Dabo Swinney PC :
Clemson, SC
Dabo Swinney addressed the media at his weekly press conference held inside the Reeve’s Football Operations Center on Tuesday morning.
As expected the majority of the questions on the day revolved around the Clemson quarterback position, with the naming off Trevor Lawrence as the starter going into the Syracuse game on Saturday being at the top of a lot of the gathered media’s collective mind. Questions about how both players took the news, to how Trevor was able to win the starting job after these first four games . . . all came to the top of the list of items discussed.
First thing mentioned on the morning was a note that the upcoming game versus Syracuse will be only the 4th game in the history of Death Valley of teams that are 4-0 in first four games of a season. And with that Dabo took the podium.
Swinney opened the press conference by stating “ Glad to be back home this week “ on the previous weeks win at Georgia Tech he mentioned “best game for sure” and remarked on how the team was “locked in” and played with “good momentum”.
Syracuse then became the topic of his opening statement, explaining that the ‘Cuse was going to be a “Huge challenge” and that it is a “Division game when you win one of them its like plus two” . Brought up that the Orange “They’re coming in here incredibly confident” . . . “This QB is a Baller”. . . ‘We did not contain him last year at all” when speaking of Eric Dungy.
Bringing up a few reasons the staff pointed to after last season’s surprise loss Syracuse, Swinney remarked “A-lot of quarterback run …..We did not contain him last year in the defensive line” In speaking on how Deano Babers and the ‘Cuse run their offense “If you can think of a way to throw a screen they use it ……It all starts with this quarterback”
When discussing the Orange defense Dabo brought up they are “Active and good up front ….One safety leads the conference has 4 picks right now. . . Challenge you and try to stop the run “ And lastly on the special teams he mentioned “ #10 their returner Is a dangerous returner”. On the difference between Georgia Tech and Syracuse “could not have more different philosophies and styles”
Dabo then spoke on his team and he said “Like the mindset of our team and the focus” Then Swinney was asked about Kelly Bryant would play Saturday, and if his role would be diminished and he quickly replied “Absolutely Kelly has done nothing wrong.” On how the decision was made to start Lawrence “We played four games now, its a difficult thing, after 4 games production and sheer data.” On Bryant he brought up that “Kelly Bryant is a great football player, MVP of the ACCCG” ….”We are fortunate to have 2 guys that can play” Swinney then turned the direction to Lawrence and stated “Im excited for Trevor and thinks he’s earned this opportunity “ Swinney also mentioned that in making this decision It was “not a situation where a guy has played bad. “
On how it was to give the news to Kelly…. “Bad day to be the head coach… most days its good…, emotional for him, tough day … gave him the day off and we met yesterday afternoon and its emotional … its tough… there is not a guy that is more committed to this program than Kelly Bryant” adding to that … “ He’s the epitome of what you want your son to be like. I love him “ also adding to this “I’m glad God ain’t a coach.. . I can tell you that, as a coach you gotta be critical… with God everybody is first team, we are all 5 stars with god… we all have a guaranteed contract with a lifetime warrantee…”. . . “Its hard conversation to have to do that as a coach.” We talked about a lot of things, like I said it was emotional ..”
See here as we have recorded the entire Swinney press conference :
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