Swinney previews Clemson's top-10 matchup with NC State, gives injury update

Swinney said the Tigers are preparing like it's a normal week.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Tue Sep 27 12:55:02 GMT-04:00 2022

CLEMSON – No. 10 NC State is headed to Clemson, along with ESPN’s College GameDay and maybe some rain.

Head coach Dabo Swinney met with the media Tuesday to discuss this weekend’s 7:30 pm game against the Wolfpack, injuries, and the overall state of his team heading into the matchup.

The Tigers won last week’s game against Wake Forest without the services of safety Andrew Mukuba, cornerback Sheridan Jones, cornerback Malcolm Greene, defensive tackle Tré Williams, and defensive end Xavier Thomas. Swinney didn’t divulge which players he expected back.

“We're hopeful on all of those guys, but I don't know anything at this point,” Swinney said. "We haven't been full speed yet. We'll see on Xavier. He's close. I don't know if he's going to be able to play or not. We do have a long season ahead. At some point we'll have them all. Our depth has been a blessing. I do expect him (Williams) back this week. He's been nursing some inflammation. When he has played, he has been a factor. We do expect him back."

Swinney moved on to another topic, which was the NC State defense.

"A lot of zone. They force you to be patient in how they play structurally,” Swinney said of the Wolfpack. “They will pressure you. With the way they play their front and their star player in the middle, you have to make sure everyone is on the same page. A lot of zone pressures. They'll drop defensive tackles. You have to understand where your windows are. This is a team that's a little bit more multiple in what they do coverage-wise. You have to be physical up front. They will zone pressure you to death."

Despite Clemson’s dominance in the series, Swinney said the Wolfpack have always been a tough out.

"I think they've always been good. N.C. State has always been a tough opponent ever since I've been at Clemson,” Swinney said. “This is my 19th time playing them. Philip Rivers was the quarterback when I came in here in 2003. They've always been tough. We've had some games a few here and there that got out of hand, but most of them have been hard-fought games. I'm sure this will be the same."

There is the threat of severe weather for this weekend, but Swinney said Clemson is pushing ahead on a normal schedule.

“It's a normal week,” he said. “We're going to get our team ready to play."

On QB DJ Uiagalelei

"He's just in a different place. He's very confident and playing with a lot of joy. He wasn't very confident last year. He got in a bad spot. What he's done with his legs, that's the biggest change. He's confident in running the football but also in creating and extending plays. His accuracy has improved but again that goes back to his confidence. The guys around him have been better, too. He's more confident with the guys up front, too. Four games in, he's working hard every week to stay consistent."

On his corners having a short memory

"That's what a windshield mentality is all about. You don't get to carry any points over. And you don't carry any bad plays over either. You have to move on in this game. A lot of times people outside don't move on, but when this is what you do, you have to lock in on what's next. It's very important. You take ownership from it and apply the lessons you've learned. That's what getting better is all about. It was a rough day, not just for him but for that entire group. Hopefully we'll have more urgency this weekend and make sure we're ready.

"We did not play the ball well at all. We didn't play our technique well. You're on top all the time. We're staring in the backfield and all of a sudden a guy runs by you. We've got a couple of young guys who are getting better and they're getting better in a hurry. They're going to be all-conference players later in their careers. We have to do a better job of teaching them. It starts with us as coaches."

Working with wet balls this week in practice

"Yes. Everyone that handles the ball, we'll make sure we have some good work on that. It'll be a big emphasis this week. We do it anyway several times throughout the season."

On chance of high winds

“If it's 50-mile per hour winds? D.J. has a good arm but I don't know if it's that good. You have to find a way to win the game regardless of the elements."

His evaluation of defensive line

"We've generated some pressure. We've seen a lot of quick games, a lot of screens. This past week the ball came out on press-man and we had poor technique. We had three sacks and we should have had two more. We didn't finish well. In totality, we didn't play as well as we can. We didn't play bad but there were more plays we could have finished. We lost our discipline in this game (vs. NCSU) last year and had some really costly penalties. We have to just execute and everyone needs to do their job.

“Tyler Davis was awesome Saturday. He was MVP. Sitting him for two games is what he needed. And he would have kept playing. Coming into the year, I really felt like our defensive line had the depth of that 2014 group. Tyler missed the first two games. Bryan Bresee has had to miss. Williams has had to miss. We haven't had Xavier yet. Capehart is coming. Payton Page is coming. Ruke is what we thought he was. Getting Bryan back is huge. You could tell he hadn't practiced a lot.”