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FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 22, 2018

Willie Taggart

Tallahassee, Florida

WILLIE TAGGART: We have a great challenge in front of us here at home this Saturday versus the defending ACC champions, the Clemson Tigers and what an opportunity for us. We're really excited about it. More excited about it because we have it here at home and look forward to having the crowd there to help us this Saturday at noon. So go to bed early at night, fans. Make sure you're there nice and early.

Q. Florida State hasn't dominated an ACC opponent like that really in a couple years. And particularly in the second and third quarters, I mean it was complete domination. What can that do for the players, just having that experience?
WILLIE TAGGART: Well, I think that if our players just look at the overall improvement that we're doing each and every week, they see we're getting closer and close every week to being what we felt we could be at the beginning of the year and we continue to make those improvements each day and each week, we'll ultimately see what we can be on a consistent basis. That's the challenge for our team now is to be able to do that consistently. But we got to continue to improve, continue to do the things that we did to prepare for that game like that and for the team to make the adjustments that we have to when we're playing an opponent at the halftime. But I thought for the most part throughout the season defensively our guys were really playing well in the second half and it was good to see our offense come out at halftime and score some points in the third quarter, something we hadn't done. So just consistent improvement and I think as we consistently improve, our guys consistently gain confidence in themselves and what they're capable of doing.

Q. Two part question. After Saturday Brian Burns now he's the second in the country in sacks of the what's it like having somebody that productive on the line and then secondly last week he said something that he wants to improve on is he wants to become more vocal as a leader. How would you describe his leadership for the team?
WILLIE TAGGART: It's great to have one of those guys on your team as a pass rusher and not going against you, first and foremost. And again, he's one of the leaders on our defense, he's a leader on our football team. Brian is one of those guys, he leads by example. I do like when he speaks and when he speaks he says things that everybody needs to hear, but he's one of those guys that's going to give you a hundred percent at everything he does. He's not going to complain about anything, he's a kid that hasn't missed not one practice since I've been here. He enjoys practicing and getting better and it speaks volumes of what his teammates think of him by voting him captain. Personally I don't think he necessarily needs to be more vocal, he just needs to continue to be Brian. I think he's exactly what we need on our football team.

Q. It wasn't a perfect performance, a couple penalties in there but second time this year offensive line didn't give up a sack. How many improvement have you seen even with the shuffling?
WILLIE TAGGART: You see it from a technique standpoint and that's why it's getting better and we're really focusing on that in the last few weeks, just getting back to day one things that we do and not only that I just think our guys are having a better understanding of what we're trying to do, what we're trying to get accomplished and now that they have a better understanding they're not panicking and they're able to go out there and execute their assignment the way that we need to. But I think that's happening because they have a better feel for what we're doing and understanding of how we're going to get it done. So that's helping. Again we're not where we want it to be completely but we continue to make little improvements like that, we'll get there.

Q. Going back to Brian he's someone that we heard about spring, winter conditioning. What were your initial impressions of him and when did you realize that he was someone that could be a leader, a focal point for this program?
WILLIE TAGGART: Well with Brian, I saw him play a few times and from afar when I wasn't here and knew that he was a very talented player and knew from a football standpoint what we were going to get, a very, very talented athlete, but once I got here and got a chance to meet him, as a person, I was shocked because he is, he's everything you want in a student athlete. He takes care of his business off the field and wants to do the same thing on the football field. It's important to him, he's one of those individuals that came here with high priorities, which was academics and football. He hasn't changed that since he's been here. He's getting results behind it.

Q. Clemson's defensive line is one of the best in college football. How difficult is it to prepare for a defense that up front is just equally talented across the board?
WILLIE TAGGART: I think for us it's not necessarily difficult to prepare because we have one of the top defensive line in the country as well. So I think going against our guys daily helps our guys. So from that standpoint I don't think it is as difficult. Our guys are just as talented as their guys are and so it helps. We knew going in that was going to be a strength for us our D-line. So our guys get some good competition daily going against those guys, so they will be prepared for them.

