CLEMSON -- Tuesday morning Clemson head football coach Dabo Swinney met with members of the media at his weekly news conference, this time to talk more about his team's 31-3 win over Boston College, personnel, injuries and of course a week of preparation ahead of Saturday night's showdown with Florida State in Tallahassee.
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The following is an abbreviated transcript of Tuesday's presser.
Q: So much about college football is built on rivalries. Who would you say is Clemson's biggest ACC rival?
SWINNEY: "Whomever we're playing that week. I know you don't want that answer. We're at a point where everyone circles us. Everyone practices for us year-round. That's where we are as a program. I'm not trying to boast, but our success brings that. It comes with it. You have to embrace that target. Everyone we play is the biggest game. If you look at it from a fan standpoint, Clemson - Florida State ... we've been in the division together. They've been in the league for 30 years. Think about how many times they have won this league and even over the last 14 years. This game many times has decided who wins the league, so it's huge. So many great moments and a lot of cycles in this series, The Bowden Bowl, everything.
"There has been a lot of history with Clemson and Georgia Tech. I know from a fan standpoint, there has always been a lot there. Clemson - N.C. State, the Textile Bowl ... they hand you a trophy when that game is over. Boston College - they give you a trophy if you win it. I just look at everybody with respect and I think everybody is a rival, but I know it's different for our fans. From a conference standpoint, I would say N.C. State, Florida State and Georgia Tech."
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Q: You're going to face some more screens this week. You seemed to have made a lot of progress against it since the Furman game.
SWINNEY: "You have to smell it out first. You have to recognize it up front, the tips and tendencies that come with the screen game. We have to do a good job with retracing. We have to tackle better. That's the main thing. If it's too good to be true, it usually is. We have to read our keys and have our eyes on the right things."
Q: Bryan Bresee is back this week, correct?
SWINNEY: "Yep. He's back this week. I don't think we get worse with Bryan back. We got Xavier Thomas going and we're trying to build his role. We've gotten better. We're playing better these last couple of weeks. We've played our best the last couple of weeks defensively. We've cleaned some things up on the back end. I think it's a reflection of how we have practiced. Sometimes you lose before guys grow up. We've had to play a lot of guys. I think that will serve us well at some point, but it's nice to get some experienced guys back."
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Q: Will Sheridan Jones come back this week?
SWINNEY: "He's still day to day. Hopefully today and tomorrow we'll know more. We thought he was going to play last week. Literally on Friday we found out he couldn't go. We are hopeful that he will have a good week."
Q: Is the plan for XT to just gradually add more plays each week?
SWINNEY: "Yep, yep. We want to increase his workload each week at practice. He has been around awhile and understands things. He knows what he can and can't do. The doctors feel really good about him. He looked pretty good the other night. We're trying to be cautious with him. I think he'll play more than six plays this week."
Q: Has your offensive line progressed the way you had hoped back in August?
SWINNEY: "They have. We had a few miscues the other night. It's a good group. We've had more continuity. I wish we had been able to get more playing time for two or three other guys. I am confident with our backups, but sometimes you feel like you're living and dying on every play. The consistency for D.J., it's made a huge difference. No one will win the Outland Trophy right away. We're much better, though. We've protected our quarterback, we've had good balance, a lot of explosive plays ... so they're where I hoped they would be.
"I'm really proud of Marcus Tate from where he was last year. It's night and day. Blake Miller probably had his worst game the other night, oversetting on some things. He's just very physical and does everything we need him to do. Jordan McFadden is a pro and will play for a long time. He's as good as we've ever had. Putnam, same thing. It's amazing how consistent he is. Just incredibly consistent. Walker Parks is the Shipley up front. He just brings a fire to the group that you love."
Q: What's the ceiling for this running game?
SWINNEY: "We can get a lot better. It's making the right decisions in the run game. A lot of it will come on our quarterback, too. It's about trusting things, pressing blocks, everything syncing up. Sometimes someone tries to do too much. It's your tight ends, receivers doing a good job on the second and third level. It's your RPOs off of it, your screen game, a lot going on. D.J. has been a huge factor for us. Third and three the other night and we called a draw and he ran for 40 yards. That wouldn't have happened last year. He's just a very confident kid. I think we have the ability to be a very productive running offense and we're going to need to be."
Q: Does Kobe's injury affect that trajectory some?
SWINNEY: "Dominique Thomas will be our third guy. And I love him. He's a really good player. His time will come. He's a tough, hard-to-tackle, guy. Great vision. He's got great hips. He's a big, strong, thick kid. Big quads. He'll move up. We'll trying to redshirt Keith Adams Jr. He's played one game, but he'll have to travel with us. We'll need Kobe at some point. It'll be a good opportunity for Will and Mafah. Mafah had a great game the other night. He's starting to hit his stride. Our hope is that Kobe is ready to go for that November run."
Q: How much of DJ's success running is him being more willing?
SWINNEY: "That's a part of it. He wants to be better. Looking back last year, there were opportunities where he didn't run it. He didn't feel like he was as good as he needed to be. And he was hurt, too. He had a big knee brace on. Then he lost 30 pounds. He's more athletic and more mobile in the pocket. He can escape and extend plays. Some of our biggest plays have come off scrambles. You don't have to be Deshaun Watson. You don't have to have those wheels. You just need to be athletic. It's something he wanted to add to his game this year."
