Dabo Swinney ACC teleconference transcript |
Audio of Dabo Swinney's teleconference (MP3 Format)
COACH SWINNEY: Good to be with you guys. I'm proud of our team and staff for where we are right now in the season. We have got a lot of work to do. It doesn't get any easier. Just got another very tough, physical opponent this week. And Boston College is typical BC, they are tough, hard-nosed, well-coached, and you know, five of our last six games against these guys for whatever reason have been (decided by) a touchdown or less. So they beat us last year up there, and so it's going to be a tough opponent once again. We are just trying to have a great week of practice and you know just see if we can keep getting better. Home coming for us and we are excited about a lot of people coming back and hopefully we can play well on Saturday. Q. Can you talk about how you went about reassuring
Dwayne AllenDwayne Allen the changes in the off-season about what his role would be in this offense, because I guess he had some apprehension about it at first. COACH SWINNEY: I just talked to him and just told him obviously that I think he's a great player and he's a guy that we have been trying to involve since he got here. Just told him, I said, listen, I'm interested in winning. You know, you're going to have to trust me; that the changes that I'm going to make are going to be the best changes for the program, the team, but that you're going to be a big part of this. Every thought I have, you're a big part of it. This guy is obviously a great weapon. So I wouldn't be a very smart coach if you had a guy like that and not involve him. And you know, he thankfully trusted us and it's worked out great. But you know, there was a lot of misperception out there and people create their own perception in putting all kind of garbage on the Internet and all that kind of stuff, create -- you spend half your time in this deal dealing with problems that other people create that are not even -- they are so far from reality, it's not even funny. But you end up having to deal with it. And a lot of people, oh, we are going to be five-wides and all this kind of stuff, and just nothing's further from the truth. We are a power-oriented type of running football team that's always going to involve a tight end, and especially when you have a great one like we have got in Dwayne Allen. Q. What was the appeal to Chad's offense when you decided to hire him? Obviously the league has been hesitant to go in that direction. You see it more in the Big 12 than we do in the ACC. What the was the appeal to you for bringing him in? COACH SWINNEY: It's what I wanted to do for a couple of years. The timing of it was perfect. Our quarterback situation was perfect. It's what we were recruiting to, and it was just a good time to make that change. There was a lot of carryover. There was a lot of similarities from what we were doing before as far as just some of the schematic stuff: The zone, the power, the counter; a lot of those things, there's a lot of carryover. But I wanted to be able to involve our quarterback more and all of the elements that come with that. I wanted to have an option threat involved in our offense. I really wanted to attack more from a play-action standpoint, especially down the field. And all of those things were in place with the system that Chad was running and I just felt very confident. I kind of had a checklist of everything I wanted, and as I went through my process and met with Chad, it was check, check, check, check, check, and then it was just a matter of if the chemistry was going to be right. It couldn't be better. I’m just really happy that it all worked out and we are playing pretty good. Q. Does that offense work without a player like Tajh or Sammy? We have seen Oregon and Auburn in the National Championship game, some pretty good players and Boston College, which does not exactly have the same personnel as you, or pick another ACC team you are not playing this week; is that one of the reasons why it's been kind of successful? COACH SWINNEY: Well, I don't think, first of all, it doesn't matter what you do offensively; if your players don't believe in it, you're not going to be successful and vice versa. If they believe in it and are totally committed to being great in whatever system you're running, then you've got a chance to be successful. But there's no question, it all comes down to the personnel. You've got to have good players. I mean, listen, we run a lot of the same plays that we have run, but they work a lot better when you have got guys like
