	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

August 30, 2017

Dabo Swinney

Greensboro, North Carolina

DABO SWINNEY: Good to be with you again. Just like everybody else out there, we're finally excited to have game week here and an opportunity to go play somebody. Kick this thing off. I'm looking forward to watching our team play. Every team is different, and there is an identity that develops throughout the course of the season.

I will say I've enjoyed this team. I've enjoyed watching them work. They've put the work in, and I'm excited for a lot of these guys' opportunities. Guys that a lot of people don't know about right now but I think are poised to go have good years for us here at Clemson.

So just ready to go. We're a team that has a lot of spots to fill, especially on the offensive side. Again, I think we're as prepared as we could possibly be, and now the next step is just to go play.

But Kent State is a team that's got about nine guys back that have started on defense. They do some things that present some challenges. They're very good in the secondary. Two of the better corners that we're going to see. Very good players on the back end. They've got some big, strong, thick guys up front. Offensively, same thing. They've got six or seven guys back that have started for them. Coach Haynes is not going to be here, so our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family and what he's dealing with.

But look forward to, again, just getting back to it, and having a great home crowd and trying to put our best foot forward and find a way to win the opener. This is our first goal and that's all we're focused on.

Q. I was wondering, having seen Florida State and both Alabama the last few seasons, whether when you look at both of those rosters and the way they're built, if you see any sort of similarities?
DABO SWINNEY: I mean, I think they're very similar. I mean, you're talking about two of the best teams in the country. Florida State has got and Alabama, you can just check the recruiting rankings, they want to recruit the best of the best every year. So very, very similar programs and similar as far as how they build their team. In the trenches, long, fast guys that can run, toughness, lot of respect for both programs and definitely very similar in that regard.

Q. Are you guys 85 scholarship-wise, and if not, do you anticipate getting there at some point?
DABO SWINNEY: Yes, we are at 85. We did have a few scholarships, a couple that we kept because we signed a small class. We only signed 14 guys and we don't have very many scholarships available for this coming class. So we had a couple that we kept, pushed forward to this class, and then had a couple guys that left after signing day last year that we anticipated being with us. So we had a few to give in fall camp and we were able to award some of our local guys. But, yeah, we're at 85.

Q. When you have an experienced veteran quarterback who has been there for a lot of years, it's obviously different than your scenario. How do things change for you, Tony and Jeff coaching-wise, based on having a ton of experience at that position and now being in a situation you're in?
DABO SWINNEY: Well, we start over every year regardless of who we have at quarterback. Whether they are a returning starter or not, we really do. I think when you've got a guy that's kind of been there and he's got a ton of experience, you can get to calculus pretty quick. But when you have a new guy, you can only go at his pace. So it's just very important when you do have a new guy to go at his pace and not try to overwhelm him with maybe some things that you did with the last guy or whatever. Go at his pace, and help him have success. Then as his confidence grows, then you can continue to add more or whatever. But the pace is just usually a little different when you're starting over with a new guy.

But we're not really starting from scratch with Kelly. He's not a returning starter, but he's been in those meetings for the last couple years. So he's up to speed. Now it's just, okay, here's who you've got. You expose him and put him in situations and see how he responds and just really pleased with his development from spring through fall camp and excited to go see him play.

Q. I know you typically are going to go with three quarterbacks active at any point. I wanted to check to see if there was an expectation that Hunter would play if the game affords that opportunity on Saturday, or would you still consider red-shirting until that isn't an opportunity anymore?
DABO SWINNEY: Well, we're not going -- I appreciate the question. We're not going into the game with any type of expectation of -- we're going into the game trying to expect a dogfight and trying to win the game. But we definitely plan on playing Hunter wherever. Whether it's this game, second game, third game. We've got to have three quarterbacks ready to play. The it's kind of tough to only have two guys. Our three best guys, without question, are those three guys. There is still competition going on at that position.

We haven't even played a game yet. I mean, we've got a starting point, but we've got to go play the game. That's kind of the next part of the process. But I have no idea what's going to happen this weekend.

Q. I was wondering how you envision rotating your running backs and what an ideal scenario would be like for you at that position?
DABO SWINNEY: Yeah, well, I'm not going to get into how we're going to manage the game or rotate guys and all that type of stuff. But we've got three guys that we feel like warrant significant opportunity. Sometimes the games dictate more than others. Sometimes the guy, it's his time up and you go in and you're scoring one play and you may have a rotation set, and you may come out of the game. Heck, the third guy got more reps than the first guy. I don't really know. All I know is we've got three guys that we feel really confident in at that position that all deserve to play and are going to have an opportunity to play.

Then we've got a fourth guy in Travis Etienne that is quickly coming. He's going to have the opportunity to play at some point too.

Q. Want to circle back to Alabama-FSU, but you know Jimbo Fisher and Florida State as well as anybody. What characteristics do you see in his FSU teams? What do you expect when you play them?
DABO SWINNEY: A dogfight. A hard, hard-fought game, down to the wire. I mean, they've got great players and they have great depth typically. Year-in and year-out, and they're very well-coached. Jimbo does as good a job as anybody. He's got a great staff.

Like I've said, they've got depth, they recruit right there with the best of the best. They're always good in the trenches. They've got a toughness to them, and they don't go away. You can watch Florida State. I've been in games with them where we've got a big lead and next thing you know, you're fighting for your life. They're just a team that's going to -- the 11 they put out there is going to be as good as your 11 nine times out of ten. So you have to out-execute them, out-perform them, you've got to earn it. They're not going to give it to you.

They're similar to Alabama. Alabama's not going to give you anything. You have to earn it. They're going to be able to match up with you. They're going to be fast just like you're going to be fast. So that ought to be a heck of a ballgame.

Q. As far as learning the most about your team and getting a good feel for the chemistry and the makeup, how much does it matter if you open the season against a tough, non-conference opponent that's ranked versus one that might be more unheralded or unranked? Is there a difference there?
DABO SWINNEY: I don't think so. I think, first of all, guys are so excited to go play, it doesn't matter if it's Florida State or Kent State. When you've spent a month just looking at each other and practicing with each other, you're so excited to go play and you want to perform.

Like last year going to play at Auburn, I think that those games, if you played one of those games, they're really hard. You don't have near as much room for error and things like that. But as far as finding out about your team, I don't think that you know everything about your team either way. Whether it's opening up with Auburn or opening up with Kent State. You've still got a lot to learn. There is a lot to emerge either way. Really do. So it's just the course of the season. But the first few weeks, I think you'll start to see an identity of who you are and what you've got, and you go from there.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297