South Carolina Gamecocks College Football Pregame Quote, 10/29/2024

Opening statement

“Great to be back into in-season regular game week mode. The off week was really, really good for us. No question about it. On the field, got some really good work in last week. In the meeting room, in the weight room, as well. Got some great recruiting done. Anytime you can go on the road recruiting after a win like we had at Oklahoma, it is going to be a lot of fun. There was great energy and excitement about Gamecock football. I was out Wednesday afternoon. Was in three different states on Thursday. Went to a game on Thursday night. Was in two different states on Friday. Went to a game Friday night. Great to be out on the road and be in high schools and go to high school games and practices like I was able to do. All of our coaches were on the road which was great to be able to do. The players had a long weekend which they needed physically and mentally. Coaches, we had Saturday off which will be our last off day until the end of the season. We certainly took advantage of that. All of us. Then, everybody got back in here on Sunday, players, coaches, staff and full speed ahead on Texas A&M once we came back in here on Sunday.”

“We are in a pretty good shape from a health standpoint. Jared Brown will be back this week. (De’Andre) Jules probably won’t be. Other than that, we are in great shape. We are healthier. We are more experienced. I know we got better over the off week. We are going to need to be really good on Saturday night. Our guys are excited for the opportunity. Know it will be an insane environment in Williams-Brice Stadium. Insane. We know that. What matters is us performing and playing really well. Coaching well. We are hard at work on doing that. Got off to a good start on Sunday and really good day today on the field, as well.”

On the importance of the next five games

“I think every coach in America uses the, they remember November thing. I think that is kind of universal as a coach, you say that. I was hearing that back at Tennessee back in 2001 when I was a GA for Phillip Fulmer. He used to say it. Certainly, we talked about it before this week in that we have done a lot of really good to this point and we have certainly had some heartbreaking losses and disappointments. This team will be judged and remembered by November. It is very true with this group, as well. I told them the story last week. I think back to two years at South Carolina where we were and where we finished were different. I told them the story about 2007. We were 5-1. Went up to Chapel Hill, beat North Carolina up there. Came back the next week and had an ungodly amount of penalties and lost to Vanderbilt at home. Didn’t win a game the rest of the year. Lost to Clemson on a last second field goal and didn’t go to a bowl game. We were 6-1 in the middle of October and ranked 13th. Then, I told them the story. Most of them were here but a lot of them weren’t. 2022, nobody thought we were worth a flip after that Florida game and then we come back and had two of the wins that people will remember around here forever.  The way that team is remembered is because of what happened in November. The way the 2007 team is remembered, good or bad, is because of what happened in November. We know we have five games to finish the season and it is all out there in front of us. We don’t talk about big picture other than that and what matters is this week, just having a 1-0 mentality and doing everything we can this week to go 1-0.”

On if he preferred to have a game last week after a performance like Oklahoma

“I can see both sides of it. You certainly want to keep rolling. I would hope that with the performance we had at Oklahoma, we would be able to rolling into the next game. The way I looked at it was, we did some really good stuff against Oklahoma but there is a lot that we can be better at offensively, defensively and special teams that we needed to get back to work on. It was good having a bye week last week because now, you are seven games in. You can really analyze where you are. Where you are not as good at and where we need to be over the next fives games. We were able to really attack that last week. We did a little bit more in practice last week than what we did the previous bye week just to try and stay sharp and keep that momentum going. We know we needed to perform better than  what we did coming off the last off week because we did not perform well coming off that. That is behind us. Hopefully, we have learned from it. Would I have loved to have kept going? Sure. Did I love a Saturday off? Absolutely I did. Also, knowing that was is coming over the next five games, we better be ready to roll.”

On having two bye weeks and how that effected the teams health and giving them the opportunity to self-scout

“I think it is good. The health part of it, it goes back to the summertime and the preseason we had and what our guys did leading up to the season in order to stay healthy up to this point. Certainly, when you have two off weeks, it is a long year and it is a grind in this league. There is no question. When you are able to get away from it for a few days, mentally and physically, that is helpful for your bodies. A couple of coaches commented on it and I felt this way this morning. A couple of the coaches on it on Sunday that we looked like a group that had a few days off as far as the energy and the speed we practicing with on Sunday night and this morning. You would hope so. Absolutely, the first bye week, it came after game four so you had four games at that point, but LaNorris had missed part of the Kentucky game. Missed the whole second half of the LSU game and missed the entire Akron game. Your starting quarterback, there is not a huge body of work when you start self-scouting and things like that. We have made progress since that point. There is no question we are a better team since that point. I think having the two bye weeks, it makes the season longer. No question about it.  It is certainly beneficial to the mental health, physical health and being able to analyze where you are and what we need to do in these next five games as we go into November.”

