Everything Mike Furrey said prior to South Carolina's game against Clemson

On Wednesday, interim playcaller Mike Furrey spoke to the media before South Carolina’s season finale against Clemson on Saturday. Here’s what he had to say.

Mike, what’s the approach for this weekend? You’ve had a couple of weeks in of calling plays, is it throwing in a whole bunch of new stuff this week, trying to catch them off guard, or same old, same old?

“Yeah, I don’t know about throwing a bunch of stuff in, but I think kind of what we’ve been doing, (we) put some stuff in last week that was some things that we wanted to start presenting to the guys and not running it maybe last week, so it’d be ready for this week. So there’s some things that we’ll continue to grow from things that I’m used to, and things that myself and obviously our staff are used to.”

Coach, obviously the first play goes for 75 yards on a screen pass. The screen game was pretty effective even without that, too, I think it’s picking up 13 yards per attempt. What did you like about your team and the ability to block on the perimeter, to have something like that element of your offense start to work like that?

“Yeah, I think that was a big challenge to our guys last week on the perimeters. The further you go in your career, playing this game, the more you have to be trusted to block on the edge. Especially when you get to the next level…you’ve got to block for all those guys. And so we challenged the guys on the perimeter last week to continue to improve in those areas and expect the ball to really go everywhere. Make sure you’re at the right place, in the right technique, with the right fundamentals, and understanding where we want that ball to hit. We were fortunate enough to have some of those go for some big plays last week.”

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With Jawarn (Howell) obviously having an elevated role these last couple of weeks, what do y’all feel like y’all get out of him and what does he bring to the offense?

“I think if you just look collectively at his body of work over the last three or four weeks, he’s practiced really, really well. He kind of has an edge to him right now, and mentality, that he wants to go out there and perform really well for the guys. Even today at practice, when we’re out there today, whether he’s in the backfield with Matt, or whatever it is, there’s a little bit of a mindset to him where…he wants to do everything he can to help this team.

“We’ve seen the success he’s had on the field, so obviously excited about his role and what he brings to the table. But I really think it goes back to his demeanor and how he’s really approached it over the past three weeks, and something that we’ll continue to keep looking at as we go through these games.”

Jayden Sellers has seen his production increase, what have you seen from him that’s allowed him to do that, and how do you evaluate his play against Coastal?

“I think the biggest thing, we talked about it last week…there was a stage of him really, truly believing that he belongs in the SEC, that he belongs playing at South Carolina, even at an early stage in his career. And so his confidence has just continued to grow. When you play wideout, and you’re trying to gain confidence…you don’t really maximize your potential in other areas, like catching the ball sometimes becomes a little sloppy because you’re thinking too much. You’re not running as fast because you’re trying to figure some stuff out.

“And his ability that he has is a God-given ability to be able to run with the ball in his hands, which obviously, if you watch his high-school tape, it was very productive in that area, rather than in the backfield or on the perimeter. I just think he’s gained so much confidence from the ‘Bama game on, where he’s just continued to grow mentally. It’s settled him down, and now he’s playing fast, he understands what he’s doing. He believes in his abilities, and it’s obviously led to, last week, having a heck of a football game.”

Clemson talked a lot yesterday just about stopping LaNorris on the run, kind of everything he did last year. Just from your perspective, whether you’re looking from him, and with one game left, are there any kind of either big or little steps that you want him to take overall?

“It’s not really just him. It’s everybody, right? It’s the whole group, right? And I think, as we saw last week, we had 10 guys catch footballs last week, four or five guys, or six guys had rushing attempts. And so right now, whether it’s LaNorris or Jawarn or Matt Fuller or Rahsul or Pup, or all these guys, right? Murph, everybody. It’s their job right now to continue to keep getting better and continue to do what we’re asking them to do at a high level.

“When you’re being called upon to have that opportunity to make a play, then it’s your job to be ready for that and make that play. That’s what I think, as a whole, all these guys are starting to understand that the ball can go anywhere at any time. Just because something’s called and you might be the second or third option, that first option could be taken away and all of a sudden now it’s your turn. I just think, collectively, 16 and all those other guys have just started to understand what we’re asking them to do. These guys are having fun doing it, and they’re making plays when their opportunity presents itself.”

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I know it happened a little bit after the A&M game, but when you get your guys in on Sunday or Monday, a week after everything works and the playcalling makes sense, how much of a buy-in or confidence do they have going into this week?

“It really goes both sides. I think, one, when you demand excellence out of these guys from Sunday to Friday, right? And you’re working them in practice, you’re correcting them when they’re not doing something right, you’re holding them accountable. You’re finishing runs, or finishing fakes, or finishing with the ball in your hand…all those things I think that we really have made a point over the last two weeks to continue to just keep finishing and practicing the way that we’re asking you to practice, and then watch how that rolls into the game, right?

“And so whether it’s run blocking or pass blocking, whatever it is, I think we’ve done a really good job as a staff collectively to make sure that these guys haven’t let up at all, right? And we’ve held them to that standard. I think what they’ve done now, which has been really cool to watch, is they’ve taken that mentality, taken that standard, taken that accountability now amongst each other. When you do things right, when you have more people that are doing things right, the guys that aren’t doing things right stand out more. Does that make sense?

“I think that’s what we have just pushed the right people, the leaders, to get into those leadership roles, to practice with a purpose, to demand excellence, to get the huddle going, break out of the huddle, spread out on the field. There’s so many things that when you’re doing those things right, it’s hard for people that might want to take a play off, to take a play off. I think I give credit to all those guys who are buying in to that philosophy that we’ve had over the last couple of weeks. It’s fun to watch it develop on Saturdays.”

