Dabo Swinney says OL Collin Sadler 'is going to play starter reps' for Clemson
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On scholarship numbers: “We only had one open spot, and we put Chapman Pendergrass on (scholarship). We just had one. We were at 86 in May, and we had two guys leave that put us at 84, so we had one spot, and it went to Chap.”
On Phil Mafah as kick returner: “It’s just another carry. It’s just another touch. C.J. Spiller was a starting running back around here, and our starting kick returner for years. Will Shipley was a starting running back and starting returner, so that's something we've done for years. We just put the best guy back there. I mean, it's no different than handing them the ball. Actually, it's easier because you’ve got more open space to run. It's just another run play if you get the opportunity, but we’ve got multiple guys that we really want to see in the return game at some point, but Mafah, especially in a game like that, he's the guy that we absolutely trusted, under pressure to make the right decisions at the right time in a game like that.”
On the linebacker depth: “Kobe (McCloud) and Sammy (Brown) are the next two, but again, we didn't play a lot of snaps, so we had our best guys in the game. It wasn't a game that warranted a ton of substitutions, but we feel good about Kobe as three. He's a very dependable guy that we trust and made one great play on a mistake by another player and went and got a guy down on the ground, so I was proud of that. It wasn't a situation where we had guys playing a million plays in long drives where you really worried about substitution at that position.”
On the impact of more coaches: “Yeah, I've seen it all through fall camp. I mean, just a lot of scrutiny, a lot more intensity in practice and what's going on, and certainly a lot of eyes on game day and guys that can coach and correct and get the next group ready and go get guys and things like that. That's been good, and the number one thing that we got to get better in this year in special teams is field goal, so that was a positive. We were off last year. Our first field goal was blocked, and I think the second one was blocked, and we got off to a tough start, so that was a positive, and really was just pretty much a draw on special teams.”
On Collin Sadler’s play on Saturday: “He had one bad play where he just got the call wrong, but Sadler's a dude. I mean, he's a really, really good player. He can play four positions for us, and he's tough, he's physical. He's a redshirt sophomore now. He's really coming into his own. We feel really good about, first of all, how the whole offensive line played and how they matched up. We feel really good about that, and we feel good about our depth there. We look at him as a starter, so whether he runs out there first or not, I mean, he's a guy that is going to play starter reps for us.”
