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CLEMSON | Tuesday morning Clemson head football coach Dabo Swinney addressed members of the media as part of his weekly news conference, this time to discuss injuries as well as a week of preparation ahead of Saturday's matchup with No. 12 Wake Forest (9-1, 6-0).

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Clemson (7-3, 5-2) will host the Demon Deacons in a game set for a noon kickoff. The matchup will be televised by ESPN.

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

OPENING STATEMENTS: "This will be a great matchup. I want our fans to be here. Heck, come early. Come on Friday and pitch a tent. I'm excited for our guys, Senior Day. We have guys who have had great careers and have made great contributions to this program. It's always an emotional week. It's always a little bit sad, too. This is the last time for them to play in this stadium. It's our last time to coach them in that environment. It's also exciting because we know that they are well-prepared.

"Wake is a heck of a team. They have had a magical year. They have been able to stay relatively healthy, which is a key for everybody. They have a bunch of fourth, fifth and sixth-year players. Dave Clawson has done an awesome job. He has become a friend. He and I have spent more time with each other in the last two years than any other coach I have been around over the years. He has done a wonderful job. They have been unbelievably consistent. They play to their strengths and they do a great job with their evaluations and development.

"Defensively they are good. Their stats don't tell the story. They play hard. They're very well coached up front. They move around. We have to play well. We don't have a single senior starting for us. We have two juniors starting for us. We're in a little bit of a development stage. We will have two true freshmen receivers starting. Will Putnam has reclassified as a sophomore. They turn the ball over. They have 13 different guys on their defense who have created a turnover. They do a great job with their scheme.

"Offensively, they are a handful. Their scheme is different and unique and that creates some challenges. We do play them every year, so that's a positive for us. Ultimately it comes down to experience. They have 96-percent of their team back from last year on offense. Their QB is a savvy, relentless competitor. They have cohesion up front. They play really fast. There isn't a lot of motioning. They have three backs who are all good players, two really good tight ends ... all of them. These are the best receivers we have played as a group. They lead the country in passes of 30+ yards. We have to win matchups and be disruptive up front. They're the only team in the country to score 35+ every single game."

"We're still alive in the division. We need some help but we're still alive. We just want to have a chance. We have fought back. We have won three in a row and five out of the last six. We have been in a position to win every game. I'm proud of our team and their will to win."

Q: Update on Sergio Allen?

SWINNEY: "We got a great report on him. They thought it was his knee. It was more of a ligament. He rolled his ankle, too, but he's going to heal up. We didn't know until Sunday when we got the MRI back."

Q: Justyn Ross?

SWINNEY: "He is out. We will probably go ahead and do surgery on Thursday. Right before we play UGA, he had a slight area where it was fractured in his foot. He told us he thought he could play, so he did. He hurt the UGA and SC State games. He's been in treatment all year. It was amazing that he played 10 games. He has played with a plate in his shoe. That one play Saturday, a great play, and he somehow tweaked it more. And we may wait and see where he is next Monday. Maybe. Maybe he can finish, but right now our plan is to go forward with surgery.

"One of the worst days of my coaching career was the day that the doctors showed up in my office unannounced and we had to get Justyn and his mom and tell him that he wasn't likely going to play football anymore. I'm just so thankful for his physician. Most of the doctors said they wouldn't play him. But the other doctor told us it was the easier answer. He said it was 50/50, but said there was a path where he could play. He had his surgery and the physician told me it was 15-0, everything was great and that he felt Justyn could play. For 18-19 months, watching Justyn go through what he went through, it was just special. One of the greatest days of my coaching career was watching him return to play. What a blessing.

"In the last three or four games, I think those were his best games. He was flying around the field, catching, leaping and blocking. His commitment to his team and university and this program, it has been amazing to watch. If that's his last play, I am thankful that he was able to come back and play."

Q: Updates on others? Jamie Skalski?

SWINNEY: "Skalski will be fine. Sage Ennis is limited, so Jake Briningstool has to go (play). We have Will Shipley and Kobe Pace back. We have Will Putnam back, so that's a positive as well. We will need everybody. We have some young guys in some spots that need to step up."

Q: How is D.J. feeling now?

SWINNEY: "He looked good last night. He practiced last night. Absolutely."

Q: What was Taisun Phommachanh able to do last night in practice?

SWINNEY: "He was sore and did not practice. Hopefully he can ramp up each day. He's still working through that shoulder issue. It was mild, but he has to work through that."

Q: Do you know if Jordan McFadden will be back next year?

SWINNEY: "He's going to come back. Yes. He and Davis Allen will be our only seniors on offense next year. It will pay off for us. We have a lot of guys who will be back, plus we will add on. We will be a much more experienced team next year."

