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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCEAugust 28, 2013Dabo SwinneyDABO SWINNEY: Defensively, very, very talented group of players they are going to put on the field, and you know, so just again, just excited to go play somebody other than ourselves and throw in the fact that it's Clemson, Georgia, all the tradition that comes with that and the history and the fact that they are a top‑five team in the country and a lot of people picked them to win the National Championship should make for a great night for this opening game. Q. Just talk about Tajh Boyd, he's obviously a great talent at quarterback. Just talk about him going up against this Georgia/SEC type defense. Do you have comfortable all the way around throwing this ball on defense and running the football? DABO SWINNEY: Well, I'm really glad we got Tajh Boyd back for another year. He's a very experienced player. He's been in a lot of big games and he's going to have to draw on that experience and play very well for us to have a chance against a team like this, there's no doubt about it. But I definitely think that he's more than prepared and mentally ready to accept the challenge. Q. Wanted to ask, does the fact that Georgia hails from the SEC give add any extra flavor to this, given the SEC's preeminence in college football; if Georgia was No.5 coming in from the Big Ten or Pac 12, would that have the same effect? DABO SWINNEY: Well, I think first of all, it's just the fact that it's Georgia, and again, there's just a lot of history and tradition with these two schools, No.1. That in itself creates a lot excitement and buzz, especially when used to play every year and haven't played in a long time now. So there's a lot of excitement there. But regardless what conference they are from, you've got the No.5 team in the country coming to your stadium, that's all that really matters. As far as the SEC goes and all that, we've been playing SEC teams every year and been in a lot of battles with that league and our guys have a good understanding of what it takes to be able to beat a very good team regardless of what conference they come from. It's about being good on that night and executing your plan to win and playing with great effort and toughness and all that kind of stuff. But I think it's just more about Clemson, Georgia, than anything else and the fact that, hey, both teams are preseason Top‑10‑type teams and a lot on the line, a lot on the line. Q. Dabo, I know going into practices, one of the question marks was your secondary and how they would come together. What's your assessment of the way they have done so far during your practices? DABO SWINNEY: Well, kind of what I was hoping for. Our veteran guys have stood out. They have improved. Theft accepted the challenge from all these young bucks that we brought in here. We have got eight new freshmen. But it's been very competitive. Athletically, we are much better than we were this time last year. Depth‑wise, we are much better. Experience‑wise, we are very, very inexperienced from a depth‑standpoint, but we have about five guys that have played a lot of football for us that I feel good about, but that's not a lot of guys. The rest of them, you know, all of our depth is freshmen. So it's a big challenge for those guys early in the season like this, but hopefully we can get lucky and maybe keep some of those top veteran guys healthy, at least first half of the season where we can grow some of these young guys up, get them some real experience. But athletically and talent‑wise, I like our group, but we are a long way away from being a dominant secondary like I think we will be as time moves on. Q. How much hype is surrounding your quarterback, and how are you and he and the university handling it? DABO SWINNEY: Well, listen, Tajh has been a good player for a long time. He has a good balance in his life. He's got a good understanding of the fact that, you know, I don't know who said it, Babe Ruth or Yogi Berra or somebody, whatever, yesterday's home runs don't win today's games. I think that he's got a good understanding of that. It's exciting that people recognize his past performance and his abilities and his potential. But I think he has, again, a very good understanding that it's based on what you do now, it's based on, you know, actual performance this year, and you've got to pay the price, you've got to prepare your tail off and you've got to perform on game day. So he's got a good balance when it comes to all that stuff, and you know, he's one of those guys that, again, has been in the limelight for a long time. So I don't think that the light is too bright for him. Q. I was wondering, what has you more concerned, the Georgia passing game or the Georgia running game? DABO SWINNEY: All of it.  That is what makes it the biggest concern, because they have the ability to throw it 50 times or run it 50 times. That's what makes them so good offensively. This is a very balanced attack. I think they had 37 passing touchdowns last year, 32 rushing touchdowns. So they are capable of beating you either way. Obviously you've got to take something away. You can't just let them have their way all night, but that's easier said than done. Just the fact that they are very capable in both aspects of the game, running and throwing, that's the biggest challenge with these guys. They have got explosive playmakers. They have got a quarterback who can make all the throws. He understands blitz and pressure and hots and all that kind of stuff. He's very smart when it comes to that. And then they have got a veteran offensive line, all of those guys are back and two great backs back there, who can pound rocks. It's a huge challenge and a chess match in trying to defend those guys. Q. Are we in for a shootout? DABO SWINNEY: Who knows. It's like I was telling somebody the other day, hey, might be 6‑3, you never know. In an opening game, there's always mistakes on both sides and there's always some unknowns from both sides, because the sheer nature of the preparation. You have so much more time to prepare. There's always a lot of adjustments that have to be made in an opening‑type game but I have no idea. All I hope is that we have got one more than them, whether it's 2‑0 or 3‑2 or 69‑68. It really doesn't matter to me as long as we can find a way to win the game. Q. What's your philosophy regarding tempo and pace on offense, and then what's the ballpark number of plays you would like to run in a game? DABO SWINNEY: Well, we shoot for 82 and above. That's kind of our benchmark. Outside of that, it just comes down to the type of success that you're having. We definitely want to play fast. That's who we are. That's what we do. That's what our players like. We feel like that it allows us to really put a lot of pressure on the defense with the skill that we put on the field when we do play at a fast tempo, and from a benchmark standpoint, we are trying to get up there in that 82, 85 plays per game. Bottom line is, if you look at us, we are probably going to score about every 13 to 15 plays, we are going to score. So the more opportunities of that batch we get, then the more opportunity we have to score. Q. Forgot to ask you yesterday, but with Jayron Kearse, what's his status and did Jordan Leggett make any improvements last night? DABO SWINNEY: Jayron is set to go. He's back in full practice. He's still not quite a hundred percent, but he's not far off. He'll be ready and available. He has missed a lot of practice, so he's not as far along as we would have liked him to be, but he missed, again, some significant days. Definitely a guy that is practicing this week in our depth rotation and will be available, and same thing with Leggett. Leggett I think looked pretty good last night. He did some pass down and did some things. I think our thoughts with Leggett right now, just see where he is at the end of the week. We have our plan without him. We feel good about the guys that we are going to go try to compete in this game with. Probably be a situation where most likely he's going to be available to play, but we may not play him unless he's needed and hopefully that's the scenario that we'll be able to take into the game. But, you know, you never know how things are going to go early or somebody gets banged up, that kind of thing. But I do think he'll be available, but we may try to hold him, if possible, and really cut him loose next week. But we'll just have to wait and see how that plays out. Q. For some of the younger DBs that might have a chance to play tomorrow night, what's your best advice when they are facing an offense like you just talked about, how balanced Georgia is? DABO SWINNEY: Well, just trust your preparation. I mean, we have spent a month trying to prepare these guys, and you know, have short memories. Understand that there's going to be mistakes. Just go to the next play and just compete your tail off. But the biggest thing is, again, know your plan, work your plan, trust your preparation, be disciplined with your alignments and your T's and your I's. Don't buy the lie against an offense like this; they will lie to you in a heartbeat, so you've got to be very, very disciplined back there. But that's the biggest thing we'll talk to those guys about as they get ready to take on a big challenge like this. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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