Q. Deondre looked pretty sharp on Saturday overall of the but there was two plays in the screen game, one where you threw to Tre'Shaun Tre'Shaun was engaging in a block and there was one where it looked like Cam almost intercepted it away from the opposition there itself. Are the play calls too similar between their responsibilities having to run routes and block or is that just miscommunication or do they just need to rep that stuff more to get better?
WILLIE TAGGART: It's just lack of focus by receivers. Lack of focus on those two plays. On the play that Tre'Shaun, he was going to get the ball it was just one of those young guys making a mistake and he's going to learn he gets older, when I got a chance to catch the ball I'm going to make sure I'm aware and be there. So that was on that play and then on the play where he threw it to Cam, I think Tamorrion Terry should have blocked the linebacker, he didn't, he blocked the corner instead. So just a missed assignment by some young receivers that made up for it later on.

Q. It looked like a little bit more of the old Cam on Saturday the one we're used to seeing. What is he doing the last week or two that maybe he wasn't doing those first couple weeks?
WILLIE TAGGART: Well I think just from playing wise I think him being more patient and in the run game. When I say patient, just allowing blocks to develop for himself or more importantly him helping set up the blocks. I thought early in the year he was pressing and trying to get the home run every time he touched the ball and we wasn't really letting blocks develop. It started last week in practice, he started in, I'm eavesdropping listening to him and Deondre talk one day in practice and Deondre was talking to him about some of those things which I thought was pretty cool just to hear those guys talking football and how he can be a little more patient and then he worked on it all week. I think him coming up and watching more film, having a better understanding of what we're doing helped him and had him become more comfortable with being patient again. Then just his mentality. He came out to practice, he was practicing like he was playing in the game. It showed. It paid off for him.

Q. My weekly question about Landon Dickerson. Any chance he's going to play this week and if not could he be back this season?
WILLIE TAGGART: No time, no necessarily timetable to get him back, but Landon won't play this week. It would be nice to have him though.

Q. We know what Demarcus Christmas and Martin Wilson do, but we have seen Robert Cooper and Cory Durden kind of continue to play more and more. What do those two guys bring to the defensive line rotation?
WILLIE TAGGART: Well they're very talented. I call them big athletes, some big guys that can run. You watch big Marvin run, I mean he's light on his toes. But they're very talented, very explosive, you get some push back and again we feel like they're two of the top defensive tackles in the country if you ask us. Those guys are really good. Those guys are really setting the standard of what they want that defensive tackle role to be like. Whether you see guys like Cory and Fred and all those other guys come, it's a standard of the way they want to play, no matter who is in there. It's good to see. It's also good to see that our defensive ends are playing the way that they're playing. All those guys made plays for us on Saturday. Brian Burns, seeing Kaindoh starting to get into his groove I think because he's playing more football, getting more into football shape now it's really helping him. And then just how inspiring J Rob played on Saturday and again what that young man, we saw that in practice when he came back on that Tuesday, you mean he was flying around he was making play, he started with our the drill you guys are out there, the nose drill, he was all over the place. I think that really inspired his teammates too to see how he came ready to practice and perform going through the things he was going through. I think nobody made any excuses and said, hey, let's get out here and just go do what we're supposed to.

Q. What are your impressions of Trevor Lawrence and I guess what if anything can you do to test or make a true freshman quarterback uncomfortable?
WILLIE TAGGART: Well he's the real deal. The kid can make all the throws. You can see what everyone was talking about when they talk about Trevor. He's a heck of a talent. He's a really good football player, you got to get to him. That's the thing, you can get to him, I think that's the only way you beat guys like that, you got to get to him so he can't make all the throws that he's capable of making. Because he has some talented receivers out there and again you see when he's in there their offense becomes a lot more explosive now. So big challenge for our defense. Best quarterback they have faced this season and I know that they will be up for it.

