For the first time this season I had the opportunity to watch Clemson football head coach Dabo Swinney’s Tuesday press conference live and thought I would share my observations and notes for those who were unable to watch.
Defense
- Swinney was disappointed in the defensive effort and indicated there was no defensive player of the game named as a result and also spoke about reviewing “loafs”.
- Xavier Thomas is a game time decision.
- If Tyler Davis is not 100% Swinney said he would “hold him” out of Saturday’s game.
- The secondary was terrible per Swinney saying they didn’t cover slants, had bad leverage and were overly aggressive on screens.
- The secondary needs to be more disciplined and better be ready because Louisiana Tech “can spin it”.
- Swinney said Bryan Bresee would play if he wants to, but has bigger things going on with his sister’s illness.
Offense
- Swinney said you can’t win at the highest level in college football if you can’t throw the ball and that he was pleased with the progress of the passing game.
- Indicated that D.J. Uiagalelei was a great preparer and told the story of being informed of Trevor being diagnosed with COVID and getting ready to call D.J. to let him know, but another coach told him D.J. was down the hall and Dabo found him studying film by himself before he knew Trevor would be out.
- Also said D.J. is his own worst critic and he took responsibility for the interception Saturday, though Swinney saw it as a shared responsibility between Brannon Spector and Uiagalelei.
Team
- Swinney said while the team was able to compensate when one side of the ball doesn’t play well (offense in the first half Monday and defense Saturday), that good teams compensate, but great teams play complimentary football.
Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney was so disappointed in the defensive effort on Saturday that no defensive player of the game was named
If it wasn’t clear before, it’s clear to me that Dabo thinks a lot of D.J. Uiagalelei and the work he puts in and the responsibility he takes for the results on the field, saying Uiagalelei was his own worst critic.
I would expect some extra effort from the defense this week, as he spoke for some time about the loafs and effort on defense in general.