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CUTrevor
2019-11-26 11:48:49
I accidentally deleted the first few minutes of Dabo, but I'll have the entire press conference posted soon! He told me Ross and Rodgers are 100% after getting banged up in the Wake game. He also addressed the ridiculous criticism over the Walk of Champions in Columbia. I'll bet the Gamecock fans are going to throw even more crap at the players than they did two years ago. DABO: Happy Thanksgiving. We’re excited about this week. As we always say, we have the season and then it’s South Carolina, and it’s literally a goal of its own and something that we look forward to every single year. It’s the next goal for us and we’re excited again about the week. South Carolina, looking at them, looking at their offense, I’m really impressed with their quarterback. I think he’s going to be a very good player for them. He can throw the football and he makes a lot of very accurate throws. He’s got the ability to push the ball down the field. He’s a big kid and, again, he’s a freshman that’s kind of getting thrown in there this year, but he’s a tough, tough young man and I think a guy that has got a bright future for sure. They have got, really, a whole stable of running backs. These running backs are a good group, a very good group. Rico [Dowdle] has had a great year. He’s a very good runner. [Tavien] Feaster has had an excellent year for them as well. Obviously we know all about him, but I think the No. 20 kid [Kevin Harris] that they’ve played here as of late too, I think he’s another big back that’s a good player. Big loss for them with [Bryan] Edwards out if he’s not going to play. He’s had a phenomenal career and, really, a good football player. He’s a guy they use in a lot of different ways. Several other guys that are maturing at receiver. Shi Smith is a great football player. We’re very familiar with him. He’s a dangerous guy, especially with the ball in his hands. Assuming they’ll get Ortre [Smith] back as well, another big body, so they’ve got a good group of receivers, some big bodied guys and, again, a solid group. I think injuries have been a factor for them, obviously, and again, when you lose a guy like Bryan Edwards, that doesn't help you. They’re doing a lot of different things on offense, so it creates a strain on you because it’s really hard to kind of know what their identity is because I think they have had to find ways from week to week – as they’ve had some injuries and things like that – to move the ball. They’ve played No. 7 [Dakereon Joyner] in there some. They’ve done some run game, quarterback run game things, trick plays, a little bit of everything. Ball comes out quick. They’ll get into a lot of empty, a lot of formations, a lot of shifts, so just for us, we’ve got to line up well, something we really didn't do a good job of last year and play with great discipline and execute at a high level. It’s going to start with trying to stop the run game and pressuring the quarterback. Again, a group that I think has got a good future, especially with their quarterback. Looking at their defense, definitely the strength for them, this is a very good defensive line – very good defensive line. These guys have been battled tested. I think No. 3 [Javon Kinlaw] is as good as a player as you’re going to see in the country. I think he’s a really good football player who they have done a great job developing. He is big and strong and long and does a great job with his hands. He’s got a good motor. He’s affected every single game that he’s been in. I think the same thing, 95 [Kobe Smith] is a good player, I think both their ends are good players. No. 8 [D.J. Wonnum] is an outstanding prospect. They’ve got some good leadership at linebacker, but they’ve had a couple injuries on that side as well. I like both their corners. I think both these corners are very good football players. [No.] 24 [Israel Mukuamu] is a 6-4 kid out there playing corner, he’s gotten his hands on a lot of balls. He’s got great length, and then Jaycee Horn is definitely one of the better corners that we’ve seen. He’s a down-in, down-out player. He’s very consistent, he’s a tough kid, good tackler, so a good group. For us, just excited about getting back on the field, excited about the week. Again, this is a wonderful week in all of college football. I think it’s one of the things that makes college football so much fun, games like this all over the country. For us, our focus is just really simple, it's on finishing strong and playing our best four quarters of the season this week and really nothing else.” On the health of WR Amari Rodgers and WR Justyn Ross: “All back and ready to roll. It was great timing for us, had a lot of guys kind of banged up in our last game, but the bye week fell at a good time so it’s good to have everybody back.” On comments about the Walk of Champions: “Well there’s not really much else to say. I think that’s ridiculous, 2015, 2013, 2011, 2009, 2007, I mean, that’s what Clemson’s done for 17 years that I’ve been here. Again, it’s just ridiculous. It’s not any type of taunting. It’s a unity thing for our team, something we do every single game, home, on the road. If it was something we just did on the road, I could see that, but this is just who we are. It’s what we do and I don’t think anybody should be distracted by how a team warms up, how a team gets itself ready to play a game. Bottom line is you can yell, scream and holler, I think that’s part of it, but when you start throwing things at people, it’s all fun and games until somebody gets their eye knocked out. That’s why I got frustrated a couple years ago and really lost my cool and got a penalty, but there was a major lawsuit in the NFL, a guy threw a flag and hit a guy in the eye – a flag – and it about blinded the guy. Now all of the sudden you’ve got things coming out of the stands whether it be bottles or batteries or whatever it may be, that’s not good. And, listen, I know a bunch of great South Carolina people. I’ve got friends that are South Carolina people. It’s not representative of who they are. It’s just a few people that just don’t handle themselves the right way. You want to have a great spirited competition, it’s a rivalry game, you get that, it’s emotional, but that’s dangerous. And it’s just not something that you should do. But to suggest that it could be OK because of something that a team’s doing [in warmup], that’s ridiculous. Basically when someone is flipping me the bird, does that mean I can throw something at them? And I get a lot of those – not just South Carolina, I get them at a lot of places. Again, there’s a lot of stuff, but I think sooner or later, people have to be adults and it’s a game. This is a game, and I know it’s important, it’s an important game for both sides. Everybody is passionate about it. But there’s right and there’s wrong, and we shouldn’t lose perspective because of our passion for a game.” |
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CUTrevor
2019-11-26 13:42:16
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CUTrevor
2019-11-26 13:44:33
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CUTrevor
2019-11-26 13:44:56
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CUTrevor
2019-11-26 13:46:08
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