South Carolina Gamecocks College Football Pregame Quote, 10/15/2019

Offensively, Dan does a really good job with the quarterback, he’s an outstanding play caller. Kyle Trask has taken over for unfortunately, Feleipe Franks was injured, but he’s done a really good job. He’s accurate with the football, he threw for over 300 yards Saturday night in Baton Rouge. But makes decisive decisions, gets the ball out quick. He’s got arm talent, and I’m just very impressed with what he has done and accomplished. The first game against Tennessee, first drive of the game, takes ’em right down the field and scores. So, been very impressed with him. Lamical Perine, the running back, has got a strong lower body, runs through contact, is a violent runner. Been very impressed with him. And Pierce and then Davis are good backs, as well. A very talented, big, and experienced group at the receiver position, Jefferson and Frankie, or excuse me, Josh Hammond, I coached his brother, Frankie. Swain, and all those guys, Grimes, Cleveland, all guys that have played a lot of football, really understand what they’re doing offensively. And emergence of Kyle Pitts at tight end, which is kind of a hybrid tight end/receiver, but has been very productive as far as leading them in reception, and big, and athletic on the offensive line. Defensively, Todd Grantham does a great job. Todd and I’ve been friends for a long time, and I think if you talk in terms of havoc on the football, probably Florida leads the country just as far as as batted balls, interceptions, he does a great job of creating issues for you offensively. And Zuniga and Greenard are two guys that have been very productive for him at the defensive end positions. They’re solid in the middle. Then, C.J. Henderson and Marco Wilson are two outstanding corners, as good of corners we’ll see this year. They can really cover and lock down outside, so really good players. And very talented specialist, Tommy Townsend, is an outstanding punter, and McPherson’s done a good job for him kicking the football. But injury-wise, Ryan practiced today. I think he’ll be fine for Saturday, and really, we don’t have any other injury situations as far as a that’s concerned, so I’ll open up for any questions.

Will, with Ryan, he moved around well today, not wearing any extra brace?

No, he wore a brace, but he’ll be fine.

Also with Dakereon being the backup now, does he work any more receivers?

We focused on quarterback at this time. Yep, sure have. And since he’s been back, as far as what’s best for our football team, and him right now, is just to solely get those reps, mm-hm.

Have you faced Dan as much as you’ve faced any other play caller offensive guy in your career, you think?

Well, I’ve only, probably ’06 and ’07, when I was at Auburn and he was at Florida. And then, ’16, when we were here at South Carolina, and he was at Mississippi State.

The Auburn year, the one year at Auburn?

And then one year at Auburn in ’15. Yeah, at Auburn. And then, ’16 here, and then last year, mm-hm. I mean, I wouldn’t say as much. I mean, Jim Chaney, and there’s a lot of guys that have been in our league a long time.

How does preparation differ from a guy that you’re really familiar with, as you both, I imagine, sort of tweak and react to what the other guy did?

You know, I just think Dan does a really good job of presenting issues. I think he sees the game from a defensive perspective, meaning knows that there’s some issues with different looks that he can give you. The run game is the run game, and their passing game is the pass game, but how they manipulate and get to those looks are going to be different each week. It’s kind of like preparing a little bit from the standpoint of, I guess the best example I could give you is they’re going to get to this run, I don’t know how they’re going to get to it, but I know they’re going to get to it. So, whatever window dressing’s created on game day, our players need to be able to adjust, and we need to adjust as a staff.

The way they ran the ball in the second half last year, was that a scheme issue, or was that a fatigue issue?

No, I think it was both. I think schematically we weren’t as gap-sound as we needed to be, and we’ve tried to rectify those issues. And, we weren’t as good as we needed to be defensively personnel-wise at that time of the season.

Did you play more nickel than you, or 4-3, you remember, in that game?

Probably 50/50, mm-hm, yep.

