Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney held his weekly teleconference Sunday to discuss the Wofford game and update the latest injury information.
Opening Statement
I thought our team was well prepared. We played very, very well. It was a very clean game for the most part. It was a good start for us. Something we can build on and learn from.
The best part about the game was we got a lot of guys some experience. We played 13 true freshmen and 14 redshirt freshmen. Twenty-seven freshmen of our forty there got in the game. Mark Fields is also going to play. We didn’t play him yesterday. He still has a cast on his hand, but he will be another one that will be added to that group. We were just really excited that they were all able to get a lot of good experience. We had 77 guys that got a chance to play.
Offensively we did a lot of good things. Our first group was 100 percent in regards to scoring drives. I can’t say enough good things about our offensive line. We didn’t give up any sacks, no tackles for loss. It was just a nice job up front by all of those guys.
Deshaun Watson played very well. We were really pleased with Nick. It was his first, real significant action outside of getting thrown in there in the Georgia Tech game last year. He had a couple of mistakes but really did some good things for us. It was good to get Kelly Bryant going as well. He has 11 plays. He is just going to get better. I am pleased with what we saw out of him.
To me the story was our offensive line. I can’t say enough good things about them.
Defensively I thought we executed at a high level. There were a couple of little things. We didn’t play the boots quite as well. They had not done a lot of that on tape. We had a couple of missed signals but other than that our effort was outstanding and the discipline was excellent. The guys did their job as far as the dive, quarterback, pitch. We got a lot of guys in the game up front. We saw some active guys out of some of the young guys that we were hoping to see. Something that I think we can really build on in the future.
Injury Update
The only guy with anything significant was Mike Williams. We got the MRI back and they are saying that he has a small fracture in his neck area. He is doing great. He is walking around and has great movement. He will be going to class tomorrow.
We are really fortunate that it was not worse. Obviously any time you have an injury in that area you are talking about a real serious thing.
I can’t say enough good things about our medical staff. They really did a great job. Mike was wanting to get up and walk off the field. Our medical staff did a really good job of just being precautious.
Sure enough with the MRI he has a small fracture that is going to heal up nice. The prognosis is great for him. We are just lucky that it wasn’t worse and that he is going to have an opportunity to play football again.
When that is I have no idea. Just like any time anyone else breaks a bone you just have to reevaluate those things. I am sure in about six weeks or so they will probably look at it. It could be something that keeps him out all year. I really have no idea.
The main thing to me is that he is okay and that he will have an opportunity to play again. Whenever that is I have no idea. We are really fortunate there.
But other than that everybody came through good. We had a couple of little dings, but nothing that should keep anyone out this week.
We should get Stanton Seckinger back and ready to go as well and hopefully Chris Register. We will reevaluate him this week and see where he is.
Players of the week
Deshaun Watson – offense
TJ Green – Defense
Artavis Scott – Special Teams
After watching the film what did you think of Garrett Williams play?
He did a nice job. For his first game I think he had one missed assignment. He got beat inside one time on the goal line. Again for a first game, true freshman we were really pleased with what he did.
Leggett graded great. He had fun and played fast. He really improved in some areas we were hoping to see. Cannon and Milan did some good things. They just have to keep coming. Greenlee was very physical when he got in there. We were able to see some good things from him too.
We get Seckinger back and Jay Jay as well this week. That is going to be a really good group for us.
It looks like you are trying to incorporate the freshmen from Tampa into the offense?
Oh yeah, not just Deon and Ray Ray. I assume you are talking about Jake Fruhmorgen as well. Jake did some good things that we were pleased with. He had a few freshmen issues as well, but my experience with him he is going to be a good player.
Ray Ray graded just tremendous. I don’t think we had anybody grade higher. He was very at ease. The moment wasn’t too big. He was ready to play. He played fast. It is pretty easy to see this kid is going to be a special player.
And Deon played really fast. He jumped offsides twice which was just a product of him being ready to go and trying to get off the line. He was a little loose, once or twice, from a ball standpoint. He had a chance to make a play down the field that he is definitely capable of making.
It was good to see those guys get that first experience and have some fun. Both those guys are just going to continue to get better.
How is Ryan Norton doing?
He is going to be fine. We might hold him out for tomorrow, but he should be back for Tuesday.
With Mike out for awhile who do you look to step up at that position?
We are fortunate that we have good depth there. Mike is not just a good player, but he understands all of the nuances of the offense. We can replace the talent, but some of those other things are hard to replace.
One of the things I think we have done a good job of is we cross trained a lot of those guys. Charone has played a ton there at the nine and he will continue to work there. Of course Trevion has had a great camp for us. It was just his first time to ever play. The same thing with Deon.
From that standpoint talent wise we are in good shape, but it does hurt us with the other things.