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DISCOVER ORANGE BOWL: CLEMSON v OHIO STATEDecember 31, 2013Grady JarrettSpencer ShueyBrent VenablesMIAMI GARDENS, FLORIDA THE MODERATOR: We're going to start with an opening statement from Defensive Coordinator Brent Venables. COACH VENABLES: Good morning. Happy New Year to everybody. It's great to be here in sunny South Florida. We had a nice steamy one yesterday. We're fortunate to be in the South at Clemson, so we're kind of used to it, but it was a little warm yesterday. Our guys, we had a great practice. It's been almost a month now since we played, and it seems like forever ago. The preparation, it's like the opener for us again. We've had a good couple of weeks of preparation, looking forward to playing great Ohio State football team in the Orange Bowl. The accommodations and our setup, practice facility, hotel, our group of the orange coats are first class. They're the absolute best in the business. So we're fortunate to be here in the Orange Bowl and representing the ACC. Again, just look forward to January the 3rd and having a great football game against, again, a real quality opponent in Ohio State. Q. Grady, what stand out about Ohio State's offensive line, in your opinion? Four seniors up there, they seem to play pretty well together. What stands out to you? GRADY JARRETT: They're a great unit. I feel like they're a very physical, self‑confident group of guys. Just seeing the comments that Coach Meyer has about them. I feel like it's going to be a great challenge for us. I feel like it's going to be a good matchup in the trenches. Q. Probably not a fun topic for you, but the game two years ago here‑‑ I don't know how much you guys played, Spencer and Grady, but can you talk about how much motivation that is? What went wrong in that game, and how much motivation that is to play better. SPENCER SHUEY: It was definitely disappointing a couple of years ago when we were down here. I feel like this is a completely different team with a complete different maturity level and a whole group of guys. I feel like this program came a long way in the last two years, and we're definitely looking forward to getting the opportunity to redeem ourselves in the Orange Bowl and definitely against such a great opponent. GRADY JARRETT: Just like Spencer said, we're focused on this game. Us being down here two years ago has nothing to do with this game. We're coming into the new year. It's going to be our first game of 2014. So we want to start off the year right, and all that is in the past. We've come so far in two years as a whole team. Me and Spencer, we just made so much progress, and we're just looking forward to starting 2014 off right. Q. Obviously, Ohio State has two guys who can run the ball in Braxton Miller and Carlos Hyde. They throw the ball too, but with that running game, is there any idea to sort of stop the run and make them throw, or how do you sort of go about evaluating how you might stop this Ohio State offense? SPENCER SHUEY: Well, I know it's going to take all 11 guys on defense. Every time they drop back, you've got to kind of take into consideration him taking off and scrambling. I really don't want to get into the details about what exactly we're going to do. Maybe Coach Venables will answer that for you later. It's definitely going to be a challenge, and it's definitely going to take the whole defense. GRADY JARRETT: It's going to be a challenge, but for me, it all starts in the trenches. Just winning the line of scrimmage. You know, you say that they're both good runners, but I feel like he's undervalued as a passer as well. We're preparing for it all. So we got to stop the run, pass, and just got to get off the field. Q. We hear all the time about the maturity of certain teams as they head out on Bowl trips. Is there a lot to that, about an older team performing better in Bowls? How does this Clemson team compare with others you've coached in the past? COACH VENABLES: I mean, there's no doubt that, if guys have been there, done that, you hope that that lends credibility to the idea that they're going to stay focused, those types of things, but every year is different. I think we've got good leadership. I think we've got guys that are incredibly prideful. We lost our last game. They lost their last game. So as competitors, you feel like you've got a lot to prove, and you're somewhat, to a certain degree, humbled from your last outing. So you're hungrier, you're a little bit more focused. Sometimes when you're challenged that way, that's what it takes. We'll see. The game's Friday. We've got a few more days in regards to that preparation and the focus, allowing distractions to take place. We'll see if we can weather the next 24 hours. But our guys are‑‑ I like our group of guys. I really do. It's a group of guys that are close. We've got great chemistry. I'm sure Ohio State can probably say the same thing. But two tradition‑rich programs that, again, I believe there's a lot of parallels in both programs. I think we pride ourselves on being tough, and, again, we've got good upper class leadership. Spencer's a senior. Grady's a junior. It's a player driven team, I really