Q: So many guys are playing now that had to be forced into action last year. Are you able to notice a big difference halfway through the season, just evaluating game tape?
SWINNEY: "I wanted to vomit watching the Florida State game last year. We were so bad. We won, which is a miracle. We were just so bad. We don't have games like that this year. It's never as good or as bad as you think. Grading our tape this year versus last year is night and day. Night and day and in every area. Watch our game from last year and you can't even believe we won the game. We won that game on heart and grit. They thought they were supposed to win, so it spoke to our guys' character. It was a frustrating season as far as grading and teaching every week. This year it has been better ... normal teaching and corrections."
Q: You talked about the patience of XT. Tre' Williams is a guy who has also battled a lot of adversity physically. What about him?
SWINNEY: "XT, he is an amazing story. It's unbelievable the maturity he has now from when I first met him. The fact that he's here, what he has been through and overcome, I'm really proud of him. His knowledge as a football player is great. He was not a very knowledgeable player when he got here. He was just a great athlete. He had so much to learn. He's just a complete player. He's in the best shape of his life mentally and physically. It's fun to see him overcome.
"Tre', coming out of high school with the shoulder issues ... he's gone through a lot. He's a high-level, explosive, defensive tackle. He knows what he can do, but he has been injured. He has just kept the faith. He stayed confident. I think our staff has done a great job of keeping him encouraged. It was fun to see him have a sack the other night. He had about 40 people there. I saw his mom before the game at the hotel when we were getting on the bus. He's a redshirt sophomore, so he still has it all in front of him. If he stays healthy, he will finish well at Clemson."
Q: Is it common for guys to come here without a great deal of football aptitude?
SWINNEY: "You never know. It's why I don't like the recruiting (rankings/industry). You get all these kids labeled in the recruiting process. It's not good for their mental health. They're mentally a ways off. They may be physically ready. Some guys are mentally ready. You just never know that until you start coaching a kid. When you start projecting that and a kid isn't playing ...
"It's unique. That's what I was saying about Barrett Carter last year. Barrett isn't the norm. Isaiah Simmons redshirted. He wasn't ready to play. He was just kind of an athlete who roamed around. He wasn't really serious about it initially. Brent is in your grits because you're outside when you should be inside and he doesn't understand why he's suppose to be there. That's why it's amazing what Miller is doing. You just don't see that.
"Cole Turner could play today. Mentally he is instinctive. He understands route running and he has freaky ball skills, but physically we want to develop him a little bit. Vic Beasley ... he was pretty good, right? He was so far from playing for us as a freshman. He wasn't even close. We got some life out of him as a redshirt sophomore and then he became a star. You just never know."
Q: Have you talked to Brent Venables this week? How is he handling things? It seems people are really impatient.
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SWINNEY: "That just comes with it. I have communicated with him. He'll be fine. This isn't his first rodeo. This is his first time in the skillet. He hasn't forgotten how to coach. He knows what he has to do. They're just in a tough stretch right now."
Q: Something you said over the summer ... referring to being the Dean of the ACC football coaches. They used to joke about how Bobby Bowden was a CEO. You have to be that now because of staff explosions. Would you like to have more focus and involvement on the field (practices, games)?
SWINNEY: "I don't do anything different than I ever have. I think you have to be both. I am an offensive guy. Every head coach is something. You'll always gravitate to that and recruit to your strengths. You have to surround yourself with the right people. You have discipline. I love planning and organizing and managing the team. And I don't manage the team any differently than I did my position group. It's important that they see you as the head coach. Everybody knows my background but I try to balance that and Coach Stallings taught me that. He was a defensive guy but he knew what was going on offensively. You don't get what you expect, you get what you inspect. That's what I live by.
"You have to be engaged with your players and your staff. You have to be involved in the football aspect of it. Every Tuesday I meet for an hour with our offense and defense. It's one of my favorite days of the week in terms of the key pieces of preparation. I'm engaged in all aspects but yes you have to be a CEO. I'm very fortunate. I've got Woody McCorvey. He and I have been together for 32 years. He knows me like a book. I can't go and sit in every leadership meeting that they want to have but Woody can do it and make sure we have a voice. I know I wouldn't be successful just being this or being that. You can do both and have both. You just have to be balanced and efficient. We do a 13-month calendar and we just execute the day."
Q: You said Jeremiah Trotter prepares like a pro. How much do you think him having his father has helped him?
SWINNEY: "I don't think you can even question that. It'd be like your dad being a Hollywood movie star and you are an aspiring actor. He'd probably have some pretty good advice. Jeremiah's brother is the same. His father was one of the best ever and played a long time in the pros. You don't play that long without great knowledge and a great understanding of the game. There's no doubt that he has taught that to his son. To have someone like that to teach you, there's no question he's way ahead. He's talented enough but having his father there has been a blessing to him. We saw that when he got here. We weren't starting with a blank canvas. He was really, really good and has everything you want. His instincts for the game and understanding are great."
Q: An update on Malcolm? R.J. Mickens?
SWINNEY: "Malcolm is back. He was ready if needed last week. We expect R.J. to be back this week."
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