Hey, Will. I think Lou Holtz once said that you never get the same 18, 19 year olds from week to week. I’m wondering how you approach sort of winning on the road, big game against Georgia, and then having your guys flush it the next week, getting back to Florida. How do you make sure that your guys do that?

Well, I told the team this morning, in life, generally, you don’t always get what you want, but generally, you get what you deserve. And if you prepare right, and you prepare the right way, and you watch film the right way, and you workout, and you practice the right way, and you have the right kind of preparation and focus leading into game day. And then, all of that comes to fruition on game day, and you play well on game day, then you deserve the right, not saying you will, but you deserve the right to have to opportunity to win the game. If you don’t prepare the right way, and you basque in something that happened in your past, and you think about that and not think about the present now then you don’t deserve that right. So, there’s a difference between wanting something to happen and deserving it to happen, in my opinion. Every week is a season here, and we have certain things that we talk about all the time, you know? Leave No Doubt’s been in our locker room from day one, leave no doubt about your energy, your effort, your toughness, your discipline, your team-first mentality, and the opportunity, you’ve got to earn it every single day. And we have certain things that we talk about all the time in our organization, and every week’s a season for us. We’re going to pour our guts into Florida, and hopefully create the opportunity to deserve the right, have the right to win on game day.

Will, Florida kind of rotates in two different quarterbacks back there. Just how do you go about preparing for that in practice? Is it just putting a running back in there at scout team quarterback if they have a mobile guy, or how does that kind of go?

Well, we’re short some guys as far as having guys that could simulate that, to be honest with you. So, it’s a lot of recognition by our players, and obviously our staff, of who is in the game. They don’t change a lot, they really don’t. There’s quarterback run game with both guys, Kyle and Emery, and there’s throw game with both guys. There’s not a lot of drastic changes as far as what they do offensively when each guy’s in the game in my opinion. So, I think just understanding whose there in the situation.

Will, you’ve probably coached a lot of great defensive backs who don’t get three interceptions in their career. When Israel does something like that, is that because he’s in the right positions, does he have good hands? I mean, what comes with a game like that?

Well, I mean, I think I go back on the first interception. Javon Kinlaw created, he and Dennis Wonnum, a great pressure to the throwing hand of the quarterback, and that created duress, the ball was floated. Israel made a fantastic play on the ball, and obviously, returned it for a touchdown. Probably the best interception was the back shoulder ball, which is obviously some sort of miscommunication with the receiver and quarterback, and I don’t know whose fault it was. But, to be able to play that ball and make that interception was a pretty fantastic play. I take him through those interception drills everyday, and I think he’s really learned a lot from me. I’m kidding. Yeah, it’s called talent. So, it’s overcoming coaching is what I say. But, and then, the last one was a tipped ball, being in the right spot, and Jake threw it exactly where it was supposed to be, and the guy needs to catch the football, and he didn’t. And he was in the right place at the right time.

I’m sure you’ve coached some great defensive lines in your time. Where does this one stack up?

We’ll reflect when the season’s over about how we do. We need to continue to be consistent in what we’re doing, and I think that Kobe and Javon have both been very consistent. I think Dennis Wonnum has been very consistent, and we’ve got to continue to come on with the other guys. You know, Aaron’s playing well, J.J., Danny Fennell played well Saturday. The progress that Rick Sandidge and Zacch Pickens have made, I’ve been very impressed with. We need to get Jabari Ellis more involved in that front, and he certainly is a guy that’s more than capable to help us.

How much do those guys, those younger guys, feed off somebody like Kinlaw when he’s playing at such a high level?

Well, I think that number one, it starts at practice, and how guys prepare in the film room, and that’s the thing that I’ve seen Javon take his game to the next level as far as off the field preparation. Nutrition, eating the right way, working out in the weight room, in the film room watching film, studying his opponent. Coming in to us on a Monday, and saying, “Hey, man, I really like the match up here.” When you get those kind of back-and-forth from a player, that’s really important. And when a young player can see that, and see the buy in of what it takes to be a really good player, it’s not just about ability and it’s and just about talent. It takes a lot of things off the field to be successful in our league, and that’s where, to me, that he’s made the next step. And Kobe continues to get better, played his best game there on Saturday, in my opinion, since he’s been at South Carolina. But for those players to see the right example of the right way to do things is huge in your program when you start talking in terms of culture, and you start talk about tradition. And to be able to see those things instead of a coach saying it, and a player says it, it means a lot more.

