	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 22, 2016

Dabo Swinney

Greensboro, North Carolina

DABO SWINNEY: Happy Thanksgiving to everyone out there. For us, coming off of a big win up in Winston-Salem. Really proud of our team for how they responded from the previous game, and it was great to get back on track, to win our division, something that we set out to do, and so a huge goal accomplished for our team, and we're obviously excited about representing the Atlantic Division in the ACC Championship.

But for us, man, it's just a special week. It's rivalry week for so many programs out there, and this has become a tremendous rivalry across this country, and we're just excited about being part of it. Glad to be at home, a nice game here in the Valley. It will be the last game for our seniors here, and they're excited about having another opportunity to play here because we didn't play very well the last time.

But got a lot of respect for South Carolina and what they've done this year. They've really improved, and Will has done a great job and their staff. Very well-coached, and I know they're excited to get back on the winning side of things. They've earned the opportunity to go to a bowl game, and again, coming off a disappointing year last year, but this is a football team that is really improving. They're playing a lot of young guys. They're running the football very well.

Defensively they're playing with a lot of discipline and playing hard and tough. They're good in the kicking game, so this is a typical Clemson-South Carolina game where you're going to have to play well. Whoever wins it will have to earn it.

Looking forward to competing against these guys and enjoying Thanksgiving, as well.

Q. I know you guys have so many weapons on offense that it's easy for one or two guys to kind of fly under the radar, but the maturity and growth and production that you've gotten out of Jordan Leggett over the last few years, how much has he kind of grown as a player, and what has he meant to your offense overall?
DABO SWINNEY: Well, the tight end position has always been critical for me and for what we want to do here offensively from day one since I got the job, with Michael Palmer going back to Michael Palmer and Dwayne Allen and Brandon Ford. It's just kind of his time to -- he was the next guy, and he was a receiver in high school, so he was a guy that really had a lot of developing to do and had to buy into being a tight end, not just being a receiver.

It took a little while early on to get him to understand. Now, his body responded well. He's a 260-pound, 6'5" guy that can run, but he's just become so much more of a complete player these last couple years and has impacted our team in a great way. He's become a great leader, too. He's become one of the most committed guys. Just been fun to watch his transformation, not only as a player but as a young man. Really proud of him. He's graduating here in a couple weeks, so excited about that. He's back-to-back -- he was a Mackey finalist last year in the final three, he's a Mackey finalist this year. Just really proud of him, and has been a big-time reason for our offensive success these last couple years.

Q. I know last year at the end of the year, he obviously had a choice to make about whether he wanted to come back for this season or not. Where do you think he's benefitted the most from having this extra year at Clemson?
DABO SWINNEY: Oh, man, just all around development, another year in that weight room, another year of football knowledge, another year of a lot of playing experience. You know, he's -- and then just, he came back because he wanted to become more of a complete player, and he's done that. I mean, he's not Dwayne Allen as far as -- Dwayne was incredibly physical. He was a 10 on a scale of 1 to 10.

But Dwayne isn't Jordan, either, from an athletic standpoint and just his overall ability in the passing game. Dwayne was pretty good, but I would say Jordan is a 10 in that regard. But he really needed to improve from a physicality standpoint in finishing blocks and the nuances of the run game and playing without the ball, and he's grown a ton. That's what he came back to do. I think he's demonstrated that. I think he's going to be a great pro. I think he'll be an early drafted guy from a tight end standpoint. He'll be one of those first guys because he's going to be very -- he is very dynamic, and he'll be a guy that will be a handful from a match-up standpoint at the next level.

Q. Obviously your running game last week, much more productive than the week before, best output of the season. What have you seen out of your running game last week that satisfied you?
DABO SWINNEY: Well, just starts with the guys up front. It starts with Deshaun making the right decisions in the run game. But then those guys up front getting their job done. I thought we did a much better job on our double teams. We did a much better job of getting Wayne to the second level. Schematically their style of play gave us a little bit more room, not quite as many extra hats down in the box as we've seen. And then Wayne Gallman, just tremendous, more disciplined in his tracks as far as how he was running the ball. He broke a lot of tackles. He made a couple of those safeties miss, which that's what he has to do. He won some of his one-on-one matchups, and then I thought we blocked very well downfield. I thought Mike Williams did a great job, Jordan did a great job out on the edge, and so mixing in the play action opened up a few things, as well.

Just tremendous job by everybody involved last week.

Q. To take a look at not just the Atlantic Division but the ACC as a whole and its progression, its evolution, if it could get more effective, if it could get more competitive, just what you can say about this season and how teams have stepped up and even new coaches have stepped up to the challenge of the ACC.
DABO SWINNEY: There's not a better conference out there than this league. I don't care what anybody says. I live it every day, every week. This is a very difficult conference. Everybody has good coaches. You know, it just is a league that has become from top to bottom incredibly competitive. You've seen that in out-of-conference play over the last few years, as well. So a lot of great quarterback play.

I've got a ton of respect for all these teams in this league. People can debate with this and that, but there's not a better league. That doesn't mean that other leagues are bad; it just this league doesn't take a backseat to anyone out there.

Q. And as far as Deshaun Watson goes, with his ability and his leadership, obviously there's been a lot from the outside looking in positives about him, but from the inside looking out, what can you say as his coach how he's progressed and how he's shown up for you especially in this last week when it could have been two losses, and he helped prevent that?
DABO SWINNEY: I mean, that's just what he's always done. He's a great winner, and the reason he's a great winner, obviously he's talented, but he's an incredibly committed individual. He's a great preparer. He loves to prepare, and he's always evaluating. He does the right things. He's a great leader for his teammates. He's an inspiration to them as far as how he prepares, how he practices, how he responds.

You know, he's not perfect. From time to time you get beat somewhere along the way when you're in competition. But he responds, you know, and I just think he's just special in every regard. I mean, I really do. And I think when it all comes down to it, he'll have a bad play here or there, and he's lost a game or two. Not many, but he won't be defined by those things. This guy is defined by all the great success that he's had and will continue to have.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297