On Tuesday, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney held his weekly press conference to talk about what he saw from the Tigers’ performance against Wofford, and what they are doing to prepare for the Appalachian State game this Saturday.

Here is what we heard:

Swinney was very grateful for the amount of support the fans showed in the season opener, and he announced that the Appalachian State game has already sold out as well. Swinney even referred to Clemson as “elite” when it comes to fan support and game atmosphere.

“We’ve always had great crowds but to have sellouts in these types of games is a credit to the work that our players have done. We want our players to play to the standard regardless of whom we’re playing,” Swinney said. “Coming in on the bus vs. Wofford I felt like we were coming in for a College Game Day game against Georgia. It was awesome and that’s the way it should be. We are very fortunate and privileged to be at Clemson.”

For the freshmen, Saturday was an experience that they will never forget, and one they are thankful to have the opportunity to experience again in the coming years. Many of the freshmen spoke of their gratitude to be able to take part in something so special.

“It was like a surreal feeling just getting on the bus, going through all the preparation. Once we got to the top of the hill, looking out and seeing all of the fans, I was like, ‘Wow! I’m really about to run down the hill and get to play for my first time in Death Valley. It was a really exciting experience and I just can’t wait to do it this weekend and the weekends to come,” backup quarterback Kelly Bryant said.

For walkon kicker Greg Huegel, Saturday was a dream come true. Huegel knew he wanted to attend Clemson even though he was not recruited, but when he had the opportunity to walk on the team, he gave it everything he got to achieve his dream.

“I saw them run down the hill and everything, and I never thought that I could be in that position. It was really just a dream for me and I’m glad that it came true,” Huegel said.

Huegel had to work hard and beat out some competition that had been in the program longer than he had to get to where he is now, but he just wanted to give Swinney a reason to remember his name.

“I remember one distinct time when I had to go up and kick the 48-yarder at the end of practice and everybody was going crazy. The first two guys went up and kicked it and I went up there and Dabo looks at me and was like, ‘what’s your first name again?’” Huegel said. “After that I was like I’ll at least give him a reason to remember it.”

Although the Tigers were in good spirits overall after their win on Saturday, they know they will have to focus and prepare hard for when App State comes to the Valley on Saturday.

“It is never as good as it seems and it is as never bad as it seems,” Swinney said “We have a lot to improve on. I’m looking for a lot of improvement from my perspective.”

Defensive coordinator Brent Venables said his defense did well against the schemes they saw from Wofford, but that App State will pose some different threats.

“There’s a lot of things from a matchup standpoint that concern you and we’re going to need to really play well,” Venables said. “They do a lot of things in the back end to challenge our back end.”