There were times through the first quarter of the season where you were upset with your secondary tackling coverage, things of that nature. How dramatically different do you feel about that group, especially after the way they played the last two games?

Well, and I’m probably, there were some spots in the Missouri game a little bit because of snaps, but the last three ball games, we’ve improved and gotten better each week, and we’ve got to continue to improve. We got another huge challenge in front of us with this group Saturday. I mean, they’re very talented on the perimeter, and they’ve got a quarterback that’s playing extremely well, and a back that’s very difficult to tackle. So, we’ve improved, but we’ve always got room for improvement to continue to grow and get better.

Will, with another noon game, I know some fans might not be thrilled about it, but your players felt like they’re at an advantage since you guys do practice early. As a coach, and even as a former player, do you feel like there is a benefit of being able to get a game going on pretty early on, and what are those advantages?

Well, we’re up every morning. I mean, all of our guys are in the building by 6:30, and fired up about practice, and meetings, and all that stuff, you know? But, we look forward to it. We look forward to a noon kick. Any opportunity we get to play in Williams-Brice, our guys will be excited about it.

A few days after watching Dakereon do what he did against Georgia, what do feel like you learned about him watching him thrown in there in that kind of situation?

I fully expected him to play extremely well, and I fully expected him to take command of our offense. I fully expected him to do exactly what he did and help us win a football game.

But what does it say about him as a kid that was ready to do that?

Well, I mean, he’s got natural leadership ability. He positively affects people around him. That’s who he is as a person, and I think that you can develop that to a certain degree, but some people have what I call “the it factor,” and he has “the it factor” as far as those things are concerned in my opinion.

Will, what has Donell Stanley meant to you as an anchor on the offensive line as kind of a leader to those young quarterbacks this year?

Well, Donell has just been, thinking back to 2016, our first game, I think it was on the first play of the game against Vanderbilt, he has the ankle injury, which is a pretty severe injury. The put the ankle cord surgery, he plays, I think it was, the next eight to 10 snaps, and there’s no way he probably could’ve been standing up. He’s got great toughness, he has outstanding leadership ability, he’s a really good football player, but he’s an even better person off the field. And he’s one of the guys I really lean on on this football team as far as to gauge where we are from fatigue, to gauge where we are mindset-wise, to gauge how things are going. And that’s really important as a coach to have, and I’ve got multiple guys to have that, to have that in a leader on our football team. He’s going to be honest with me, and tell me like it is, whether I want to hear it or not, and I really appreciate him for that.

Will, when you guys decided to go 4-3 for your base defense, how did that meeting go? Was it you and T-Rob, did somebody bring it up? Just how did that decision come about?

Sitting by myself in the Missouri locker room figuring out what we needed to do to get better, and that was just in my mind, knowing that Sherrod Greene has played better than the other guys we were putting in the game at the time. And we need to adapt some things defensively and make some adjustments.

Did you come in Sunday and say, “This is what we’re doing?”

This is what we’re doing.

How do you balance allowing Hilinski’s knee to get better, getting enough reps to be ready for Florida, and are you adjusting the amount of reps that Dakereon gets as a second team guy?

Yeah, absolutely, and I think that that’s really kind of up to our medical staff. They tell me what they think he can and can’t do, and then we’ve got to obviously ask Ryan, and he just got to be honest with us, and tell us, “Hey, this I what I feel good about, and this is what I feel like I can do, and what I can’t do.” So, those are things we’ll continue to gauge as the week moves on, but we feel pretty good where he is right now.

