Bowden and Beamer Weekly Press Conference Quotes

by Press Release - Wed Oct 03 13:02:40 GMT-04:00 2007

Head Coach Tommy Bowden:

On placekicker Mark Buchholz

"We are going to adjust his schedule a little bit. I met with Trevor Adair (soccer coach) this morning and met with Mark and his dad (via phone) on Monday.

"We usually let him kick early in practice and then let him go (to soccer practice). I'm going to keep him longer now and kind of simulate a game-type experience. We'll kick him early in practice, in the middle of practice, and kick him late. We'll have him run on the field and kick quickly. That's the closest I can get to a game-type of environment during practice. That's more like a game. I've never done that, and it is a new scenario. He's a tough guy mentally."

On special teams against Georgia Tech

"Last week, we fumbled a punt and we had a punt blocked. We had a roughing the kicker penalty on a punt. Our technique on the blocked punt was not good. We missed four field goals. You always worry about your kicker because kicking is so mental. His (Buchholz's) kicks were all long enough, they were just a little wide."

On offensive gameplan against Georgia Tech

"When you look at the game, we dropped two touchdown passes. We overthrew a touchdown pass and we dropped nine total. We dropped 13 total last year in 13 games, and we dropped nine in one game this year. So, if we correct that there is not a problem. If we don't get the punt blocked, they don't get their seven (points). If we don't fumble the punt, they don't get there three (points). So, I'm more concerned about correcting those problems."

On Clemson

?I hope my team responds like they did last year. We lost to Boston College last year and went on to win six games after our first loss. So I'm hoping they will do the same this year after the first loss but this is a different team with different chemistry and leadership.

I have used other teams as examples to my team. Maryland was down 24-3 at Wake Forest and lost the game in overtime. Then last week they beat a top 10 Rutgers team on the road. That was impressive.?

On Virginia Tech quarterback Tyrod Taylor

"We've got to be careful because we're a zone team and our linebackers drop back in zone and you're trying to get a pass rush to get in his face, and then all of sudden he gets free. He's a runner, a Woody Dantzler type guy and that creates problems. It's going to be tough to cover him. (Defensive Coordinator) Vic (Koenning) will have a plan."

On playing Virginia Tech

"Ever since they joined the conference, I would say they are a tad ahead of us in overall depth. We're closing the gap. We're a lot closer than we were when we went up there in 1999 and Michael Vick and his team beat us."

On offensive line

"They did not play as well as they did against N.C. State. If there are going to be any changes, we will address them Thursday or Friday, but we did not play well in any position on offense last week. We did not play up to our capabilities. There were some mental mistakes, but we also missed assignments."

On playing running backs C.J. Spiller and James Davis

"A lot of how much we play the two depends on the defense. I don't know how many snaps they were on the field at the same time last Saturday. All I know is right now I'm looking at who touches the ball. I want to see #80 (Aaron Kelly), #6 (Jacoby Ford), #28 (C.J. Spiller), and #1 (James Davis) touch the ball. I think if you watch us, those guys touch the ball a lot."

Head Coach Frank Beamer:

Opening statement

"This Clemson crowd is a dangerous football team. Starting with their two running backs, they're as good as anybody in the country. (Wide receiver Jacoby) Ford has great speed. They like to use their tight ends (in the passing game) and they're good blockers. You look at their defense, they're very athletic and they fly around. They have good linebackers. Their defensive end, Phillip Merling, is a really disruptive guy. They're a dangerous football team so we need to get ready to play a great football game."

On Tyrod Taylor's health

"(Assistant Director of Athletics for Athletic Training) Mike Goforth said that he came back for treatment and said he was better than what he thought. I haven't talked with Mike today but I expect Tyrod to practice. He needs it and we need it so I believe he's going to be able to go."

On Ed Wang's status

"We'll see how that goes. He's going to wear blue today and I think after seeing how he responds to that today we'll know how he'll be tomorrow. I think we have to wait and see how he can respond."

On Jared Develli's triceps injury

"I think they're going to do an MRI on his arm, but I think he'll be fine. I don't think it will affect him. I think everybody's going to be fine. (Tailback Branden) Ore has a hamstring but hopefully by Saturday that will be full speed ahead. I believe right now, we came out of the (North Carolina game) healthy."

On recruiting Clemson wide receiver Jacoby Ford

"I forget how that went exactly. I remember we had his name on the board so we probably did recruit him. I think he decided he wanted to go to Clemson fairly quickly. I remember him from Fork Union. I think he was fast back then and he's fast now."

On Zack Luckett's special teams contributions

"He (downs the ball inside the 20) well. He's got the body to do those kinds of things. He's a big guy who can really run so people have a hard time holding him up. He can get down the field and I want to get him more involved in the punt block team. Again, he has a fast, big body and those are the kinds you like in there so we're going to work with him this week on what call, our 'pride and joy.'"

On Luckett's biggest assets

"I think it's his size and his speed. He's a big kid who can run fast. Both of those come in handy. Both of them are real assets when being a 'head hunter' out there. I've said it for a lot of guys, we want to get him to be more consistent as a receiver and as a football player, and I think he's in the process of doing that. As a redshirt freshman, I think his maturity is coming along and hopefully his consistency is coming along also."

On punt block

"Well, we had two blocked (against North Carolina), we just didn't get them blocked. Those kids are working hard so I think it will come. I like the effort on the 'pride and joy' team. We really should have had two of them blocked the other day and of course, (North Carolina) held Chris Ellis so I think he would have blocked one. We got a 10-yard penalty on that play, so we pick up yardage that way, too. Sometimes, it's not just the blocked kick, it's the bad kick or a penalty against (the opponent) trying to keep you from blocking one. It all counts. There's yardage in there that over the course of the game you want to come out on the positive side."

On building more consistency

"I've been through 20 plays on the video, where I say to myself, "We missed blocking this guy here," or "We have two receivers here running wide open and we have to hit 'em." There's just a bunch of plays like that. To me, it's a matter of going back and taking care of the little things and the big things will come. We just have to be very exact and give great effort every play then everything will be fine."

On Xavier Adibi's role on the punt team

"He's really done a great job. He's the quarterback of that punt protection team and he's a good cover guy. He had a great game against North Carolina but he also had a great game on the 'pride' team, too. Overall, it was a great day for him. He's the one who gets us squared away so that's an important element."

On punt block team personnel

"Now that (Kam) Chancellor is playing more, Davon Morgan has taken his place. (Dustin) Pickle is great, too. He's not a tall guys but he's very quick and nifty in there. (Justin) Harper is in there and Cody Grimm has been in there for a few years. Corey Gordon has good height and good speed then (Jason) Worilds and Nekos Brown are in there, too."

On not having Chancellor on the punt block team

"Davon Morgan has done a good job in there, too. You try to figure out how many plays you're going to play on defense and then trying to get the best guy available out there and right now, Davon is that guy. He's a fresh guy out there and we've had good results. Kam was good because he's a long, tall guy who had a good knack for blocking kicks but Davon blocked a couple in preseason and hopefully we'll get him one here before it's all over."

On Davon Morgan

"We sat down and had a meeting (on his playing time) the week before our opener. I think his spot on the team was determined 10 days before our opening ball game. We felt like he needed to go ahead and play. He's got good athletic ability and he does things very naturally in the kicking game, kind of like Kam Chancellor last year. (Kam) played as a true freshman and I think they both came in here with good football sense. Davon is our second-team free safety right now so he's getting a lot of reps in practice. He gets better all the time."