believe that. So they're hungry for the challenge, hungry for the opportunity of redemption. Not two years ago, but redemption of, hey, look, we fell short of our ultimate goals this year, but we fought ourselves‑‑ fought our way to put ourselves in this position to get on a big stage against a great, great opponent and a chance to prove our mettle. So short of making it to Pasadena, this is the next best opportunity we could ask for and hope for. Q. Spencer, you touched on it a little earlier about Braxton Miller, but can you talk in just a little more detail about how is he different from other quarterbacks? What makes him unique to have to cover against him? SPENCER SHUEY: I would say just his overall ability and skill to run the ball and throw the ball. Some of the plays we see him make on film is just unbelievable to sit there and watch. You rewind it over and over, and you still can't believe it every single time you watch it. It's definitely going to be a great challenge for us, especially considering the offensive line that he has in front of him. They're all All‑Americans for the most part. That's what it looks like, and you rarely see a mental error or giving up a sack or anything like that. So it's definitely probably just the overall offense and the guys that he has around him that makes him a lot better. Q. For any of you, what makes Vic Beasley special? COACH VENABLES: He's just got the uncanny quickness and explosiveness, the short area burst. Top that with he doesn't have great size, but he's got incredible strength and ability to leverage. Probably pound for pound, he's one of the top two or three guys on our team strength‑wise. So he can play like a 265‑pound guy when he needs to as well against bigger, stronger opponents, double‑teams, those types of things. So that blend of natural strength and his quickness, he's pretty special. Q. Coach, this game is kind of getting labeled as a possible shootout. How do you approach it? COACH VENABLES: I don't ever think‑‑ yeah, I don't like that one bit. I'd be lying to say, oh, we'll be‑‑ it doesn't matter if it's Ohio State, if it's the Pittsburgh Steelers, it doesn't matter. Your job on defense is to stop people. So when somebody says‑‑ everybody wants to say it's a shootout, you take offense to that. But that's not just this game, you know. You play in a high powered offense in today's age of football, whether it's the NFL or it's in college. They're offensive driven, and the rules set it up for them to have an advantage per se. But we know we have a great challenge on Friday night, but we're not playing it on defense like let's just get one more stop than them. That's not how we operate, no matter who we're playing. We know that, if we don't do things right, we turn the ball over, we give up big plays, we don't stop the run, we don't have somebody in the A‑gap when we need to, they'll break the scoreboard. But that's not any different than any other week when you're playing a quality offensive opponent. Again, they've got a ton of experience and a great supporting cast, Braxton Miller and Hyde. Again, we've talked about the line. But they've got big, fast receivers as well, and they'll try to take the top off the defense too in the back end. That's what I think about it. That's not what we're playing it for, but we'll see. It's why you play the game. Q. Can you talk specifically about Braxton Miller, the challenge you guys have in, at the very least, trying to slow him down. COACH VENABLES: Again, he's got a great blend of size and uncanny speed. We've seen some athletic quarterbacks this year, but none with the speed that he has. With his size and strength, he can run through trash. Because of his strength, like a running back, he's got eyes in the back of his head. He sees guys from all angles. He's just got an uncanny ability in the pocket to feel pressure. They've got a ton of designed quarterback run games. Sometimes one of the worst things you can do is cover guys down the field because then he's going to pull it down. I say that in jest, but he's got a great supporting cast on top of, again, great ability. But he's got a huge arm. So he can throw the ball 60, 65, 70 yards without much of an effort. So those things combined and the style of offense, the systematic approach that they have, it's all centered around that quarterback and that running back to get things going. Q. I know that Ohio State coaches visited with Clemson's offensive staff in the off‑season, and Urban says he's taken some things from Coach Morris. Have you seen some similarities in their offense and what you guys do watching it on film? COACH VENABLES: It's funny. We say it all the time in our meeting. It's not just them. It's a lot of these offenses that you're seeing. You watch the 49ers with Kaepernick, it's like all these boys went to the same retreat, the same clinic, and stealing ball plays from each other. I was watching Oregon last night. Hopefully, our guys were too. I'm like, that's what they do. Whether it's formation or it's a style of run or it's a style of play action pass off of it. So, yeah, there's definitely some similarities, but there's always tweaks, and then there's‑‑ again, we're going against a scout team every day, and our scout team, it's hard for them to emulate, truth be known, because of the sheer physical ability and certainly the speed as well. But, yeah, there's similarities, but I think there's similarities to a lot of offenses that are the spread with athletic quarterbacks these days. Q. You had to sit and stew for eight months coming off that West Virginia game. What was that like, and how much of a motivating factor has that been for you and your players since then to kind of erase the whole memory of that? COACH VENABLES: Well, I wasn't here, so I don't really have any memory of it. Sorry to spoil the question. It doesn't matter whether I was or wasn't. It's just like a year ago, or even our last game, we lost against South Carolina. So what? That doesn't matter. It has nothing to do with this game. So a game that happened two years ago, I think we had maybe two guys on our defense that were actual starters and played significantly. You preach all the time about take it one play at a time, one day at a time, one practice at a time, one week at a time. So to say that really two years‑‑ again, I'm not in the psyche of our guys, but I think I can speak, just from a competitive standpoint, that was so long ago that‑‑ you know, again, do you like to get‑‑ you coach long enough, you play long enough, you're going to have days where you're humiliated or humbled and that you'd like to forget, but you take those opportunities, or those experiences, rather, and you learn from them, and it helps you grow. And you have to be stressed that way in order to kind of grow and thicken your skin, if you will, again, humble you. I think it's actually kind of a cleansing process. It's a healthy process. Nobody likes it, but I've been there. You turn the ball over like that, and somebody gets it going and gets a few big plays on you, it can get out of hand real quick. Again, it's not something that we talk about until somebody keeps bringing it up. So quit asking those questions. No, I'm teasing. Q. Coach, two questions. One is about the challenges that Carlos Hyde presents. And then I also wanted to get your thoughts on how Jayron Kearse and Mackensie Alexander have progressed this year. COACH VENABLES: Hyde is just a great blend of speed and power, love how he runs. I've got great respect for him, admiration, all of that. He's physical. He's tough.  Again, he breaks a ton of tackles. He gets better as the game goes on. You really see him at his best in the fourth quarter, in a number of tight games for them. He's a great challenge. He can catch the ball. He can pass protect. He's a complete player. Jayron's just‑‑ he's just scratching the surface on what he's going to be. He was kind of forced into action, but even prior to losing our starting free safety earlier, we wanted to find more and more ways to get him involved sooner rather than later. The more he plays, the better he gets. He's made mistakes along the way, like all young players will, but he's incredibly prideful, and he's got good football intelligence, and he wants to do right by his teammates. He's long. He's athletic. Nickname‑‑ we nickname him Sticks. When he gets a year of off‑season and development in the weight room, he's got a chance to be an awfully good football player. But he'll be a big part of what we're doing, like all of them, in both the pass coverage and in run support. But he's really done well for us this year. Mackensie, he came in the summer, injured himself. He's had a surgical procedure done. I'd be lying if I said I knew exactly what it was, but something in the groin area. He's incredibly talented. Somebody that‑‑ fortunately, we played really pretty good at corner this year in an area that was a lot of unknown. We were counting on him to come in and compete and help us immediately. He'll do so when we're starting. He's healthy now and practicing. He's a terrific football player that obviously we're really looking forward to getting out on the field. He's a play maker. He's tough, physical, instinctive, got great cover skills, very prideful. Love the area that they're from. Kids there are tough. They're low maintenance. They love to play. Football is kind of their sanctuary. They bring that edge that you like all your players to have. Q. Coach, that word shootout seems like a dirty word more and more. You got asked about that before the Georgia game, Florida State. COACH VENABLES: You think about, everybody talks about it. Usually what happens afterwards, everybody thought that was‑‑ that's what I'm hoping for. Everybody says it's going to be, I wonder how many points, whoever has the ball last, and next thing you know, it's 13‑2. That's what they said in 2000 when we played for the National Championship at Oklahoma against Florida State and they had broken all those records. I don't think it will be that kind of a performance, but you can always hope. Yeah, a shootout and all that, like you said before, that doesn't really resonate with me. Q. Do these guys‑‑ I mean, they took it personally going into the Georgia opener. COACH VENABLES: We don't talk about it that way. We respect our opponent and respect the process and