You know, Will, as most of your Florida players have gone onto graduate, or gone onto the NFL, has it gotten easier for you, you think, to play them moving forward?

No, because they got a good team. Again, it is what it is. They got three brothers down there, Tommy, the punter, I coached his brother, Johnny, in the Townsend family, and then you’ve got Marco with Coach Quincy. And I remember sitting in the living room there with Chad and Carmen down in South Florida, and Marco was about that tall in the living room there. And they got all their athleticism from Carmen, not the dad, Chad, that’s for sure. He played at Miami. And then, Frankie Hammond, Josh’s brother, what a great play in 2012. We’re up there at Knoxville, and Jeff threw a curl right there to Frankie, and broke two tackles, and took it about 65 yards for a touchdown, huge win for us. But, you know again, at the end of the day, I had a wonderful experience there, but I’m glad we’re at South Carolina, and looking forward to game day. They got a good team, so it’s always hard.

It seems like from a reading recognition standpoint, your defense is playing faster right now the last couple of games. Would you agree with that, and if so, what’s kind of made it that way?

You know, John, I think that I don’t know that necessarily we did too much, but I think we have narrowed some things down that we feel like our players do extremely well, and when our players feel comfort. And I think sometimes as a coach, you need to be able to take input from your players, and I think that myself, number one, and our staff, number two, have done a really good job of identifying what our players feel comfortable playing. And again, it all goes back, in my opinion, to comfort level as a player, whether it’s playing quarters or playing three deep, playing man-to-man pressure situations. What pass rush do we like? All of those things. And I think our players have identified some things that they feel more comfortable with in playing with. And then, with a comfort level, you’re going to play faster, and instead of thinking, you’re reacting. And you’ve got to do that on defense. You start thinking on defense with the speed that we face week-to-week, week in and week out, you’ll get burned.

This has nothing to do with the Florida game per se, but given the fact who has won the Booby Dodd Trophy over the years, to be up for it after yesterday’s announcement, your thoughts on that?

Well, I credit our staff and our players, and that’s the bottom line. You know, as a head coach, you get way too much credit when there’s a big win. There’s a lot of people that obviously contributed to that game, and I really appreciate all of them.

Catapult numbers told you that you guys had 14 guys that hit their max speed in the fourth quarter overtime against Georgia. What does that say about this teams conditioning midway through the season?

Well, I think we’ve been in really, we haven’t, other than maybe a handful of issues cramp-wise, all season. I think we had a really good summer as far as conditioning was concerned. In those situations, I’ve felt that way all through the season. I think the breakdowns we’ve had didn’t have anything to do with the conditioning in my opinion, especially earlier in year with some of the inconsistencies we played with. But, I think we’ve had good strength gains in the weight room, we’ve had strength gains during the season in the weight room, and I think Jeff and the staff have done a fantastic job.

Sorry to pull you back to your Florida tenure for a second, but what are your memories of your last game as Florida’s coach against South Carolina? What are the things that stick with you from that day?

We got a punt blocked. I appreciate your bringing it up. No, you know, had a punt blocked, had a field goal blocked there. In the situation, it’s amazing, we talk about situational football all the time. I’m trying to remember exactly the time, it was right under a minute or right above a minute in the game, ball was on about the 42, 43 yard line. We had always talked in terms of game situations of taking a safety slow, but there was too much time left on the clock, and obviously, you got a guy like Pharoh back there returning, and we felt like we needed to get in some sort of coverage unit situation knowing that they were going to sell out for the block. But, those are the two things that jump in my head. Not taking the quarterback, Dylan Thompson, on a freaking zone read, how about that? Seeing him run in the end zone.

Javon Kinlaw’s not the kind of guy who is going to boast about himself, he’s kind of bashful in front of us. Do you think he realizes the kind of impact he’s had with his play this year, and how do you get the max impact out of him each week?

