Swinney Addresses QB Situation and Other Questions Before ACC Championship
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Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney fulfilled his final media obligation Friday and the hottest topic was surrounding that of quarterback DJ Uiagalelei.
"Yeah, amazing. He's done his part, you know, which is all he can do, you know, and I mean, they're not gonna let him throw it and catch it. So, I mean, he's done his part inside a great week of practice, and the team has responded like you want, but move forward and the other day we're attending ten-and-one in our division and earned the opportunity to be here. And so we're expecting him to play well."
Full Press Conference Transcript:
DABO SWINNEY: Well, good to be back in Charlotte. Sat at home and watched this last year, so it's good to be back here and have an opportunity to represent the Atlantic, which I think is the only division in college football or at least Power Five to have six teams with seven-plus wins, so super excited about winning our division and earning an opportunity to be in this game.
It really is special, this time of year when you're playing and there's a trophy being handed out. We're excited, again, to be here and be a part of a great venue and represent this league.
We want to congratulate Coach Brown and his staff and all their team. Same thing; they're a division champion. They earned their way here. It's special. These opportunities are unique, to get these opportunities, especially when you look back historically.
I got hired 14 years ago yesterday, as a matter of fact, and at that time it had been a long time since Clemson won a championship.
I have such a great appreciation for the opportunity to be here and all that goes into earning the way here. It's hard. It's hard to win.
Really proud of our team for their season that they've had, to get to this point, and again, look forward to a great match-up tomorrow night, and want to thank Subway for being a sponsor, and then also all the people who make this happen.
There's a lot that goes into making a game like this special for the teams involved. There's a lot of logistics, a lot of moving parts, from the locker rooms to the field, et cetera, et cetera.
I appreciate everybody's efforts to make this a great venue and a great experience for both teams, and look forward to competing and hopefully playing our best.
Q. With Drake May, how important is it to try to build a two-score lead late in the game, kind of the way you did at Florida State with a guy like Drake May, who seems to be better when coming from behind and under pressure, leading game-time, game-winning drives?
DABO SWINNEY: Two-score lead? Hey, that's important anytime you can do that.
But hey, we just want to win the game, whether it's one point or two scores or whatever. But I think anytime he's on the field and they've got the ball, it's just regardless of what your lead is, whether it's two scores, as you say, or one point or you're behind, he's a problem in any situation. He's just a great player. He really is.
I can't imagine that he's not going to be one of the finalists for the Heisman, 35 touchdowns, five picks. He's a leading rusher. He's a great player, can beat you a lot of ways. He's got a great mind for the game. He sees things. He processes stuff well.
Regardless of what the scoreboard says or what the situation is, he creates a problem and has our full attention.
Q. Wanted to ask you about Josh Downs. He has a high win rate, but the last two weeks haven't been as good for him. What do you think you and your defense have to do to get him slowed down and keep him out of the end zone?
DABO SWINNEY: Yeah, well, I think that's what you hope to do is maybe minimize him a little bit, slow him down a little bit, but you're not going to stop him. He's the best we've seen, I think. We've seen some really good players, but he is a great, great competitor. He's a great football player. He's dynamic with and without the ball. He's a guy that -- he's also a returner for them.
But they use him a lot of underneath, screen -- they won't come out of this game without at least probably trying to get him the ball at least about 15 times in different ways. You just do the best you can to obviously know where he is. You've got to change things up a little bit as far as how you play him, and you've got to compete and win your match-up and hope that you can, as you said, just slow him down a little bit.
But he'll make some plays. You've got to try to hopefully minimize it.
Q. Going to ask you about two guys that are from here. What were your first impressions in recruiting Trenton Simpson from Mallard Creek and Will Shipley from Weddington.
DABO SWINNEY: Yeah, they're both special talents. Special people, too, just really great kids, great families. First time you talk to both of those guys, you just go, wow. They're just kind of a breath of fresh air. Just really talented players, but they just have great humility to them. Both love the game, passionate about it, wired very similar in a lot of ways.
Just super, super skilled, both of them. Trenton, he can do anything. He's got a long future ahead of him as a football player. He's big. He's strong. He's really fast. You don't see many guys his size as explosive as him, change direction, and just dynamic.
Then Shipley, as you all saw this week, he's the first guy ever to be first team in three different things, so running back, all purpose, and I guess a specialist.
That's who he was in the recruiting process. That's what we saw in him as a player, a guy that could be involved in every facet of the game and impact the game in every way, whether it be as a returner, as a receiver, as a rusher. Great energy. Both of them play with a high level of intensity, both great effort guys.
