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CUTrevor
2019-10-22 08:19:02
Dabo said Xavier Thomas is day to day with the concussion protocol. I asked Dabo about DK's turf toe, and he is also day to day. DABO: Good morning, everybody. We are pumped to be back in the Valley. We’ve got a couple weeks here at home so we’re excited about that. Hard to believe, and I was telling our guys yesterday, we have got three home games left. That's it. All these opportunities are special and something that we look forward to all year long. Really excited about back-to-back home games coming up, and another night game. Homecoming, will be a lot of fun. I always enjoy getting out with the students this week and seeing the progress on the floats, watching the Habitat home get built, that’s always a lot of fun. I know it’s raining, but I don’t think that’s ever slowed anything down around here. I know our students are doing a great job and it's going to be an awesome weekend. Boston College is 4-3. They’ve had two last-minute losses to Louisville and Wake Forest, two games they easily could have won. They did not play well at all versus Kansas, and it looks like Kansas might be a little better too than maybe people want to give any credit too. They really did not play well in that game – just one of those games. Kansas had a good plan, and did a good job executing and made some plays. But the Louisville game and the Wake game could have gone either way literally. Very competitive group. Obviously their quarterback got hurt. It's been a challenge for them, but very impressed with what they’ve done to kind of rally back. That game last week, it’s like watching 1990 all over again when you watch that tape. Not tricking nobody; it’s downhill football and big boy pads and big boy football this week. This is old school. There’s a certain physicality and mindset you have got to have in a game like this. I’m actually really excited about it. I'm anxious to see how our guys are going to respond to the challenge that BC’s going to present because it is going to be a challenge. They’re sixth in the country in rushing the football. We’re 10th in the country in rushing. We’re 10th in total offense. They’re 11th in total offense, so you’ve got two offenses that run the ball well. And they’re No. 1 in fewest sacks in the country. Part of that is they run the ball a lot and their passing game is play-action, sprints, boots, screens. Not a lot of drop back. They’re not a team that gets a lot of third-and-longs, but they’re very efficient in what they do, and then they’re tempo. That’s kind of an unusual thing with all the tight-end sets that they have for them to all of a sudden go tempo and run power. It’s a little unique that way, but it’s mostly a 12-personnel team, but again, it’s run, run, run, run, play-action, boot, sprint, screen and some tricks mixed in there as well. They do a really nice job. But those two backs – 250 and 240 [pounds], that’s if they’re accurate, might be fudging on those, it’s almost November – so these are two big, big backs that like contact, that like to move the pile, that like to get the ball, and they just take a lot of pride. And I mean you give Steve [Addazio] a lot of credit for that. They’re good up front, well-coached, well-coordinated, and they’re going to line up and run the ball. You have got to have a mindset to win your matchup, and you can’t grow weary, cause they’re not. They’re just going to keep handing it off and you’ve got to stop them and that’s what happened in that game last week. They just wore them down. They rushed the ball for 429 yards on NC State, and NC State was giving up 67 yards a game rushing coming into that game. That’s what these guys are capable of doing. Over on the defensive side, they’re doing the same things. They’re man coverage, they don’t have great depth up front, so they’ve created some pressure with their blitz schemes. I think the biggest thing against their defense is trying to stay out of third-and-longs. They do a great job on third down, especially third-and-long situations with their coverage and all their double rat stuff that they’ve got going on, so we have to do a nice job of us being efficient on offense and trying to find a way to stay on-schedule and stay out of some of those third-and-longs where you see some of those exotic things that they like to do. Lot of man coverage. They line up and challenge you. Physical up front. ‘Backers are good players. It’s kind of wild for me because there’s two guys on their D-line that started last week that I have a connection with, and that’s kind of unusual to think about with Boston College. Obviously Richard Yeargin, coached him and love Richard. What a great story he is. In fact. I texted with him last week getting ready for Louisville and watching tape and watching him play, it was pretty inspiring to be able to see him play. I know he’s worked really hard. He started last week against NC State, so I know he’s excited to come in and I look forward to seeing