You know, just challenging him each week to be consistent. Consistency’s really, really, important as you continue to move forward in your career, and that’s something that I think he’s really challenged himself to be a consistent guy, to be a great practice guy every single day out, to put the work in, to deserve to have the right to play well on game day, to win the games. So, and I think that’s something that his consistency has been very evident throughout the first six games of the year, and he’s got to continue that.

Will, after the game on ESPN, you hit upon it a little bit talking about the impact Joyner has been able to do, and just how proud you are of him. What message do you think that sends to some of these other guys in terms of, I know he’s only been here for two years, but some of these younger guys that they’re still coming up through, and just being able to be ready? ‘Cause, like you guys talk about all the time, next man up.

Well, you never know when your number’s going to be called, that’s the bottom line. And it says something about, obviously, his mom, and his stepdad, they’re great people, and been raised right, and he has all of the leadership ability you want. And to be able to have the loyalty to University of South Carolina, to stick it out, and see how things are going to go. You know, not every time adversity strikes, take your ball and go home. And unfortunately, in our society, that’s a little bit about what’s happening now. And my hat’s off to Kyle Trask. Here’s a guy that went through a coaching change, and didn’t win the job, and was a graduate, could’ve transferred, could’ve been eligible immediately somewhere else, and stuck it out. And all the sudden, he’s got an opportunity to be the starting quarterback. So, you know again, it says a lot about those guys and their character.

Will, Bryan, Shi, your tight ends have all played great. Is it bothersome to you that you haven’t really found that third wide receiver? Do you really need one at this point?

Yeah, I mean, we’ve got to continue to progress in the passing game, and that certainly is going to be able to develop for us. I think Kyle Markway has played extremely well the last two seasons, and I think Nick Muse’s emergence and match up issues, ’cause when he’s in the game, are we in an attached set, and are you going to stay in base personnel, or are you going to go to nickel personnel? That helps us call the game, obviously. And he creates issues in the slot. He made a heck of a catch on third down the other night. So, he’s been a guy that’s continued to progress, especially just showing up August 1 to start camp and learning the offense. But there’s no question that Chavis Dawkins has done some really nice things for us, Josh Vann had a couple nice runs in the last two ball games, but we’ve got to continue. Xavier Legette’s a young guy that we keep bringing along that’s doing some good job for us on special teams. So we’ve got to continue to develop there, yeah.

And where is OrTre in that? Is that knee still?

OrTre? Yeah, you know what? Yeah, OrTre is fine. The knee’s, that was a very serious surgery, and he’s also had a little bit of a hamstring, he got dinged in the, oh, shoot, the Kentucky game, I believe it was, or the Missouri game with a shoulder. He didn’t miss any time, he practiced, and he’s pushing through it. He’s a really good football player, and you think back to his first year when he was healthy, and how he played for us, he played big time for us. And we expect that to continue to evolve as we move forward. But, when you do have a serious surgery like he had, it is a setback a little bit. And I think it set him back, he’s not as fast as he wants to be at times. But it’s a process you’ve got to work through, and he continues to work through it, and we need for him to continue to come on, and I know he wants to.

Marcus Lattimore will be inducted into the Hall of Fame Thursday night. What has he meant to your program?

Well I don’t know how much time you have, but just probably a lot of things I don’t see, and then a large majority of things that I do see, and how he positively affects everyone in that locker room. And his office is right there by our nutrition hub where all of our players eat breakfast in the morning, and all of our players eat lunch before they leave the building. Every time I walk by his office, there’s a player or two, or three, or four sitting in his office talking to him, whether it’s about adversity, something going on at home, or just talking. So many of the things that he has done in our state, number one, but in our community, for the University of South Carolina, and promoting the University of South Carolina and the Gamecock brand, and how he represents us in a first class manner. But, for me personally, a great friendship that I’ve developed with Marcus, and just how much he’s made a difference in this program as a player, obviously, but moving forward, as a mentor to a lot of people in this building.

It seems like through this season, your guys tackling has improved a good bit. What kind of goes into that? How hard is that to, in season, improve tackling to that level? And have you seen, do a lot of teams get that kind of turnaround, or are those relatively rare?