A lot of similarities in both of them. Both of them got great futures ahead of them in football.
Q. What are your biggest concerns when you look at North Carolina on tape? What jumps out that concerns you?
DABO SWINNEY: Yeah, well, they're the eighth best passing offense in the nation. They've got a Heisman-caliber quarterback that's playing with unbelievable confidence. They've got a great receiver. Everybody talks about 11, but it's not just him; it's 3, it's 5, it's 18, it's those tight ends they've got. The backs are good players. They've got a great scheme. They're very confident in what they do. They play with tempo. A lot of -- they get their ball to the playmakers, a lot of formations and motions and shifts.
There's a lot of things to handle schematically, but they've got good players.
Again, we've not been great -- we just gave up a bunch of passing yards last week, and then you get to play this bunch and they're eighth in the country, so that's a concern for sure.
Then defensively they've gotten better. I think as the year has gone, they've really improved. They've had a lot of injuries and things they had to work through to get to this point.
But they're much improved there for sure, and then their return game. 11 is a guy back there that can beat you on one play. So there's a lot that concerns you about who they are and what they're capable of doing.
Q. You talked about being out of the championship game last year; what's it like -- do you have a different appreciation for it having missed it last year after so many years of high-level success and now being back? Does it give you a different appreciation for the event?
DABO SWINNEY: Yeah, absolutely. Like I said, I got this job, and we went to the championship game my very first year in '09. It was in Tampa for whatever reason that one time. It was like a one-off. We got beat. I just remember what a big deal it was to get there, and then we weren't there in '10, we got back in '11 up here and we won it.
Then we weren't here in '12, '13, '14. We had good teams, really good teams, but we weren't here, and then to get back here in '15, it was such a big deal. Then I guess six years in a row we were here. You just put your head down and go to work, and you see what happens.
We're just very blessed to have had the opportunity. Last year we came up short. We competed, we were in it all the way down to that last weekend, but didn't work out for us.
I'm proud of our guys this year, undefeated in the league, and man, we had to play a lot of great quarterbacks. It seemed like everybody we played all year had a great player at quarterback.
I think we led the league in ACC play in scoring. Our guys did a lot of good things to earn their way here, and we certainly last year watching it, the ol' Kenny Pickett fake slide, I was home watching it like everybody else and certainly missed the opportunity to be in this game.
Everything for us has come through winning this league. You can't win it if you're not in it. So we're really thankful and have a great appreciation for this weekend and for everyone.
I played in the first-ever championship game back in 1992, so 30 years ago I played in that game in Birmingham. Now here we are 30 years later, and everybody has a championship game. Nobody had them back then, and I remember nobody -- we weren't happy about it and Coach Stallings was furious about it because we had to go beat Florida, who was like 9-2 or something. We had to go beat them even though we were No. 2 and already were in the National Championship.
It's just interesting how it's all come full circle now. Now all these conferences are having a championship game this weekend.
Thankful that we get the opportunity to go play.
Q. Have you seen the response you wanted from DJ in practice this week, and where is he at entering the game confidence-wise?
DABO SWINNEY: Yeah, he's done his part, which is all he can do. They're not going to let him throw it and catch it. He's done his part, and he's had a great week of practice. The team has responded like you want.
But move forward, and at the end of the day we're 10-2, and we won our division and earned the opportunity to be here. Expect him to play well.
Q. You mentioned earlier -- this is a question about the ACC as a whole. You mentioned the Atlantic Division this year and all the teams with seven plus wins in there. With no divisions next year, how do you think that one helps out those teams who have all those wins to maybe potentially get to the ACC Championship, and how do you think that helps maybe with the public perception of the ACC conference where some people feel like the teams kind of beat up on each other?
DABO SWINNEY: Yeah, it's probably where it's going in every league probably. It's probably the way it's going to end up with the expansion of the playoff and all that stuff. But we experienced that a couple years ago when Notre Dame was in here.
You'll probably have more rematches. That will be one change, kind of like that year, we had a rematch with Notre Dame, so you'll probably have more of that.
But I think it's all just being driven by the playoff and being able to get your two best teams and everybody trying to have the most teams possible available.
The division thing, maybe one division is better than the other, and that can change from year to year. This is kind of where it's going as far as being able to figure out who the two best teams are throughout the year and let them go play and then see how it affects the playoff.