On how they are ensuring that a great week of practice translates to Saturday

“Realizing that what you do throughout the week in practice and in the meeting room, on the practice field, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Preparing with the right mindset and the right mentality gives you an opportunity to go play well on Saturday. It doesn’t guarantee that you are going to play well. We have talked to our players about it in that the way we performed out in Oklahoma was a direct reflection of the way we prepared during the week. Then, we put it all together and we went and played well and it is going to be the same thing this week, as well. It is going to be the same thing this week, as well. Yes, you have a great week of practice. That allows you the opportunity to go compete and hopefully be at your best. Then, when you get out there in that arena on Saturday night, you have to play well, and you have to coach well. We didn’t do a good enough job on either of those against Ole Miss the last time in there. Needed to be better. Our guys are excited about being back at home. One thing we talked about, making sure that we minimize the distractions, as well. Being back at home is different. Going out to Norman, Oklahoma, I didn’t have a ton of people hitting me up for tickets other than maybe people we knew in Norman. My wife is awesome, an angel, and she handles all that. I can’t look at my phone this week without someone texting wanting tickets. I don’t have any so quit texting me and calling me. I don’t have any. If I am getting that, I know our players are getting that and it is just different. Making sure we do a great job of eliminating distractions to go perform well on Saturday night which is all that matters.”

On Texas A&M’s physicality and if it helps when a team like that comes after a bye week

“Our players are exactly right. That is what they are. We pride ourselves on being a tough, physical football team. I would hope when people watch us, they say they say the same thing about us. There is no question that A&M does. On the line of scrimmage, those d-linemen are freak shows. The linebackers, both of them are really good football players. The DBs have size. That stands out on tape. Offensively, they have size at receiver. Both quarterbacks can make plays. The tight ends play hard. They are really physical guys. The offensive line is really impressive. When you talk about physicality, it starts with that running back. He is a downhill back. I saw a stat the other day, I think he is averaging 7 yards per carry but five of those are after contact. Meaning that he is averaging five yards after initial contact which is insane. They are a physical team. I know that is what coach Elko wants his program and team to be about and they are. If you love tough, gritty, physical football games, this is the one for you. If you don’t, than this isn’t the place for you on Saturday night.”

With LaNorris and Rocket healthy, was there anything they were able to do offensively they weren’t able to do during the first bye week

“I think for us, it is going back and looking at where we need to be better. Certainly, working more on that. We did a lot of third down work against the defense last week and third down pressures and blitz periods and whatnot. You look at, OK, we have five games left. Here is kind of where we are as an offense. Defense and special teams, but you asked a question about offense. Where we are. What are some things that we need to do over the next five weeks, one, better but maybe differently. We look at personnel or we look at scheme. Is there a scheme that we can be using that we are not right now that can help us and being able to really dive into that with LaNorris and Rocket being where they are. Certainly, getting a head start on Texas A&M which we were able to do two days last week on the practice field, also. It is absolutely better because that last bye week, coming off of it, we felt good about Rocket and LaNorris playing against Ole Miss but it wasn’t 100 percent by any stretch of the imagination. Now, they are farther along and have more experience and it allows you to really dive in even more on your offense and what we need to do better in the month of November.”

‚ÄåOn how excited they are for the instate recruits coming to South Carolina

“Really excited about the group of guys that are coming. The group of guys that are committed to us. The ones that we are recruiting right now that aren’t committed yet. It is a really great group. There will be a bunch of them on that sideline on Saturday night that will be here at the game and I will be looking at them thinking about, man, I wish yall were out here with us and they will be soon. Absolutely, for us, it always starts with the state of South Carolina and keeping the best players in South Carolina at home. It is pretty cool seeing guys from this state that are doing such great things for us right now whether it be Mazeo at receiver, talking about just the freshmen class or redshirt freshmen. LaNorris playing quarterback. Josiah from over in Dillon playing tackle. Then, you talk about the guys on the defensive line and all South Carolina guys. Tonka, T.J., Boogie, I know they are not freshmen. ‚Ķ Certainly, when guys from South Carolina see guys from South Carolina doing big things, freshman or not, it makes an impact. It makes guys have great pride in this state. I sent a video last week, it may have been one of you guys put it out from basketball media day. It was some of our men’s basketball players, Collin and some of those guys, talking about being from the state of South Carolina and what it means playing in that arena being from this state. I sent that video to all high school football recruits that we are recruiting from the state of South Carolina because it is the same thing with football, as well. That is where it’s always going to start for us. I was out multiple states recruiting last week but we are always going to start right here in South Carolina, for sure.”