You know, I think I said it after the game, I wish I could tell you there’s some fancy drill that we’ve done that’s helped us tackle better, but we work on tackling every single day, every single practice. I think some guys have willed themselves to improve a little bit, to want to stick their face in the fan, so to speak, and like it, and wrap up, and have the proper technique, and kind of buy in to that part of it. But, you know again, I don’t know. That’s something we work on a lot, we worked on throughout training camp every single day, and I think guys have maybe understanding of angles, and scheme, and where they are on the ball, those sort of things. And we’ve played really good backs in our last two ball games. So we’ve got to continue to improve, and you’re only as good as your last outing, and we’ll have another opportunity on Saturday.

I know that he wasn’t able to travel with you to Georgia, but how different is it having Jake here for Ryan and Dakereon both after the game that they had this week?

He’s in every meeting, and his experience as a freshman, his experience in three years has certainly been beneficial for the entire room, as far as both Ryan, Dakereon, and Jay. As far as, “Guys, this is what I see, and this what we’ve been, and this happened to me, I went through that.” It’s easier when you have a peer to talk to as opposed to a coach in my opinion.

Recruits don’t choose a school based on one game, but what can a win against a top five team like Georgia do on the recruiting trail in terms of just showing progress and things like that?

Well, I think what you just said, the word is progress, you know? You keep talking about doing some great things, and sometimes they’ve got to see the results, they’ve got to see that progress. So, I think the word you said is best, is progress. You know, you’ve seen some progress to be able to go beat a really good team on the road, mm-hm.

Will, speaking about Jake again, how’s his progress going, his recovery, and is there any change to that time table where maybe, in a bowl situation, he may be, he might find himself eligible?

No, I don’t know about that. The time table I’ve been told is non-weight bearing for three months, and that obviously would put him out of any bowl game situation. And really, not being cleared from anywhere from five to six months as far as fully cleared for activity with the lisfranc, so that’s what I would know.

Will has just talked about the importance of being able to show recruits the progress that you’re making. What about for some of your younger guys, and maybe even some of your veterans who are down about the way the season has been going, but after knocking off a third-ranked Georgia team on the road, what affect will they have?

Well, I think that you don’t win that game unless you have belief in the organization, and you have belief in the coaching staff, you have belief in what you’re doing, there’s no way you have a chance to overcome adversity on the road against a really good football team. So that’s resonated within our team. I do agree that, with young players, ’cause they start wondering a little bit about the process, and how this works, and “I’m not playing much. How is this going to go? I’m going to go into the off season program.” And, you know, “These coaches aren’t exactly the same guys that recruited me.” I mean, all of that’s going through their mind, and that’s part of it. And then, when they’re able to be a part of something like that, they say, “Okay, this is why we practice the way we practice. I understand now why we do these drills. I understand now why we actually have to watch film.” And then, you kind of help yourself as far as the message is concerned, with your football team.

When Ryan was hurt, just what kind of a presence was he on the sideline? What kind of a personality was he there even though he was sitting kind of back for most of it?

You know, I was kind of focused on the field at the time.

Will, you had Ellis on your analyst staff for a while, and I’m sure you’re pleased with the folks that you have there now. But at some point, would you ever like to get an older, veteran sage-type guy on offense that could maybe help a young coordinator?

Yeah, Dan Werner, whose our quarterback coach, has done a really nice job for us.

I mean, as an analyst, like some of these teams have these former head coaches, et cetera?

You know, with all due respect, more’s not better for me. We’ve got a lot of really good ideas in the room, and we’ve got a lot of really good coaches in the room, and I like where we are at this time. And obviously, I’m always in evaluation of what we do, and where we are, and what we need to do to improve in all three phases, in the recruiting part of it, the PR standpoint of it. I mean, I’m in constant evaluation of our program. But yeah, we’re always looking to improve and get better, sure.