Q. What do you think your quiet X factor is for possibly winning tomorrow?
DABO SWINNEY: My quiet X factor? Hmm. If I told you, it wouldn't be quiet. It would get loud. Let's keep it quiet.
I don't know. Quiet X factor? Maybe Phil Mafah. He's a guy nobody really talks about a whole lot, but he's a pretty special player. He's kind of a quiet guy but he plays loud. So we'll go with that.
Q. Even though you guys had the one-year hiatus from this game, you've got players who have been in this situation before, whereas Carolina doesn't have anybody from their last appearance in 2015. How much do you lean on the championship and the big-game experience, lean on your players in situations like this?
DABO SWINNEY: I mean, it's great. It's certainly not a negative when you have a bunch of guys that have won games like this, been in games like this. I don't think that's bad or anything. But it still comes down to how you play in this game, these four quarters, and doing what you've got to do.
When we started the first year in '09 and we kind of laid out what our program was going to be about, it was hey, we want to have a program that is elite when it comes to graduation, and we've done that, and then it was we wanted to build a program that really truly built great men, equipped men with skills and career opportunities and relationships and real true tools for life, and we've done that.
Then we wanted to have a program where when their time was up they said, man, that was a great experience. We want them to have a great experience. We want them to embrace college, and we've done that.
But the last thing was we wanted everybody that came to Clemson to win a championship. That's how we've built the program, and nothing has changed from that. Then we went to work.
Our first class was February of '09. We signed 12 guys, and every class that has come to Clemson has won a championship or more with the exception of Will Shipley's class.
Obviously the guys that just got there this year, Antonio Williams and that crew, they're going to get a shot. So everybody who's come through has won a championship.
It's something that is woven into just the purpose and DNA of our program. I think it's great that we've got a lot of guys that are coming in here, and they have that experience to draw upon, but you've got to seize these moments when they come.
No championship team we've had didn't finish. You've got to finish, and you've got to take advantage of opportunities to separate yourself, hang a banner. There's been 127 teams at Clemson, and you want to be remembered as a league champion, you've got to do it on the field. Regardless whether you've been in this game or haven't been in this game, it comes down to how you play tomorrow night.
Q. You talked about Will Shipley, first-team All-ACC running back, all purpose in special teams. How important is it for him to get going in this first quarter against North Carolina?
DABO SWINNEY: It's always important to get your best players in rhythm and going early in any game, and certainly he's just like a No. 11 for them and their quarterback, that's kind of where it starts for them. It starts for us with No. 1. He's a great player and he's a guy that gets better as the game goes. Kind of the tougher it gets, the better he is. It's very important. We need him to play well.
Q. Is there something you want to see from your guys tomorrow night that you haven't seen this season, a type of game, whether that's a perfect game or a full-circle game or just a statement that you want to set that you haven't seen so far?
DABO SWINNEY: Well, I'd love a perfect game. That would be a great place to start, yeah. We didn't have that for sure.
But the biggest thing is I'd like to see us win the margin. We had seven games, we had three offensive turnovers and we've had 14 in five games. That's tough sledding. It's not that I haven't seen -- I have seen us do that, but that's where I would start. I'd like to see us win the margin tomorrow night. I think that would be a good thing to see.
Q. You got the administrative staff and the secretaries involved in a little film action earlier this week, and just wondering, what did the rest of the week look like after mental Monday?
DABO SWINNEY: Windshield, eyes forward, on to the next -- go to work, get back at it. That's what you do. Just learn from it and put your eyes on the next opponent and what you've got to do to get ready to go play well.
We've had good week of practice. The guys are excited about playing, and hopefully we can -- first of all, thankful that we get a chance to go play because most of the time your season ends, so it's nice to be able to get back at it and play another game and hopefully just play well.
But good week of practice.
Q. Do you feel like you have to take any extra motivational measures with your guys given the way the regular season ended and this ACC Championship game doesn't necessarily have the playoff implications it normally does?
DABO SWINNEY: No. Again, there's only four teams that go to the playoff, and we've been there six times, and that's probably about the most of anybody. It's hard to do that. It's really hard.
This is what we're playing for, right here. Those are all great things, but those are things that come when you win your league. We know what's at stake. I wish we were perfect. We weren't perfect this year. Everybody tries to -- everybody goes into their season, you try to be perfect and you put everything you've got into every single week, and you've got a lot of people involved. You count them all up at the end of the year, and we're not 12-0, we're 10-2.
