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

South Carolina defensive coordinator Clayton White spoke to the media on Wednesday to preview the team’s Week 4 matchup against Missouri. Here’s everything he had to say.

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Opening statement

“I just want to recap last week really fast. Obviously, we didn’t do a great job of getting it done last week. We made some mistakes. They capitalized off of them. We definitely want to do a better job this week of just doing our job, playing smart and disciplined, tough, and finishing the football game.

“We have Missouri this week, and we know they’re a good ball club that’s well coached and physical. [They] do a great job of finishing football games. We’re excited to go down there.”

When you have a week that was rough, how do you talk to your players about it? Is it just saying it was one bad day, or do you have to emphasize something over another?

“It wasn’t a bad week; it was more just a bad day. We had a great week in practice. Our guys always work extremely hard. They were really upset. That’s the first time we’ve given up 30-some points in a long time, and we just want to keep grinding. It’s one of those things where we just want to take every day and be very consistent and pick up the intensity in every little thing that we do, as a coaching staff and as a group — the linebacker room, ourselves up front and the DB room. We just want to keep harping on our consistency, being physical when we can in practice, playing together, more importantly, and just get back on track.”

Last year, Missouri’s offense had a lot of success on outside zone/stretch plays. This year, they bring in a running back [Ahmad Hardy] who is putting up some video game numbers. What’s the challenge of having to play against a run game that is the way they’ve had the last few years, and then adding that guy to the mix?

“They’ve done a really good job of adding pieces to their puzzle. [I] truly believe that they know their offense is hard to defend, mainly because of the practice, trying to get the reps during the week. So, our offense is doing a really good job of replicating those plays. That’s the only way to really have a chance to go out there and really contain those kind of numbers. But most importantly, we have to practice right and start, really, in January, emphasizing that different style of offense.”

There were a lot of missed tackles on Saturday. What did you see on the tape as to why that might have been, and how do you go about correcting that this week?

“[There were] definitely some missed tackles. That was our highest number of the year in regards of just not getting guys on the ground when we had opportunities. I think our angles were bad; I think that we were not pressing in their hip enough. I do believe that it’s something we emphasize a lot — you have to just carry those things over to the game. It’s our job as coaches to put them in those positions throughout the week, to replicate that skill set, and do a great job of finishing. [We have to] understand, obviously, we can’t tackle at practice, but you have to take the right angles at practice, have the right mindset, and just know that, when it comes on Saturday, you got to get it done the best ability.”

There were third downs that were converted in the first half — and some in the second half, as well. It seemed like there were different ways that they [Vanderbilt] were able to pick them up. Is that how you saw it, and how frustrating it can be, if you did see it that way?

“It’s frustrating as a defensive coach whenever we feel like it’s hard to get the third down — like, it’s just hard to get a good third down, a manageable situation for us. I think, a couple of times, we were there, and we missed the tackle. And that’s frustrating, and it happens continuous[ly] on drives. Like, there’s a stat that’s out there, once they convert on third down within the series, the chance of scoring goes up. So, I think they converted three on one drive, two of those that we feel like we got to finish those plays.

“I got to give them credit, as well. They did a really good job of finding different ways to convert third downs. They weren’t running the same concept. But you still have to make plays. You got to do a better job. I have to do a better job of putting them in the position to showcase their skills a little bit better.”

The defense had 63 plays, but they were out there for so long. How do you feel like they held up throughout the course of the game?

“They’re in great shape. They weren’t tired. We just didn’t get off the field and give our offense two more possessions. Football is the ultimate team sport of all sports. We have the most players on the field of any sport, so we have to give our offense more opportunities to do what they want to do. So, us not getting off the field hurts the offense because they’re not getting any rhythm. [We’re] trying to preach that to our guys and make sure they understand it’s supposed to be a team sport. [But] it’s definitely frustrating.”

We’ve heard you talk about how you’ve have had great weeks of practice. But what is it on game day that you noticed was different? What was the main difference from practice to the game?