Q. At linebacker two guys Emmett Rice had the sack Saturday and Zaquandre got out there and made a number of plays. Those aren't guys at the beginning of the year who might have been in this position. What's it mean to see those guys doing that?
WILLIE TAGGART: It's great to see those guys getting better too. Improving just like our team and it's funny you bring the name up but to see those guys go and make the plays they're capable of making was big time. Emmett has been battling a knee injury and hasn't been a hundred percent and he's been limping around and all, you but he got in that game, I didn't see not one limp on that sack. He was pretty smooth going in there tackling. It was good for him to have some success. And for Z, for a kid who played running back and for to us move him over there at linebacker in training camp we knew he wasn't necessarily going to get there at the beginning of the year but we felt from a talent standpoint athletically he's got a chance to be really, really good at the linebacker position once he learns the position inside out and each week he's getting better at it and our coaches are more comfortable putting him in there and he showed us on Saturday what he can do out there. When he's out there he's very athletic.

Q. Clemson's set the standard in the ACC over the past few years, as you're trying to rebuild this program, is there stuff you can take away from what they have been doing to try and help you guys out?
WILLIE TAGGART: Yeah, win. You know? They have been winning. We got to win. Bottom line is we got to recruit and you got to win. They have done a great job of recruiting and building -- Dabo has done a great job of building a culture of how he wanted it and you can see it. You go visit the program, you see it by everybody in there. Everybody involved in it. Everything they do is towards winning. It's paying off for them, helping student athletes. So what can we do? We got to recruit, we got to win, if you want to beat a be the man being, be the man you got to beat the man. So great opportunity for the Noles. Looking forward to it. Against a really, really good football team, one of the best college football teams out there. You look at their defense, nine returning starters, very challenging. You hear everyone talk about Alabama, Clemson is right up there with them and they have been in the playoffs the last three years so, great football team, comes to Doak Campbell and we're looking forward to it. Noon, fans. Noon. Go to bed early Friday. Need everybody there. I don't want to hear we don't do well at noon games. Those times are over. It's different. We do very well. So look forward to seeing everyone there at Saturday. Great opportunity for the Noles.

Q. You've mentioned a lot of the young guys who made impacts against Wake Forest, is this typically the time of year you expect some of those freshmen and red shirts to who haven't had a lot of playing time to kind of pick things up and find themselves with the opportunity to make plays?
WILLIE TAGGART: Well I think with all of our players, not just freshmen but all of them, this time of year you expect for them to be so much better than what they were at the beginning of the year and I think that's what we're seeing out of some of the younger guys that's playing for us now is they're more comfortable in what they're doing and doing it more consistently enough to whereas coaches we feel comfortable to put them out in the game so they can make a play we know they're capable of. I know sometimes in practice those things happen much differently and so once you get in the spotlight, you know, but our young guys getting in there making plays showing that the spotlight is not too big for them. You look at just the way Tre'Shaun was playing in there, I mean he enjoys the spotlight. He loves that. But that's a good sign for us with those young guys and we're going to need for them to continue to make plays for us.

Q. I think this was the 7th straight week you had a different combination starting combination on the offensive line. You had Derrick at left tackle. Will that streak come to an end this week, do we have the five in place going forward for this Clemson game?
WILLIE TAGGART: Well so far we don't have anybody hurt. I think a big part of that was injuries is why you were seeing those things. We said from the beginning, we would like to have what we have all five guys in there so they can play consistently enough and we are banking on having the same line we had this past weekend. If we can continue that, again I think you're going to see more improvement out of our offense.

Q. You visited Clemson I think back in 2017 a year or so ago and you could have visited a bunch of different programs, what about Clemson other than winning do you like and respect to the point where you wanted to go there to see how they do things?
WILLIE TAGGART: Well at South Florida we developed a good relationship with Tony Elliott and he came down and spoke with our guys and our team at one of our coaching clinic that is we had. He came down and spoke and got a chance to talk to him and just some of the things they were doing and a lot of things they were doing we were doing the same thing at South Florida and when I went out to Oregon I had a chance to go out and spend some time with them and see it firsthand and was really impressed with just how they do the entire organization. I think Coach Swinney's, he's in it for the right reason, which is the student athletes and making sure that they develop as players and as a human being and they do a great job with it. You look at it and you see some of the things you're doing and you see the results, you know the things you're doing are right on track and but you also know that they didn't get there on day one, it took them some time to get there. But they stayed the course and he got it the way he wanted it and now it's a well oiled machine.