Yeah, we won't have the opportunity to go in the Final Four, but whether we were 12-0 or 10-2, we still need to win that. Nothing has changed from that standpoint. Everything for us is about winning the ACC. It's a goal of ours.
Then the next goal is to win the closer, whatever that is. Again, we could be 12-0, win it, and on a particular year somebody not vote you in. You don't have any control over that.
Our goal is to win this league. What happened last week has nothing to do with this week. Never has, never will. You've got to go on to the next game, just like the next season or whatever it may be.
Q. I know in the past you've sort of joked you'd be fine going back to the BCS, but starting in 2024 winning that will get you into the playoff. Are you happy to see the playoff expansion? Do you think this is a net good thing for college football and for Clemson?
DABO SWINNEY: Yeah, it doesn't matter what I think. You're going to write whatever you think, so it doesn't matter what I think, and it doesn't matter what anybody's opinion is, because it's reality. You just embrace it and you keep moving. It's reality. It doesn't matter what anybody's opinion or thinks about it. It's happening. All that matters is let's move forward.
We've got one more year of a Final Four, if you will, and then it goes to 12, and we'll all embrace whatever changes come with that and whatever -- there's always unintended consequences. We'll all embrace that, and you keep moving forward.
I'm excited about it and look forward to whatever comes with it. But doesn't really matter what anybody thinks about it.
Q. I was wondering, what's your relationship with Mack Brown, and during his time when he was with ESPN, did he come down -- were there any particular visits that may have stood out when he was just on the set and observing practice and you guys were talking just as football minds?
DABO SWINNEY: Yeah, well, I said this earlier in the week, but he's -- when I got the job 14 years ago yesterday, we finished up, went to the Gator Bowl and then we were kind of starting, okay, we're going to get an off-season, going to get a spring practice, we're going to get to have a year cycle of recruiting and kind of all that stuff, and I reached out to about four or five coaches that I didn't really know any of them. I didn't really know anybody, but I didn't really know -- just people that I really just thought a lot of and really respected.
Obviously it wasn't -- Coach Spurrier wasn't going to let me come down and sit down with him in Columbia, that wasn't going to happen, but I reached out to people that I felt like it would be great to go learn from because obviously I'd had seven weeks as a head coach, so now I've got a chance to kind of -- I had a lot of questions and a lot of things that maybe I was just looking for some confirmation on and then a lot of questions on some stuff.
I've always said this, and this is why I love Mack Brown and always will. I reached out to four or five coaches, and now you're the head coach at Clemson, people will call you back or at least text you back. He was the only coach that would let me come visit.
I thought that was interesting because I didn't really -- it didn't really dawn on me, why can't -- I've always allowed people to come and visit and meet and talk because of that. But Mack Brown was the only one. Not only did he let me come visit, he let me bring the whole staff. So I went out there February of '09, took the whole staff, spent two and a half, three days in Austin, and I'd never been there at the time to Austin, and they were actually starting spring ball early. We got to see some practice, sit in on some meetings. They were amazing.
He was so accommodating, I couldn't even hardly get a question out of my mouth and he had all the answers. He'd read my mind. I've still got all my questions and all my answers, I've got just pages of notes that I took from him.
It was such a helpful visit for me, and to be able to see Texas and kind of where they were, they were just pretty fresh off a National Championship, facility, you name it, staffing, recruiting. It was like a Cliff's Notes version of being a head coach.
He was incredibly transparent, and he didn't know me from Adam. He's like, yeah, man, congrats, kept up with you, I'm really excited you got that job, come out any time. Took us all to dinner. He was just Mack. That's just who he is. That's how he is. He's just a great person, as is Sally.
Then we became friends after that. I kind of went on and then he coached -- then when he got out of coaching and he got into TV he had several of our games, and he came down and did an event for me one time, one of our fundraisers. He came and spoke at that.
Just got to know him a lot over the years, and just one of those guys that it's easy to like. Good football coach.
Somebody asked me a question at our press conference Tuesday -- maybe somebody here, I don't know. But the question was was I -- did I think he would be successful or something like that when he got back -- I was like, well, what about his life says that he wouldn't be successful. Everything about everything he's ever done leads you to think, yeah, this will work.
I'm not surprised that he's here. He might not have been so transparent 14 years ago had he known we were going to be facing up one day for a championship, but that's kind of how life is, how God works. That's how things come full circle sometimes.
Q. Last week you faced the No. 3 punter in the country, and he had a big impact in that game. Tomorrow you're facing the No. 7 punter in the country. Special teams always critical in games like these. How much will that impact your game plan, your strategy tomorrow?