Sammy WatkinsSammy Watkins this type of system, you need a quarterback who is mobile, who can move around and do some things. That is a critical part of what we do, and we are not going to be as effective if we have a guy that can't move. So it's definitely a part of it. But you need speed, because you want to make people defend every patch of grass out on the field and everybody needs speed no matter what system you're running. So recruiting is the big key to success. You have got to have good players and everybody's got good coaches. Everybody's got good coaches out there, and we have been blessed that we have been able to recruit the last couple of years and it's paying off for us in a big way. Q. Your defense was pretty impressive there last Saturday is; did you just take step forward with your defense or how do you account for how well you guys played on defense last Saturday? COACH SWINNEY: We definitely took a step forward. We have been improving. We had, all year long, we had had some really, really good moments where we played very well. But we also had some very shaky moments where we, you know, just didn't play well in spurts, giving up some big plays, missing some tackles and just doing some things that we can control and improve and we worked hard and we just, like I said, have gotten better, a little bit better in areas each week and I thought we played probably our best game against Florida State. And then we continued that improvement at Virginia Tech. We took another step. And so that was really good to see as far as -- they got a lot of yards, but I wasn't pleased with the amount of yards after contact that they got. But we tackled better. We defended every pass. We were executing the call. We really did a good job with our gaps and all that type of stuff. I mean, really just played a very solid game, and you know, we have had good practices and we have got good leadership over there and some of our young guys are stepping up for us. But that's the kind of effort and commitment to preparation we have to have every week if we are going to continue to improve. FRANK SPAZIANI - BOSTON COLLEGE COACH SPAZIANI: Well, we are excited about going down to play Clemson, nationally-ranked team, a great venue, great program, great coaches and certainly some great players. With that, questions. Q. Can you talk about the problems that Sammy Watkins presents? He's obviously had a huge impact as a freshman at Clemson. When you see him and compare him to the other top receivers, seeing Gibbons last week and Vernon and Varner the week before, what does Watkins do that makes him so effective? COACH SPAZIANI: Well, he's a lot faster than a lot of people, that's the first thing. You know, when you watch him, it's hard to fathom that he is just a true freshman. He has tremendous skills, quickness and speed. He's a handful. Q. Is he a guy that you shape your coverage for, to double him or try to take him away and make him do other things? COACH SPAZIANI: Well, I don't know if we are equipped to do that, but you certainly have to be aware of where he is and what he does, and schematically do the best job you can to make sure you try to neutralize him in the best things he does. Once again, I don't know, you have to be on a certain level to do some of those things. We have to play our defense. Q. Coach, Clemson tries to set up a quick pace offensively, snap the ball inside 20 seconds or so, does that create problems any more for teams, or do you see that enough that you are conditioned to it? COACH SPAZIANI: No, I think it creates problems and I think people are starting to create their hands around it. I don't think we have our hands around it; we being coaches, that is, as much as we are going to need to with many teams doing it, and it's certainly been a problem for us. It's certainly something that's a big concern. Q. I assume that it just pretty much limits, if not eliminates, in some circumstances situations, substitutions. COACH SPAZIANI: Well, you know, it's not -- when they substitute, you're supposed to be allowed to substitute and so there's a gray area in there. But it poses problems, it does, yeah, because of, you know, trying to get fresh people on the field and matchups. There are a lot of problems there. That's why they do it. Q. I know this is a loaded question, but can you explain or summarize why you guys have struggled so much this season? COACH SPAZIANI: That's not a loaded question. That's straightforward. We have struggled, and once again explaining is not excuse-making. We are who we are and we never have excuses. We have had some -- what usually happens when you struggle. We have a leadership issue. We have very few upper class seniors on the team. We have had the ones that were upper class injured and hurt. And we have had guys in and out of the lineup, and we have had an inconsistency in our practice schedules that has shown up and manifested itself in the games. Once again, they are realities and nothing that we didn't expect or obviously there's some different things that happened that no one expected. But injuries that came -- you know they are going to happen. You just are not sure who it's going to happen. So everybody is going have them and you have to work through the problems. I hope that answers your loaded question. Q. Is there anything that you can do in the second half of the season to reverse that? COACH SPAZIANI: First of all, we are not into the second half. You know, we are getting better. Let me just say that, all right and once