him, but really proud of Richard. Then the Rayam kid, No. 99, his dad and I played together at Alabama. TJ Rayam, he’s from Alabaster, Alabama, went to Thompson High School. His dad, Thomas, was a great player at Alabama. He was a big 6’7” defensive linemen, and a good friend of mine. Got two guys right there that I have got a little connection with. It’s a challenge for us, but we’re looking forward to it. They’re plus-7 in the turnover margin, that's another huge stat. We’re back on the plus side. I think were plus-2 now, hopefully we can keep that trend going, but looking forward to it. This is our Breast Cancer Awareness game, so I’ve got the pink on today. We’ll have a lot of pink out there this weekend, and as always, a great week for us. Super excited about what’s going on with our foundation [Dabo’s All-In Team Foundation]. But when you talk about breast cancer, first of all, one in eight women are going to deal with it. 41,000-plus women will die this year from breast cancer, and it is the most commonly diagnosed cancer for women in this state, and just something we have always been passionate about and this game in particular is a big deal. Really want to thank the WCCP folks. They’ve just been amazing… It’s just awesome the support that we’ve been able to get from so many donors. The foundation since its inception, we’ve given over five-and-a-half million dollars away since 2010. That’s pretty amazing. And that just comes from so many people that are giving. The money has been able to make a huge difference in this community, there’s no doubt about it. This November, when we do our grant luncheon, we’re going to give a little over a million dollars away in November to over 160 different charitable organizations local in the state of South Carolina, people who really depend on it. It’s awesome. A little over $1.25 million of [the foundation’s all-time donations] has gone to breast cancer research. We helped fund the first mobile mammography bus. And then we just did another $250,000 grant to get a second bus. These two buses go out into Anderson, Oconee, Pickens counties and they do into a lot of these underserved, underprivileged communities and do mammograms for women. It’s just a really awesome thing, again, to be able to use our platform in a positive way. And it’s the ‘All-In Team’ because everybody is truly all in and a part of it. Can’t thank the folks enough out there who give – a lot of people I know, a lot people I’ll never know. It’s not really a day that goes by that I don’t sign some type of tax receipt for somebody that has donated to the foundation. I mean, from California to all over this country, we get money. And it’s anywhere from $5 to whatever. It’s pretty amazing, especially to think back to where we were when we sat down and started the foundation and forming it in ’09 and getting it going in 2010 and raising $90,000 that first year to where we are this year. Really appreciate all the help, again, from WCCP and the Tigers for Tatas campaign. They’ve got the armbands and I know we’ve got shirts and pins and all those things that are out there. Really cool stuff. The pins this year have got the National Championship logo. Hopefully everybody will want to get one of those. Look forward to a special week and hopefully making a difference. Also I want to thank and congratulate our women’s volleyball and soccer teams. They used their match this past weekend to raise money as well. They both got wins and I appreciate their support on this event.” On how AJ Dillon compares to other ACC running backs he’s faced: “He’s just different. He’s a very different guy. Maybe more like [James] Conner than Dalvin [Cook]. Dalvin is a different type of guy. Dillon is, I mean, he’s 250 pounds. He’s going to go through you. Dalvin can go through you, he’s powerful, but he will go around you and leave you. Dillon will just drag you. You might be on him, but he’s dragging you. He’s just a big, big, physical, old-school back. He’s one of those guys that you see at the NFL every week. So it’s a challenge. I think it’s a big challenge, especially our back seven guys. A lot of those guys that want to play on Sunday, this is what they’re going to see every week in that league – backs like this. Get them big boy pads out. |
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CUTrevor
2019-10-22 12:44:31
Just had a great interview with Clemson legend Levon Kirkland, who will be enshrined in the Ring of Honor before the game on Saturday! I'll have that along with the rest of Dabo, Ngata, Potter, Cervenka and Rencher shortly! |
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CUTrevor
2019-10-22 12:52:16
Hope you can hear Ngata. He's really a low-talker! |
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CUTrevor
2019-10-22 12:53:10
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CUTrevor
2019-10-22 14:15:52
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CUTrevor
2019-10-22 14:16:29
That's all for today. I'll have a synopsis for you in a bit! |
