Scrimmage recap: Swinney says Tigers had some good and some bad

Swinney said there were players on both sides of the ball that made plays.

David Hood - Senior Writer - Sunday, August 11 2024

CLEMSON – The tough part of August camp has arrived, and a sweaty Dabo Swinney walked into the interview room following Saturday’s stadium scrimmage and laughingly chided the media for waiting in air-conditioned comfort.

“Y’all are soft! Soft! You’ve gotten soft on me. It’s a mindset,” Swinney said with a smile, before breaking down the results of the scrimmage. Swinney said the Tigers had endured a couple of tough days.

“Tough, tough day. Tough couple days. Yesterday was a true old-fashioned Jervey (Meadows) day, just hot, and the guys had to really push through,” Swinney said. “It was a double day. Came back last night and they're right back in here early this morning. So, this is a tough little stretch for 'em mentally, but that's all part of them growing and developing and maturing. The type of mental toughness that you have to have to go with the physical toughness. But a lot of good work today. Pretty much all good on good all day. Got a lot of special teams mixed in as well. So this is our first preseason game, if you will. We get two, today, and then we'll go again next Thursday as a true preseason game.

“We didn't get into pads until Wednesday. We had a little bit of a ‘live,’ but this was the first day where it's all ‘live’ so there was some good and some bad. Like there always is. It's never as good as you think it is. Never as bad you think. Maybe it is on this first day, but a lot of things to be encouraged by, some individual guys. But still a long way to go. We got a lot of work to do now. We've got three weeks until we play on this very day, so not anywhere where we need to be, but this is just the next step for us in our preparation process of going to play, now let's go study the film and we'll see how we can get better from it.”

Swinney said there were players on both sides of the ball that made plays.

“We had a bunch of guys on both sides that flashed. I thought we did some good stuff with some of the guys that you think, and then there was a couple guys that I thought made some mistakes, defensively in particular, that made mistakes they shouldn't make. A couple of busts. We had a big missed tackle in the open field led to a big play. But there was good on both sides from lots of guys. We did have a couple takeaways. Khalil (Barnes) had a takeaway. Ricardo (Jones) had one. It's good to see that. Had a couple of sacks, but just overall defensively, I just thought we were too undisciplined. Too many penalties, too many offsides. Again, it’s a different game when you're not scripting things and you're really just playing in the rhythm of a series and then have ACC officials and true game field and it's every play is live.

“So just a little undisciplined, my fault from a penalty standpoint and type of penalties that get you beat, jumping offsides and stuff like that. But offensively, a lot of good things. I thought all of our backs ran well and I thought our OL, if I had to just say who won the day, I'd say the OL won the day. I'm really pleased with how they've performed, now to this point. And then I was anxious to see 'em go today, and I thought they came right out, opening drive, a touchdown drive, and I thought Cade (Klubnik) had an outstanding day. He's had a really good camp, and today was really good. CV (Christopher Vizzina) had a really good camp, and he did some really good things today as well. And Trent (Pearman), same thing. He missed a few plays that he wants to have back, but he always responds too.”

Kickers and special teams

“(Nolan) Hauser is (the leader at kicker) right now, just a little ahead, statistically, they're kind of battling. They were right there. Whoever's up after the day goes out there first. That's kind of where we are. But they're both competing really well, doing some good things. Really proud of Aidan (Swanson). He's just a cool customer. Sixth-year guy, just rolls out there and had a couple of nice big punts today, so it was really good. Our snappers do a great job. I mean just really consistent guys. So we're doing some good things. We've got to do a little more work on the return game, kind of settle in there. We're putting a lot of guys out there to kind of see who we can trust and who can be the best return guy in America, but we have to possess the ball and that's easier said than done. You have to, and that's where it starts. You give up a little return to make sure you possess the ball, and so I was a little disappointed with a couple of guys that we put out there today.”

Injuries

Cornerback Jeadyn Lukus is still day-to-day. Stephiylan Green and Vic Burley missed scrimmage, and Burley is day-to-day. Cornerback Shelton Lewis left the scrimmage with an injury.

On the defensive players saying the offense looks different

“We ain't doing anything different, doing the same thing we’ve always done. We just do it better. They just think it's different. Ain't doing anything different. They don't know what they're talking about. Same formations, same motions. It ain't about plays, it's about players. Our players are doing a better job. Guys are more experienced. The quarterback's a better player and taking another step. All the guys up front have taken another step. They have more skill. So same plays, they just work better.”