CLEMSON -- Clemson head football coach Dabo Swinney met with members of the media Tuesday as part of his weekly news conference, this time to discuss personnel, injuries, a week of preparation ahead and of course Saturday night's showdown versus No. 10-ranked N.C. State in Death Valley.

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The following is an abbreviated transcript of Swinney's Tuesday presser.

Q: NC State plays a lot of dime coverage. What kind of challenge does that present for D.J. Uiagalelei?

SWINNEY: "A lot of zone. They force you to be patient in how they play structurally. 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."

Q: Clemson has dominated this series under you. Do you think their recent success has energized them coming into a game like this?

SWINNEY: "I think they've always been good. N.C. State has always been a tough opponent ever since I've been at Clemson. 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."

Q: Are there one or two things that you see now with D.J. that you can point to in his significant improvement?

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SWINNEY: "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."

Q: You have to have a short memory at corner. Talking to Nate Wiggins yesterday, he seemed to still be confident in his abilities.

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SWINNEY: "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."

Q: Will Malcolm Greene, Sheridan Jones and Andrew Mukuba be back this weekend?

SWINNEY: "We're hopeful on all of those guys, but I don't know anything at this point."

Q: How much of the problems at corner stem from players just not turning around?

SWINNEY: "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."

Q: How much easier does B.T. Potter make your life?

SWINNEY: "He's a great one. I haven't seen all the kickers but I think he's the best kicker. I know what I see in practice everyday. He's a complete guy. He can do it all. He's one of the better leaders we've had in here. He came back for his extra year. He really wanted to come back and had some more goals he wanted to achieve. He wanted to better position himself for the next level. He has done an excellent job."

Q: Do you alter anything in your schedule this week due to the threat of severe weather?

SWINNEY: "No. It's a normal week. We're going to get our team ready to play."

Q: N.C. State lost maybe their best wide receiver from last year but Thayer Thomas had some success against you as well and he's back.

SWINNEY: "He's a great player, a great returner, just great with the ball in his hands. He makes tough, competitive, catches. He makes catches downfield. There's nothing he can't do. He can throw the ball. He's a reverse guy, a screen guy ... he does it all. He's one of the better players in this league."

Q: Will you work more with wet balls this week?

SWINNEY: "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."

Q: Do you get more touches to your running backs this week in light of the weather forecast?

SWINNEY: "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."

Q: Sometimes when a secondary is struggling, a pass rush can be its best friend. How do you evaluate your defensive front to this point?

SWINNEY: "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."

Q: Your assessment of Ruke Orhorhoro thus far?

SWINNEY: "Good. I'm proud of him. He's got a bum hand. He's having a nice year for us. He's heading in the right direction."

Q: Your assessment of your inside linebackers?

SWINNEY: "Good. Trenton Simpson is learning every week. He doesn't have the experience of Baylon or Skalski but he covers up for some of that with his speed and athleticism. He's learning every single week as far as his eye discipline and fits and keys. He flies around. He makes mistakes sometimes. Trotter is really, really, good. I'm pleased with all of our backers. It's a really good group. We just have to clean up some things on the edges in our coverage. If we can tighten that up, we'll be fine."

Q: You expect Xavier Thomas back this week? And how excited is he to finally get in a game?

SWINNEY: "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. Tre 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.

"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."

Q: Do you expect Tre Williams to back this week?

SWINNEY: "I do expect him back this week. He's been nursing some inflammation. When he has played, he has been a factor. We do expect him back."

Q: Was Justin Mascoll's start a message to Myles Murphy or did he have a better week?

SWINNEY: "He just played better. He just graded better (in practice). Myles Murphy played a lot better this past week. Mascoll played great against Louisiana Tech."

Q: Barrett Carter's production to this point?

SWINNEY: "He's been one of our best players, one of our most consistent players on the field. Very few mistakes. Very consistent. His effort is tremendous. He's very detailed in his preparation. He's one of the best players on this team. He has done a fantastic job for us. He's a very bright spot on our team right now."

Q: Anything schematically Brandon Streeter has brought to the offense that is distinctly his?

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SWINNEY: "He's done a great job in how he has organized things, how he has organized the meetings. The biggest thing is personnel. We've been able to get the type of personnel that we need. He has done a great job in scheming up our run game and basic pass concepts. He's done a bunch of good things. We've scored a bunch of points. I'd have lost money on that ... I'd have never guessed that. The most points scored through the first four games since 1900? I'd say that's a far cry from where we were this time last year. We're heading in in the right direction."

Q: You mentioned third downs (conversions) and the growth and progress there from last year to this year. Can you pinpoint why that's happened?

SWINNEY: "Better up front, better quarterback play and better skill players. It's not really complicated. I wish I could tell you it's magic. We're not giving up a lot of sacks. We're more experienced and we have better personnel and our quarterback is playing great. He's not perfect but he's much better. We're making plays. A better group on the field and a more confident group."

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