DABO SWINNEY CLEMSON DABO SWINNEY: Good to be back with y'all again. Again, proud of our team for just how they played and hung in there and found a way to win against an outstanding football team in Notre Dame. We're excited to be back at home again this week at 3:30. Clemson-Georgia Tech is, again, kind of a season of its own for us. I mean, it's a great game each and every year and has been for a long, long time. This is a football team that presents lots of challenges. They beat us last year and got about everybody back on defense, really good defensively, and then we all know what they're capable of doing offensively. The biggest thing when you look at them is their explosiveness, and you may not think of that when you think of Georgia Tech because they run the option, but 12 of their 28 touchdowns have come in two minutes or less. Just another huge challenge for us against a really good football team, and we've had a good week of practice so far. Today is another critical day for our preparation, and look forward, again, to hosting these guys on Saturday.
Q. I know the last couple of games what the defense has given you has sort of predicated the game plan that you have, but the lack of big plays in the passing game down the field, how much are you guys missing Mike Williams at this point?
DABO SWINNEY: Well, I mean, Mike Williams is a great player, so anytime you lose a great player, you certainly miss him. But we played in a hurricane this past Saturday. There weren't many big plays on either side in the passing game. Notre Dame's big plays came on four- and five-yard routes. We had a big play to (Hunter) Renfrow on a 3rd down, down the field, but just not a lot of opportunities. We dropped a big touchdown on a deep ball, but again, they did, too, and it was just kind of that type of a game weather-wise. I'm proud of what we did well, and that was manage the game under those circumstances and rushed the ball for 211 yards against a really tough Notre Dame defense. But you know, up at Louisville, two big touchdown passes down the field that were huge plays in the game, and then we had two blowouts our first two games that really our offense only played two quarters. But the least of my concerns is our ability to throw and catch. That is way down the list of concerns for me. It's just kind of funny to hear that question to be honest with you because, you know, people talk about, well, everybody is concerned we can't run the ball. Now we're running the ball well. We've had a 100-yard rusher and 200 yards rushing against good teams, so now everybody wants to know, well, why aren't we throwing the ball. It's one of those things, hey, we're focused on winning and doing what we've got to do to win from week to week, but I can just assure you we've got as good a quarterback as there is in the country, and there ain't a better group of wide-outs than what we've got here at Clemson.
Q. How do you get your team prepared for a team like Georgia Tech that runs that triple option style when you're coming off such an emotional game this past Saturday?
DABO SWINNEY: Same way we prepare every week. You know, for us, I mean, when you play to a standard, when you have a windshield mentality, which is what we talk about, when it's a one-game season every week, it's just the next game. We don't do anything different, whether we win a game or lose a game. We've become very consistent. One thing I'm pretty confident in is our guys are going to show up and play their tails off, and they're going to prepare great during the week because that's just what we do. So we don't try to do anything any different. We just go back to work. Our Monday is -- if we were sitting around here celebrating for three days, then it might be different, but we just practice the same way, prepare the same way, celebrate the game on Saturday, and our guys know, hey, new season starts tomorrow, and that's just the mentality that we have. Every week is a one-game season. You know, that's our approach.
Q. I seem to recall before the season you were pretty confident with the first-string defense and was just wondering how that second-string defense, the depth would materialize this year. Now that you're at this point in the season, what's kind of the verdict on that?
DABO SWINNEY: Just, you know, exactly the same. Our first group has been outstanding. They've been really, really good, just like I thought they would be. And after four games, I think we're -- not just the games. Everybody just looks at the games, but you know, a whole camp and five weeks into the season of practice and developing our depth. So I think that we're right on schedule. I think we're doing everything that we can to develop the depth for us and get guys ready for when their time comes to play. The first two games we were able to play a ton of guys, and then these last two games, you know, didn't play a whole lot of guys, just by nature of the game, but also coming into it we had a lot of guys like a Christian Wilkins, for example. Well, he's a depth guy, and so now after four games, he's not a rookie anymore. He's a vet. Guys on the offensive line like (Justin) Falcinelli and (Jake) Fruhmorgen and some of those guys, Taylor Hearn, they've all gotten some experience in there. I think we're right on schedule.
Q. I just want to ask you about the development of your defensive line this year. You had three guys drafted, I believe, last year. The focus of opposing teams was to stop Vic Beasley and Jarrett, and now this year Shaq Lawson has really emerged as a dominant player, and (Kevin) Dodd had an outstanding game Saturday. Can you talk about your defensive line and how quickly they're coming despite all the graduation losses?
DABO SWINNEY: Yeah, we actually had six guys in the D-line go to the NFL off of last year's team, and five of them made the rosters. We lost a bunch of good players. But you know, that's why we led the nation in that category. We had a bunch of good dudes. But Shaq Lawson was a backup for us last year and Kevin Dodd was a backup. Shaq backed up Vic Beasley, and Dodd was backing up Tavaris Barnes and Corey Crawford. Tavaris is playing a lot for the Saints and Corey is with the Redskins and Vic is with the Falcons. Those guys have played a lot, so that's why, again, my confidence coming into the season with our first group was I don't think you're going to see a lot of drop-off with that first group. Whereas last year we were really experienced and talented behind them with our first group, this year we're still talented but very inexperienced. And as far as our D-line, just the development, you know, we're kind of starting over with our group this year and the guys that we're trying to recruit in here for next year, and that's just the way it is in college football. But there's not a better -- our two D-line coaches, Dan Brooks and Marion Hobby, there's nobody better in the business than those two guys. All you've got to do is just look at their track records and the players that they have developed throughout their careers, not just while they're here at Clemson but throughout their careers. So those guys, they've done a great job. They've done a nice job of recruiting guys, and then again, not just recruiting them but developing them, and Kevin Dodd is a perfect example. Very lightly, not a highly recruited guy at all coming out of high school, and he's a fourth-year junior and really just kind of getting to play a lot. Didn't play a whole lot last year, played some, and it wasn't because he wasn't good enough. It just was because we had some NFL guys that were older, more experienced in front of him. But it's just kind of his time, and he's certainly seized the moment.