Q. You touched on it previously that there was some going to affirm some things that were you doing it the right way as a younger coach. What were some of those things that did stand out to you that you took away from the time there?
WILLIE TAGGART: Well I think it's more culturally than anything. Just how they go about things with their student athletes. From player development to the way they run the offense and do some things. When we decided to change our offense at South Florida, Clemson was one of the teams that we talked to and studied a little bit. But I mean just from every aspect, from football stand points, to the development standpoint of the student athlete was really impressive to how they do it. And then just the staff chemistry there. Clemson's one of those staffs that not many guys leave and that's a direct reflection of Coach Swinney and then the culture and environment that he has there and that's important and a big reason I can't they're having success because of the consistency that they have there. So I just think overall culturally what they have and everyone speaks the same language there and to me all those are great recipes for winning and not only winning but winning big and they're doing it.

Q. I saw Kalen was down on the field before the game. I don't know if he's done that before or not. He looked to be in good spirits. Could you talk about how history has been's going?
WILLIE TAGGART: It's going really well. Well it's going a lot better, I would say that. He was down and out, of course, he was expecting a big time year, we all were from him, he especially after sitting out. For that to happen, it was devastating for him and we knew that he was going to be devastating for him, the kid loves playing football. But he's been rehabbing, he's been around the team more now that he can get around a lot better. I know about a week ago or so he was struggling bending his knee like he wanted to and had to get some scar tissue off of there and now he's bending it, walking around, you see a smile on his face, he's a totally different attitude. I think a lot of it is because of the success he's had with history has been he sees himself coming back. But he's in a great place right now and I know for me it's great to see him out there with his teammates on the sideline and excited about just being around.

Q. According to the game notes here you guys have the toughest remaining schedule in college football. When you look down that schedule, NC State, Notre Dame, Florida, Clemson, is it daunting or do you relish those type of opportunities?
WILLIE TAGGART: Well, for us that's good, it hasn't changed from the beginning of the year. We knew what we had to go against and what we're up against and to be honest with you we're not looking at the rest of the schedule. I told our team we're not going to get ahead of ourselves, I think our task ahead of us right now is important enough not to go ahead. We have a big time game this week against Clemson and again that would be a lack of respect to move forward and to go to any game before that. So we're focusing on Clemson and we're going to take each one of those games one game at a time and play them and again we knew what we were going against at the beginning of the year but we also look at it too that those games won't be easy for those teams either. So they got a tough opponent that they're going to go against too.

Q. You've had one of the toughest run defenses in the country sofa are this season but obviously Clemson has a pretty potent running attack. What's going to be the key to you guys slowing them down and just what's the difficulty with facing a team like that?
WILLIE TAGGART: Well, yeah, do what we have been doing. Shutting down the run. We got to make sure we play great defense, great gap sound defense and do a great job of tackling. I think whenever it comes down to stopping the run you got to be good at tackling. A lot of times it's gang tackling you can't have a lot of one-on-one tackles, you got to get guys to the ball and get them down. For us we're not going to necessarily change just because it's Clemson though. We're going to play our defense and try to prepare our guys to play they're very best against a talented football team and understanding that we can't make the mistake that is we have been making and expect to beat a team like this. So we got to be on our A game but we're not going to change up everything just because of Clemson, we're going to go out and play football, they put on pads the same way our guys do, so it will be fun.

Q. You talk about Zaquandre earlier. The passion he plays with and the energy and then you got a lot of young guys like Cory Durden who plays like that, Marvin, several of them, what does that bring to the defense?
WILLIE TAGGART: It's contagious. I think that's what you see when you see guys like that because we all say enthusiasm is contagious and you can tell it's important to them. And we always talk to our guys, you make plays, you should celebrate. You did something we try to coach you up and try to get you to do. I don't like when guys just walk away. I mean it's tough to do it, so it's okay to celebrate, show a little emotion. And it's better to do it with your teammates. But all those guys play with that passion and those guys you named I can tell you they all love football and they all love competing and it's great to see and it's what you guys see on Saturday is the same thing we see in practice. They make a play in practice they're the same way, which you love. No matter whether it's practice or a game, they are excited about making plays. They're what you call football players and those are guys we want to have on our football team.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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