how you play well, regardless of the opponent as well. So we recognize that we're going to have to really, really play well up front, but we're going to have to play well with 11 guys collectively, executing and playing with toughness and being physical and playing for 60 minutes. I really believe it will be an incredibly competitive game that comes down to late in the fourth quarter, and I believe that. Whether it's 3‑2 or 55‑54, ultimately, your goal is to win the game. But playing it for a shootout and all that, I don't know what they've heard because I don't sit there and try to trick them into how ‑‑ playing emotionally at a high pitch. This stage and this opponent and this opportunity should be enough if you stand for what's right. So anyway, our guys are, again, excited for the challenge, and they've watched enough tape to recognize that we're going to have to play well, and that kind of gives them juice to be motivated enough. Q.  We talked earlier in the Ohio State press conference, and I want to get your take. Where do you see offensive football, offense in college football evolving? And as a defensive coordinator, how do you kind of stay one step ahead of that evolution? COACH VENABLES: I just think that‑‑ you know, as I said earlier, there's a built‑in advantage for them right now because they get to decide when they snap the football, and the opportunity for them and how the no huddle works these days, they're able to get you to show your hand and get in good plays and stay away from the negative plays. That's the idea, in theory. Then I think it's a space game. I think they force you to defend 53 yards of width and everything else in between. And I think there's a lot of high school players that are able to execute at a very high level of precision, throwing and catching in particular, but I think the intelligence level has improved as much as anything to get players to be like coaches, to take things without a coach drawing something up in the sand for them. They're able to execute by just one simple signal from the sideline. So I just think there's a lot more on‑the‑field communication and a lot more ability to get in and out of the right plays, so to speak, for offensive players, and, again, I think there's more opportunities to score, more opportunities for explosive plays because they're snapping the ball sooner, faster, those types of things. None of those things are really necessarily earth shattering here from the last three to six, seven years in college football, but I just think there's more and more teams that have committed to doing that. You know, you look at‑‑ I know Will Muschamp goes down to Florida, and I know what he's all about. He's going to run and pound and defense and special teams and all this, and next thing you know, he hired a guy from Duke that's no huddle and four and five wides. They want to run the football too, don't get me wrong. That is what a lot of the spread does. They spread you out to run it and run it and run it and then throw it to high level elite athletes in space and get a lot of one‑on‑one opportunities. So it's the name of the game. What have you got to do? I think you've got to recruit intelligent players. I think you've got to recruit guys that play well in space. But at the end of the day, it's still about being physical, and there's some things that people get caught up too much in the schemes of it, and I really believe that‑‑ and lose sight of the fundamentals of the game. What happens if we line up on time and you don't trick us and you don't snap when we're not ready? Now what are we going to do? From a defensive standpoint, that's one way to try to counter. They snap it really fast. Why are they snapping it really fast? Because defenses have a hard time getting lined up, getting the call, getting it communicated, getting their hand in the dirt, playing with technique and fundamentals, but what if you could neutralize that? That's what we say. That's our first and foremost goal. To have an opportunity to start, you've got to able to put your hand in the dirt, get your eyes where they belong, and play technique and play with toughness and being physical. If you can do that, you've really neutralized the whole really fast‑paced no huddle, where it comes down to precision and execution and fundamentals and pad level and keys and discipline and all those things. What if you're able to do that? So the management from a defensive standpoint both with your players and your coaches with your players is what's critical. Again, it's not about that 62‑mile‑an‑hour blitz you've got dialed up as much as it's get everybody lined up, get them where their eyes are supposed to be, get their hand in the dirt, have gap integrity, stay, keep the ball inside in front, and then play with great effort and being physical. But you don't get that at the clinic. You get all these neat coverages and rotations and three and four and two‑man fronts and drop nine and bring nine and all those types of things. But to me, that's what's critical to have an opportunity to defend these types of teams. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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