Q: There was a time when Wake's slow mesh didn't work well against you. Do you feel like you can have that kind of success against them this time around?

SWINNEY: "I hope so but they have guys now who are more experienced. Their QB has bought into what they do. Everything they do feeds off of that. They have been successful consistently. That's the battle. We have to win the line of scrimmage. You have to win competitive plays."

Q: You said Will Putnam reclassified as a sophomore. Have you figured out 2022 and 2023 recruiting and what you want to do there?

SWINNEY: "No. No one has figured out that. There isn't a coach on the planet who has figured that out. No one has figured out 2023 recruiting. We feel like we are in a good place roster-wise. Our numbers ... we're going to be right there. Our number on the offensive line is 15. Right now we'll probably sign two guys and be right at our number. Something could change next week. Something could change tonight. It's just so fluid. You don't know how your current roster will shape out. You have COVID all the way through 2024-2025. Everybody has to account for that. Next year if someone comes back for a COVID year, they have to be in your 85 count.

"It's a crazy world. I never thought I'd experience anything like this when I got into coaching. You have the transfer portal, so a lot of high school kids are going to get pushed to the side. A lot of high school kids are trying to be midyear guys to get a spot. They're trying to compete with the portal. We'll have 12-to-14 midyears who will show up in January. Most of our signees are midyears now. So nobody has figured it out. It is a daily, fluid situation."

Q: People are under the assumption that you will never use the portal, though you have never said that. If you had a fifth-year grad O-lineman in the portal who might be a fit, would you be open to it?

SWINNEY: "There isn't a school in the country who won't recruit the portal. Everybody in D-1 football will have to deal with the portal in some form because you're going to have gaps in your roster somewhere. They have until May 1 to say, 'I'm out.' That is the world we have created. I don't like it but that's the world we are in now. The next thing you know we're going to have midyears leave because they're third team or because someone yelled at them in mat drills. There are no barriers anymore in college football. It's just ready, shoot, aim. You don't have a choice.

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"We'll deal with it but we won't be as effected as many programs. We won't just do it to do it. It has to be strategic and the right fit. Kids who are in the portal want to be starters. No one wants to come to Clemson to be the fourth-team running back. Most kids in the portal ... there's nowhere for them to go. If y'all find one, y'all let me know.

"But yes, when it happens, it'll be one of the greatest days in the history in Clemson. We'll have someone in the portal and y'all can write about it. And he better be a great player (laughing/joking).

"Someone is going in the portal everyday, so eventually people will quit commenting on it. It's an unintended consequence, but that's what we're dealing with.

"I've never ruled it out. I've just said we haven't had to use it. We have been at our number. It's not been a need for us. We've known guys who were leaving and we addressed it on the front end in recruiting. I knew last year that Nyles and Jordan Williams were leaving. This is the first full cycle where there is nowhere to address it.

"I signed a quarterback from Stanford. I told him up front that he'd be my scout team quarterback. He wanted to get back to South Carolina. There was no portal, but he was a grad transfer. He wasn't looking to come in here and be the starter. He wanted to be a part of our culture and get into coaching. We've had guys walk on throughout the years, guys who played at other places. But yes, again, everyone will have to use the portal at some point."

Q: One of your goals has always been to win your division. It's pretty tight right now.

SWINNEY: "We have to win. We're still alive but we're a wounded dog. If we don't win this game, we're not. If we win this game, it'll go on down to the last day. We want to finish at 6-2 in the league which would be a great finish for this team. We haven't had back-to-back senior classes here leave undefeated (at home) since 1940-1941. Robbie Caldwell wasn't alive then. You know why it's been a long time? Because it's hard to win. The best we can be now is 9-3. You can't win nine until you win your eighth one. The division is still out there for us. We have to take care of business. If we do not, Wake will be division champs.

"I'm proud of our team. Their will to win has been awesome. I love these seniors. What a cool thing to be able to walk off the field and say you never lost a home game. And hey, I think that 1940-41 team only played like two home games a year. Not to take anything away from the 1940-41 group."

Q: You voted in the top 25 polls in the past, but would you vote Clemson in the top 25 right now?

SWINNEY: "Absolutely. I didn't vote this year. I opted out of it this year after 13 years after all the drama for my team last year (Ohio State controversy). It's just something I could eliminate.

"Nobody wants to give our opponents any credit. UGA is pretty good. They only scored three offensive points on us. N.C. State is pretty good. Double overtime at their place. Pitt ... pretty good. I think it's more Clemson stinks as opposed to our opponents being good. I think we lost to some good teams that were better than us that day."

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