Q. I know the last couple of games what the defense has given you has sort of predicated the game plan that you have, but the lack of big plays in the passing game down the field, how much are you guys missing Mike Williams at this point?
DABO SWINNEY: Well, I mean, Mike Williams is a great player, so anytime you lose a great player, you certainly miss him. But we played in a hurricane this past Saturday. There weren't many big plays on either side in the passing game. Notre Dame's big plays came on four- and five-yard routes. We had a big play to (Hunter) Renfrow on a 3rd down, down the field, but just not a lot of opportunities. We dropped a big touchdown on a deep ball, but again, they did, too, and it was just kind of that type of a game weather-wise. I'm proud of what we did well, and that was manage the game under those circumstances and rushed the ball for 211 yards against a really tough Notre Dame defense. But you know, up at Louisville, two big touchdown passes down the field that were huge plays in the game, and then we had two blowouts our first two games that really our offense only played two quarters. But the least of my concerns is our ability to throw and catch. That is way down the list of concerns for me. It's just kind of funny to hear that question to be honest with you because, you know, people talk about, well, everybody is concerned we can't run the ball. Now we're running the ball well. We've had a 100-yard rusher and 200 yards rushing against good teams, so now everybody wants to know, well, why aren't we throwing the ball. It's one of those things, hey, we're focused on winning and doing what we've got to do to win from week to week, but I can just assure you we've got as good a quarterback as there is in the country, and there ain't a better group of wide-outs than what we've got here at Clemson.
Q. How do you get your team prepared for a team like Georgia Tech that runs that triple option style when you're coming off such an emotional game this past Saturday?
DABO SWINNEY: Same way we prepare every week. You know, for us, I mean, when you play to a standard, when you have a windshield mentality, which is what we talk about, when it's a one-game season every week, it's just the next game. We don't do anything different, whether we win a game or lose a game. We've become very consistent. One thing I'm pretty confident in is our guys are going to show up and play their tails off, and they're going to prepare great during the week because that's just what we do. So we don't try to do anything any different. We just go back to work. Our Monday is -- if we were sitting around here celebrating for three days, then it might be different, but we just practice the same way, prepare the same way, celebrate the game on Saturday, and our guys know, hey, new season starts tomorrow, and that's just the mentality that we have. Every week is a one-game season. You know, that's our approach.
Q. I seem to recall before the season you were pretty confident with the first-string defense and was just wondering how that second-string defense, the depth would materialize this year. Now that you're at this point in the season, what's kind of the verdict on that?
DABO SWINNEY: Just, you know, exactly the same. Our first group has been outstanding. They've been really, really good, just like I thought they would be. And after four games, I think we're -- not just the games. Everybody just looks at the games, but you know, a whole camp and five weeks into the season of practice and developing our depth. So I think that we're right on schedule. I think we're doing everything that we can to develop the depth for us and get guys ready for when their time comes to play. The first two games we were able to play a ton of guys, and then these last two games, you know, didn't play a whole lot of guys, just by nature of the game, but also coming into it we had a lot of guys like a Christian Wilkins, for example. Well, he's a depth guy, and so now after four games, he's not a rookie anymore. He's a vet. Guys on the offensive line like (Justin) Falcinelli and (Jake) Fruhmorgen and some of those guys, Taylor Hearn, they've all gotten some experience in there. I think we're right on schedule.
Q. I just want to ask you about the development of your defensive line this year. You had three guys drafted, I believe, last year. The focus of opposing teams was to stop Vic Beasley and Jarrett, and now this year Shaq Lawson has really emerged as a dominant player, and (Kevin) Dodd had an outstanding game Saturday. Can you talk about your defensive line and how quickly they're coming despite all the graduation losses?
DABO SWINNEY: Yeah, we actually had six guys in the D-line go to the NFL off of last year's team, and five of them made the rosters. We lost a bunch of good players. But you know, that's why we led the nation in that category. We had a bunch of good dudes. But Shaq Lawson was a backup for us last year and Kevin Dodd was a backup. Shaq backed up Vic Beasley, and Dodd was backing up Tavaris Barnes and Corey Crawford. Tavaris is playing a lot for the Saints and Corey is with the Redskins and Vic is with the Falcons. Those guys have played a lot, so that's why, again, my confidence coming into the season with our first group was I don't think you're going to see a lot of drop-off with that first group. Whereas last year we were really experienced and talented behind them with our first group, this year we're still talented but very inexperienced. And as far as our D-line, just the development, you know, we're kind of starting over with our group this year and the guys that we're trying to recruit in here for next year, and that's just the way it is in college football. But there's not a better -- our two D-line coaches, Dan Brooks and Marion Hobby, there's nobody better in the business than those two guys. All you've got to do is just look at their track records and the players that they have developed throughout their careers, not just while they're here at Clemson but throughout their careers. So those guys, they've done a great job. They've done a nice job of recruiting guys, and then again, not just recruiting them but developing them, and Kevin Dodd is a perfect example. Very lightly, not a highly recruited guy at all coming out of high school, and he's a fourth-year junior and really just kind of getting to play a lot. Didn't play a whole lot last year, played some, and it wasn't because he wasn't good enough. It just was because we had some NFL guys that were older, more experienced in front of him. But it's just kind of his time, and he's certainly seized the moment.