“[There were] bad plays in the game. [We’re] very fortunate to be out there playing the game of football, so there’s just some bad plays within the game. I think about every coach in America says they have a great week of practice. They go out, and some teams never win. But we did feel like we had a great, intense practice last week. It was very detailed and very together, and it was competitive. It’s hard to really say exactly what happens, but keep coaching and keep pushing the guys, keep coaching them up every single day, and it’ll click. When it clicks, it’s nice, but you got to keep coaching them all the way to the end, all the way through the football game.”

[Travian] Robertson issued a statement about his health. How uplifting it is for you to hear how he’s coming along? And what do you miss from not having him around?

“It’s definitely been awesome to hear his voice, to see him on FaceTimes. And I don’t want to get too personal about when he’s available, when he’s not, but it’s been great. I can also say that not having him around, you definitely miss him. He’s like the muscle of our defense in regards of, when something needs to be said out loud and really vociferously, it’s Coach Robinson getting it said. I say it in my way, and when he says it, it’s totally different. But we miss that.

“I wish him nothing but the best. He’s a strong brother, so we’re praying for him a lot.”

Vicari [Swain] didn’t play quite as much as the other main two cornerbacks last week. Was it just those other guys being ahead in their practice during the week, or was there any more to it?

“There’s not a lot more to it. Everybody’s always trying to improve their game in every single aspect. So, we feel like we still have four good corners that can start. Obviously, Judge [Collier] is still battling back. But every single guy has their own competition within themselves, and they have to continue to iron it out.

“I know he was out there. I didn’t really count the reps, but I feel like he was out there a lot.”

Does Dylan Stewart get held a lot without getting a flag?

“I can’t answer that, but he’s a dynamic pass rusher. He’s a known pass rusher. And sometimes, he has to get held in order for him not to get a sack. But they’re not calling it, so we can’t make any excuses for anybody. We got to do a great job of coaching the and-ones — you’re going to get fouled when you shoot layups, so you have to go back to the layup and get an and-one.

You talked about how impressed you were with Dylan’s response in the Virginia Tech game. What do you tell him after the unnecessary roughness call about trying to keep his emotions in check?

“[I] had a couple of personal conversations with him that, obviously, stay between me, Dylan and Coach [Sterling] Lucas. But more importantly, to me, just as a man in life, you got to be careful with your responses and how you act to someone who frustrates you. The football field might be the only place in the world that you can probably do some certain things and not get in trouble. So, [you] just got to be smart. You can’t help people get to you like that. And that’s really the message that I want to send to all of our guys, the defensive staff, the defensive room, and men in general — you got to be very smart on how you respond, and just don’t let other people get you like that.”

Last week, you talked about eye discipline when it came to Vanderbilt’s offense. How would you grade how you guys did in that category of defense? And how important is that going to be this weekend, playing against a mobile quarterback like [Beau] Pribula?

“Going against any kind of offense, you got to have great eye discipline. Vanderbilt presents more problems; Missouri presents their own problems in regards of how they hide plays, or how they hide players and certain concepts that they do. So, you have to really locked into where you’re looking at. Know your progression — is it three-to-two, two-to-one, one-to-two, or guard flow, or running back, tight end, tackle? Whatever their read is, you got be great. You got to understand what’s the next progression.

“We’re teaching it all the time. We do a great job of, obviously, keep teaching that part of the game because it’s the hardest part for these guys to understand. They want to, sometimes, just go out there and just play the game and find the football. But sometimes, these offenses do give you some keys, if you understand your progression, and it’ll put you in the right spot.

“When you were going up against Virginia Tech, it was a little bit tough because they had so many new pieces. You guys have faced Missouri — it’s the same head coach [Eli Drinkwitz], the same OC [Kirby Moore], but the skill guys and quarterback are different. How different is preparing for this Missouri team versus the last four or five you played?

“I would say the main difference is just the players getting used to these guys. Because I felt like the Missouri teams of the past, you knew who was at receiver, you knew who was at quarterback, you knew who was at offensive line. And the tight end’s [Brett Norfleet] still there — I feel like he’s been there forever. Me and Coach Drink go back a little bit, so I feel like he’s been there forever. He’s probably saying the same thing about me. But it is a little different looking at them, not seeing some of those key players that you could win against for the past four seasons. That’s just getting used to those new bodies and understanding, seeing how they play.”

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