Everything Clayton White said previewing South Carolina's matchup with LSU

South Carolina defensive coordinator Clayton White spoke with the media ahead of the Gamecocks’ road trip to LSU on Saturday.

Here is everything he had to say.

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Opening Statement

“Good afternoon, hope everybody’s doing great. Glad to be back here after the open week. Watched our guys try to get better last week and thought they all attacked the open week the way a really good team should, and obviously our players are really excited about going down to Baton Rouge this weekend and playing a really good football team, a football team that’s never lacked the talent. So, excited to get down there.”

Don’t know how much film you watched of last year’s game film, but it seemed like there was a point during that game last year where something clicked, and all of a sudden (Garrett) Nussmeier was back to himself. Do you remember seeing what that was or what play that was?

“Really, it was just that drive. Whatever drive that was, it was the second or third drive where we were up 17-nothing. They hit a pass over the top across a bender. Then we missed a couple (of) tackles on the sideline. Then they scored, and they kind of got going.”

“It’s definitely an offense that we knew last year, just like this year, that doesn’t have any weaknesses. Uh, talent, you know, from top to bottom, all the way across the board. So, you can’t give them anything. Got to make him earn everything, that’s kind of the offense that you’re facing.”

What has stood out to you about Garrett Nussmeier that you didn’t see going into last year’s game?

“Well, I mean, I think last year I saw it all from him. It’s exactly what I expected from him. He’s a very accurate quarterback that can escape the pocket. He does a really good job of controlling the offense and really getting them in the right protection, bringing receivers to block apex players and blitzers, and throwing the ball out to screens and just trying his best to make sure he, you know, blitzing.

“You know, they see the safety here, they run this way or they’re throwing away. He does a great job of controlling the thing, I think he does a great job of all that. His accuracy has always been the best thing that I’ve seen from him.”

Coming from a Kentucky game with all the pressure your (defensive) ends in particular were able to get, is that maybe a “get right” type of game for these guys, or is it a whole new challenge that’s up ahead this week?

“It’s a brand new week for sure. Our guys understand every week is a new week, different opponents, you know. Really try to focus on what we can do to get better, understanding the basic fundamentals of the game, but definitely, it’s a brand new week.”

“Obviously, you know, LSU has really big tackles (Weston Davis), (Tyree Adams). Those guys are huge and got to do a great job of controlling (them). Nuss does a great job of stepping up a lot and escaping the pocket, and finding ways to get the ball down the field. We just got to be great (at) understanding our rush lanes and not going too crazy up the field.”

Seems like, especially against Ole Miss, LSU didn’t throw deep downfield; there were a lot of screens. How important is your tackling for your cornerbacks, especially guys on the perimeter against these LSU wide receivers?

“They’ve always done a great job of getting skilled players that can make you miss and guys that can take you the distance. So definitely tackling in the perimeter is going to be huge for both teams really. Definitely for us on the defensive side of the ball and obviously pursuing the football because you know you’re not going to make all those tackles. But when they miss one, hold on for dear life and then the next two guys come up and let’s gang tackle. Let’s get guys there, let’s not have a lot of solo tackles. But if you are out there by yourself, do a great job of taking care of business while you’re out there.”

What’s your five-game assessment of your linebackers?

“I feel like the guys, they totally understand what we’re trying to do on defense. I do think that part is very important as a linebacker. You have to, you know, understand the front, your side, and the back side of the defense. I do think they’ve done a great job of understanding the big picture. I think they’re playing hard. They can play harder at times, tackle better. We improved our tackling in the last two games, I would say. I’m sorry, the Kentucky game, and we worked on tackling a lot last week. So, I was counting last week as a game.”

“But, yes, those guys have (been) getting better in regards (to) just those details, but I like what they’re doing and I think they can only get better every single week.”

LSU hasn’t run the ball very well this year. Do you expect them to go away from that a little bit or try to test you guys since, I guess, some of your against rushing numbers haven’t been incredible?

“So, I feel like, you know, any offensive coordinator is going to obviously try to start out with the run game, and nobody wants to sit back and throw it 60, 70 times. That’s not a good formula from really any team to go out and win ball games. So, of course, they’re going to try and run the ball. They have a really good running back in (Caleb) Durham, who’s probably coming off an injury. They have (Ju’Juan Johnson), who’s also a good back. Like I say, talent is never the thing, so they got good backs all through that running back room, I promise you. So they’re going to, you know, turn around and hand the ball off and see what we can do.”

Shane mentioned yesterday about the crowd noise, but anything you’re doing with your guys to prepare them for the environment?

“Really, for us defensively, at a home game, it should be more; they’re not gonna have a lot of crowd (noise) when Nuss is out there making his checks. They love football down there. They understand when to make noise and when not. But we do a good job of making sure when our offense is on the field with crowd noise, there’s going to be some noise, so we do a great job of hand signaling and make sure we’re communicating the correct way with the right gestures and sign language and eye contact, especially on the road, you’re in a different environment so you have to do a great job of enhancing all those little thiings to communicate better.”

How much will it help getting Judge (Collier) back, and kind of building that depth at cornerback?

“It’s been great to get him back out there. I think he played, probably, 15 to 16 snaps last game. That was kind of our plan to get him going, have an open week to get him back and shape. And then obviously for this stretch we’ve got coming up, it’s nice to have him back. He’s a veteran player who makes plays, who’s been here with us for a long time, and he understands our defense, and it’s always great to have another set of fresh legs to go out and cover guys.”

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