There’s been a few games this year where Clemson’s blitz rate has been over 50%, they’ve been pretty aggressive in a lot of games this year, especially when it comes to getting at the quarterback. What’s the process of preparing an offensive line to be able to handle that and communicate well enough to keep pocket?

“If I’m as talented as they are, I probably would do the same thing. They’re pretty talented all across the board, they’re a very aggressive defense. We just have to make sure our guys are in the best position, and we put them in the best position, that we don’t have a huge volume of stuff. So that they understand and get different looks in practice. All the stuff that they’ve kind of shown and where people are coming from, or the covers that they’re playing on the back end, those kind of things.

“I think it’s really just simplifying things, giving these guys as many looks as we can through the week, so that they’ve seen it live, and they’re prepared for it. We can talk about it throughout the game if something comes up.”

LaNorris, arguably, has had two of his better games this season in the past couple of weeks. Where do you see his confidence at heading into Clemson?

“I think when you see him smile, I think you see he’s having fun. I think when he’s having fun, it means he’s confident. He went out to practice today, we were messing with him today, There’s the farthest he’s ever run in practice on a run one time, he just broke loose and he ran down 40 yards. Everybody’s like ‘hold on, timeout, let’s call another play, see if he’s going to do it again,’ because we haven’t seen that too often. Just having fun with him, right? I mentioned it last week, he’s still a kid, and these guys still have to have fun.

“There’s been a dialogue between us and him and the staff, and an understanding of ‘this is what we want to do,’ and ‘these are maybe things that you are good at and maybe things you don’t like, or at least something you’re not comfortable with.’ So we get rid of it and make him be at peace with what we’re doing, but I think what we are doing kind of exemplifies a little bit what he’s done in high school that makes him comfortable and allows him to see things. I think with that confidence, he’s having fun.

“I’ve been real proud of him, some of the third-down throws at the A&M game, where he stood in there and really knew what he was doing, went from one to two-read and delivered the ball. Last week, I think at one point in time, he was 16 for 18. And passing, we’re pretty hard on our room, in the receiver room, we end up 16 for 18, I thought there was two touchdowns that we dropped, too. But I think when you start seeing that, and the success starts happening, it builds confidence. Really super proud of him, and for him to believe in what we’re asking him to do and going to work on that, obviously there was some growth with that and it’s good to see him have success.”

Mike, when you’re coaching your receivers, or now in charge of the whole offense, how much do you use your personal story? You ever use game film of yourself in the NFL catching balls?

“No, when I got into this profession, the one thing I was going to never do is talk about my career and what I’ve done. I’ve been around a lot of rooms and sat in those chairs where retired players have tried to motivate you and all those kind of deals, and I’m always sitting there like ‘if I need to be motivated by someone else’s story, then I’m probably in the wrong business,’ trying to have a career.

“The other thing is, too, we’re all different. We’re all on different journeys and we all have different backgrounds and walks of life. I just think it’s awesome to bring up other people, and kind of relate guys’ games to other guys I’ve been around, or some of the guys that are in the league, or some of the guys that I’ve scouted when I was in Chicago. Just kind of know their game from height, from college.

“I think that’s a great comparison to some of these guys, and it’s not just game film, too, right? Watching practice film, how these guys practice, watching JJ, I know I’ve spent some time with these guys watching Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase and those guys, watching how they block on the perimeter, and watching how they run routes, how they do things without the ball and things like that. Unless somebody asks me about my career, I’ll never bring up my career, the things that I’ve done. It was a pretty cool journey myself, but I don’t bring those things up.”

You mentioned last week that working on, not necessarily trick plays, but different stuff, brings camaraderie, and I think we’ve heard Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes talk about that. How do you do that in practice, do you let guys formulate or draw out things during the week, and then is there a day you work on that? How do you build that into the practice schedule?

“We work on them. We put them in based upon normal downs, normal D&D stuff, third down stuff, red zone stuff, and things that we see, see if they work. And we kind of have a little turn. And I got it from Matt. I mean, Matt Nagy told us all the time, let’s put it in the incubator. And sometimes it’s just barely in the incubator, sometimes it’s coming out of the incubator. Sometimes it stays in the incubator, you know, and then once the guys are comfortable with it, and you can see that they have a lot of belief in it and are having fun with it, and then as we mentioned, you’ve got to have the nerve to call those things at those times.

“We have some fun with all that stuff, and the guys have bought in to some of those things and been fortunate that some of those things have worked in the past couple games.”

When Shane announces his new offensive coordinator, if it’s not you, will you just simply slide back into your full-time position with the wide receivers?

“It’s a great question. All I know right now is, to be honest with you, we talked about it last week. Today is Tuesday, and I gotta go back and watch, I’m sorry, Wednesday, and I gotta go back and watch our third-down practice in a little bit. We gotta do red zone here in the afternoon, and we have to get ready for our practice tomorrow. I am not a guy that looks forward to down the road or in two weeks from now. God’s got all that stuff, and he’s in control of all that.

“So I literally have thought about, when I’m done with this meeting, I’m gonna grab lunch. And we’re going to watch practice as a staff and get on the red zone and do what God has called us to do right now, put us in this position to coach these young men and get ready for Saturday. You guys know it’s the biggest rivalry game in South Carolina, and I’m just super proud to be a part of that.”

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