again, the record is what it is. But there's improvement. The young players that are playing are getting better. The players are working hard. There's a tremendous attitude. And we go one game at a time. You know, the whole idea from the beginning, and this is not a revelation for programs, but is to get better as the season goes along. We always are looking to get better week-to-week. I guess that will improve in the second half, won't it? Q. To follow up on that, have you resigned yourself to, we are going to need win ballgames, 21-20, 23-20, that kind of thing, have you resigned yourself to, that there's a certain kind of ballgame you can win, you have to play a certain way defensively? COACH SPAZIANI: Resign yourself is not the term I would have used. We look at our squad, and we looked at it in preseason and we looked at it in summer and we looked at it as we are going along. We are always evaluating how we have to play to maximize our chances to win, and we knew we had to play different coming in in some ways, and as things have unfolded, you know, that's -- we have not quite met the challenge doing that. We understand that we have to make some adjustments. Q. So you knew you had to play a certain way, so you privately saw this coming; that it was going to be a struggle offensively this year? COACH SPAZIANI: Not privately. I've been quite forthcoming with how we -- with what we needed to get out of certain people and how we had to play and what our role would be as coaches and putting guys in the right . Q. With all of those great receivers outside Clemson has, how difficult is it to handle their tight end, Dwayne Allen, who is also a big, physical, fast guy? COACH SPAZIANI: You're right, he's a great football player. They have a lot of great football players. And we usually do when there are a lot of great receivers like that, we just don't cover the decoys. Q. You were asked recently about sort of a comparison to last season when you got started slow and finished strong and from what I kind of read in the comments, you basically shot down any type of comparisons. And I'm wondering what your thinking was in doing that, or is it a message to your players, don't expect that you can magically turn things around; some people might have thought you were sounding kind of pessimistic with those answers. COACH SPAZIANI: You know, first of all, I'm not pessimistic at all. I'm very optimistic. What I was trying to say was, yes, there is certainly a comparison in both years, the starts have not been exactly what you would like. Let's put it that way; the optimist. But they are different teams with different problems and certainly different circumstances. And yes, we did it once and certainly you can build on that, and you should. But it doesn't guarantee and we are certainly working towards that. That's what I was trying to say. I was in no way implying pessimism, because that's not even a thought. Matter of fact I'm very optimistic about the direction we are going. Q. What gives you some optimism? COACH SPAZIANI: The optimism is that we have a tremendous amount of improvement that we can make. There's a tremendous amount of potential. Now, potential means you haven't done it yet; but we have that. And it looks like it's a function of time and we have to speed it up as fast as possible. And we have kids that are working hard, understand exactly what they have to do, and they are coming out to practice and to get as good as they possibly can be. The guys that are out there every day are getting better, and we'll all get better for it. That's my -- there's a lot to be optimistic about. Q. Montel, can you quantify where he is physically at this point? COACH SPAZIANI: Montel will be day-to-day throughout, you know -- that's where he is. It's taken a long time to get to this point, and best answer I can give you is he's day-to-day. Q. He's shown incredible grit to be able to work through that. COACH SPAZIANI: Well, Montel, I've said it over and over again. Montel is a very special person and he's certainly a very special player, and we all recognize it here in BC. Q. The other thing, curiously, this Clemson/Boston College rivalry in the ACC has taken on kind of an identity of its own, obviously recognized with the trophy deal; but just the nature of the games and the closeness and some of the dramatic outcomes. Is it just kind of a curiosity or is it -- do you have a view of it? COACH SPAZIANI: Yeah, I think somebody asked that. I think early on, a couple of the games had some implications. They had -- they were all important but some are exponentially important with rewards and outcomes. So I think that has taken it on, and they have got great fans, and they have been for the most part competitive games. So other than that, I can't really explain it.
RS Jr. Tight End
#83 6-3, 255
Fayetteville, NC
View Full Profile
when you made
Fr. Wide Receiver
#7 6-1, 200
Fort Myers, FL
View Full Profile
and certainly
Unlock premium boards and exclusive features (e.g. ad-free) by upgrading your account today.
Upgrade Now