‌On preparing for both of Texas A&M’s quarterbacks

“I laugh like some people reach out to me like Marcel Reed just arrived out of thin air like he had never played in an A&M uniform before. There were so many people texting me Saturday night and Sunday. The guy started three games this season and is a heck of a player and beat Florida in Gainesville and beat Arkansas in Dallas and beat Bowling Green. It is a challenge. When you go back to the Oklahoma game, both of those quarterbacks we were prepared for but they were very similar. Oklahoma’s offense really didn’t change a whole lot with whichever one was in the game. Not that A&M completely changes depending on which one is in there. It’s different. There is no question about it. I think Reed the other night threw two passes the whole time he was in here and he is on tape a lot making defenders looking silly. There is a clip in the Florida game, backed up in there end zone and he scrambles up the middle and there is a Florida linebacker that has him dead to rights and he completely just, what do the kids say, broke his ankles or whatever you want to call it. He can make people look silly in the open field. He is a talented guy that can throw. I know they didn’t throw a lot with him the other night but he can make throws. Connor is obviously a really talented guy and they named him as the starter going into the season for a reason. It is a challenge because they are different skillsets. Not that one can run and the other can’t. I am not saying that. They can both run the ball and throw. They will do some different things with Reed in there, for sure. You have to have a good plan for both of them. For us, it starts with whoever is at quarterback. We have to affect him. We have to tackle him and then we have to able to tackle the running back because that is what they want to is hand the ball off to not just eight but five, as well, and let them get going.”

‚ÄåOn the past success they have had in November and if there is one thing he’s noticed they have done well in games in November

“I’m trying to think of things we have done. I would say not turn the ball over. But we threw a pick-six first series of the game against Clemson. That was a November game so didn’t do a great job of that one. I don’t know if it is anything specifically that I look at. I think the bigger thing for us is, it just goes back to we pride ourselves on being a team that gets better as the year goes on. We have always been that. I tell the players every year that It would be a shame if we are the same team in September that we are in November. We need to continue to get better. I think a big part of that goes back to the way we practice. The way we train in the weight room during the season. We try and get stronger and we work to get better in practice. Yes, it is preparing for an opponent but we don’t do a ton of scout team work during practice. We do a ton of good on good against each other and work against each other in practice and work our young guys a lot on Sunday nights after practice to continue to bring them along. I think that is more of the reason that we have had success in November and played fairly well is that we have been a team that continues to get better as the year goes and hopefully we are at our best in November. We know we are going to need to be with these five games coming up in this month.”

‚ÄåOn if it was a surprise when his highlight video dropped this weekend

“It was, to be honest with you. We do some of our team meetings on Friday nights. They actually showed the players that the night before the Kentucky game. Every once in a while, we mix it up. Every once in a while, just to keep it loose and fun, we will show high school highlights in our Friday night team meeting. Usually, it is one of the players. The Friday night before the Kentucky game, they snuck mine in there. It was a shorter version of what Justin King put out on Saturday. Hopefully, the players got a kick out of that, as well. We did it again before the Oklahoma game. We had Shawn Elliott’s highlights on there. D-Mo’s college highlights. It was awesome. I did not know that was going out on Saturday. Justin King tipped me off late Friday night that there might be some good content coming on Saturday. Then, I woke up on Saturday morning and whenever that was and tried to put my phone down but did look at it for that when I found out that was out there. But I do appreciate some of the references. I saw Travis Hunter references being a two-way player. I had a recruit text me that I was giving off Cooper Kupp’s vibes, as well, which was a compliment. Most of the DBs that we are recruiting texted me to tell me that I would be strapped. I think that is there term for covered like a glove. Yes, there was some ankle breaking going on in that video.”

‚ÄåOn if there were changes to the scheme offensively

“I wouldn’t say changes to scheme but you are always looking at, how can we be better and more efficient? Certainly, we need to be better. Not just on offense but other areas. You are always looking at, where can we be better? What is the next step?  We have been doing a lot of this, offensively, defensively and special teams. What is the next thing off of this? You are always looking to do that. Are we going to look like a completely different football team out there Saturday night? I don’t think so. Will there be some tweaks that you always adjust, whether it be game plan specific based on what A&M does or tweaks that we made throughout the bye week to continue trying to be more efficient? Absolutely.”

‚ÄåOn if he talks to the players about the election and if they do anything for Election Day

“I remember the last election day, I was at Oklahoma. To answer your question, encourage them to vote. I already have. That’s one thing I was able to during the bye week was get out and vote so my wife and I went last week and did that here on campus and was simple so encourage everyone to get out and vote, as well. Don’t try and get into obviously too much from a political standpoint but there are some things that we did over the summer that the NCAA kind of oversees on some things, as well. We have Vanderbilt next week and we will be focused on that one. The great thing with our schedule is we are done on Tuesday about 12 noon with the players and they have the whole day outside of academic obligations. We will encourage them to get out there and do their civic duty if they haven’t already and we are here to help support that process as much as we can.”