DABO SWINNEY: Yeah, I mean, it was obviously a huge part -- we had two turnovers, fumbled a kick return, fumbled a punt return, lost two possessions there, both in scoring range. That was a huge part of the game with field position, and it will be the same. We've got to try to keep them on a long field because he's really good and can pin you deep if you allow him.
But in a championship game, special teams is always a part of it.
Q. Last time you all played North Carolina was up in Chapel Hill in 2019. What do you remember about that game, and what did you learn from that game that might help you in the head to head match-up come night tomorrow with Mack Brown?
DABO SWINNEY: I remember they made a couple of explosive plays, and I remember we missed some plays, had some critical drops, but it was a hard-fought game. Both teams competed until the end. I think we missed a field goal, as well, in that game that was pretty critical, and next thing you know, it was down to the last play. Two-point conversion at the end, we made a great stop, and it was a big win for us. But it was a good football team.
Q. The North Carolina offense has not been as explosive as they have over the past 10 games, over the last two games. Do you see any type of formula what you guys will have to do to slow that offense down? Do you see anything that you can take away from what Georgia Tech did or what income state did the past couple weeks?
DABO SWINNEY: Well, I think the Georgia Tech game, they just missed a few plays. That was probably their worst game as far as some plays there that they normally make that they didn't make. Just kind of next thing you know you're in a dogfight there.
Then you've got a rivalry game, a lot of intensity, a lot of emotion, a few plays here or there, a couple bang-bang plays, that's kind of how you expect that type of a game.
They're plenty explosive, do a great job. You kind of hold your breath every single play because they can make a lot of plays.
But we've got to win up front. You can't let him get comfortable. If he's comfortable, he'll pick you apart, especially with the receivers they've got, good veteran guys in the tight ends, and he's a runner. Again, he's their leading rusher, and they will run him. He gets a lot of scramble yards because he really sees it. He understands coverage. He understands how to set lanes and when to take them, when to get rid of the ball, and then they have a lot of called runs, too, whether it be draws or some other things.
You've got to win up front and try to get him uncomfortable, make him try to have to change his launch point, things like that, and then you've got to cover forever because he can create and he can extend as good as anybody. Very poised. Does not get rattled.
As far as the last two games, again, the Georgia Tech game, that was probably their one game where they were just a little off, but last week was just kind of a down to the last play, right, intense rivalry, emotion, and one or two plays. NC State is pretty good on defense, too. Pretty good.
Q. Twice in this press conference you've mentioned the 14 years yesterday, I think. Can you talk about man of faith and who you are, the blessing it's been to be the head coach at Clemson?
DABO SWINNEY: Oh, man, it's crazy. My wife sent me a picture of her and our three boys at the press conference. They were just these little boys. Now Will has come to Clemson and won a National Championship and won five ACC Championships and now he's working out of Charlotte here and living in Greenville and on his -- and Drew is about to get married in March. He's a senior. Then Clay, who was asleep in that picture at the press conference, he didn't really care. He's now a freshman at Clemson. So it's just crazy how time flies. Just like that.
I was hoping I'd be here one or two or three years and hang on and see what happens, and now we're here 14 years later.
It's been an unbelievable blessing. Clemson is an amazing place. It's where I was supposed to be and when I was supposed to be there, and thankful for it.
Q. What do you like most about Clemson?
DABO SWINNEY: Oh, man. What I like most about Clemson is honestly probably the simplicity of life and the quality of life that we get to have there. It's rare. It's just my profession, this is what I do, and I want to compete to be the best. I want to compete at the highest level.
I get to do that. We have this little small setting, and Monday through Friday is just kind of -- it's very simple. It's very simple. Again, and there's a quality of life there that you really -- until you live there, it's hard to really explain. But there's this quality of life that I think is rare and lost, and there's this simplicity of life that's the same -- there's this unbelievable energy that comes from being -- just living in a college town, but yet on the weekends we get to compete at the highest level. That's what I love the most about Clemson.
Then the people that are there. It's just been a wonderful place. Again, I've been there 20 years at Clemson. Moved there February of '03, so in our 20th year, and it's been -- and I thought I'd be there a year or two. In fact, I did a three-year interest-only note at like 2.7 percent and I bet on myself because Kath was like, what are we doing, and I was like, in three years I'm either going to be making more money or we're moving, we're gone.
So here I am now 20 years later and we're still there. It's special.
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