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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 22, 2010

Dabo Swinney

THE MODERATOR: We now welcome Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney. We'll bring on coach, ask for a brief opening statement, then go to questions.
COACH SWINNEY: Good to be back with you guys this week. Hope you're all doing well. We're getting back at it with our open day here, trying to take advantage of some extra time. Had our first big test on the road. Did not win the game. But I do think we got a lot to build on coming out of that game. Looking forward to getting into conference play next weekend against Miami, trying to really take advantage of this open date, get some guys healthy and try to fix some of our mistakes that we've made. Look forward to being back here at Death Valley October 2nd.

Q. Coach, what kind of shape is Kyle Parker? For his sake, this is a good week to have a bye date. How is he moving around and what his status right now?
COACH SWINNEY: He's getting a little bit better each day. Just really sore. Took a really big shot in the back there with the helmet at Auburn. Again, he was really, really sore Sunday. He's gotten a little bit better each day. Had treatment this morning. Started back exercising, all that.
I think it will be one of those things, hopefully by Monday when we get back next week, he'll be bouncing around pretty good. Just trying to be smart with him, let him heal up.

Q. How close were you to taking him out at any point after that hit?
COACH SWINNEY: Well, in fact, I told Tajh to get ready. If we had gotten the ball back, Tajh was going in. It ended up being a really long time with that series where Kyle got hit and we actually got the ball back. By the time we got the ball back, Kyle said he was okay and could go.
But Tajh was ready to go, we were ready to put him in. At that point the doctors felt good about Kyle. Kyle said, Coach, I can go. We said, Well, let's go.

Q. A lot of us that aren't familiar with the program had questions about your running game. Can you talk about Andre Ellington, how he blossomed? Is that what you expected?
COACH SWINNEY: Absolutely. If you look back at my comments since last spring, I've been pretty consistent with the comments in that, you know what, we're going to be okay with rushing the ball with Andre and Jamie Harper. Those two guys combined are very talented guys. Andre was the number one guy in this state, runningback. Jamie was number one back in Florida. These guys are talented.
It just so happens they had two NFL guys in James Davis and CJ they had to tutor under for a little bit. But it's their time. I think last year if anybody really paid attention to us, Andre Ellington, it's not like he just showed up. He led our team in yards-per-carry last year, had some big plays for us. Same thing with Jamie, he was second. CJ was actually third. We all know what kind of player he was.
We love those two guys. They're tough guys that like to play football, like to practice, low maintenance, very, very competitive. They are like best of friends. So it's a good situation 'cause they're very different at times and they're similar at times.
But we think that we've got the ability to run the football. Hopefully the two of them combining together, we can make a lot of the plays that CJ, some of those explosive plays, that CJ brought.
Certainly there were going to be a lot of questions looking from the outside when you lose CJ. All of us here, we knew these two guys would do well. I'm glad to see them off to a good start.

Q. Coach, what is the art to coaching talented players who know they could be playing anywhere in the country but who know it's going to take a while for their time to come because people like CJ are ahead of them? How do you teach them patience?
COACH SWINNEY: That's all about your program. That's the heart and soul of the program as far as how you talk to them every day, how you deal with them, your support staff, your relationship, the trust that you have, that they have with you. That's the whole heart of it.
You know, guys, most of them, understand when they come in here, and they see pretty quickly as freshmen, I don't care how talented they are, they have a lot to learn. They have a lot of water to get under the bridge, especially when they get around an older, talented player.
It's just all about the education process and having great communication, engaging with your players, having good relationships. That's the heart of it.
THE MODERATOR: Coach, thanks. Enjoy the week. We'll talk to you next Wednesday.
COACH SWINNEY: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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