own thoughts and concepts, and also listen to others, and don’t be afraid to take other people’s stuff. But your coach lets you do that. I think that’s when you have a great chance to be successful. But if you have a coach that’s going to hover you and helicopter you, I think you can kind of limit a coach, but, coaching here, Coach Beamer, I will say, he lets us coach football in the way we want to coach it, and I think Furrey’s going to do a great job.”

How do you prepare for Texas A&M’s rushing attack as one of the most efficient in the league?

“We have to do a great job of tackling, one. We have to do a great job of leveraging our gaps. Those running backs only have 20 negative yards as a total group, so they do a great job of falling forward. That’s how you average five yards a carry; they’re getting positive yards. So we got to find a way to get into the backfield some to get them some negative yards and knock that average down. But, they’re talented backs that fall forward. They do a good job up front at getting a hat on a hat, but we have to do a great job of changing them up front to get some tackles for loss and to get those numbers a little off track.”

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