Swinney on Sellers: 'He was absolutely the difference last year. He’s still there.'

We just wrapped up with Dabo Swinney during his Sunday Teleconference. Here's the latest as the Tigers get ready for their matchup with South Carolina. The cleaned audio version is above.

Opening Statement: Not much more to add to what I said last night. Just again, proud of our guys. Fun to play a lot of people.

I thought our ones really, really played well on both sides of the ball, especially defensively and offensively. We took advantage, scored a lot of points, got them going in the first quarter there. Then they had 77 yards at the half, so I thought that was a real positive.

Just too many penalties. We had some critical penalties, dropped a few balls that we need to make. Cade [Klubnik] had the one sack on him that he just made a dumb play, but 200 offensively. A bunch of different guys got to play, got a chance to evaluate some guys on tape.

Did not turn the ball over, took it away twice. So those are real positives from the game defensively. A couple fourth-down stops, but we were really good on third and fourth down on defense. Biggest positive was just being able to play so many guys to evaluate.

The biggest negative is we had some guys get hurt. Obviously, Olsen Patt-Henry, he's gonna be out. I think he's got surgery tomorrow. Jahiem Lawson is gonna be out. He's gonna have to have tight-rope surgery on his ankle.

Those guys will be back, and Jaheim for sure will be ready to go for springtime. Another couple of tough losses for us, for sure, right there. But proud of the team, again, rallying back and getting to where we are at this point. But excited about a great week of preparation for a rivalry game.

Looking forward to really diving deep into South Carolina and their season, their team, as we get our preparation rolling today.

Q: With Jahiem being out, who steps up at defensive end for you?
Well, we’ve got the three main guys, with [Cade] Denhoff and TJ Parker and Will Heldt. Those guys have done a nice job for us all year. So the next guy up will be probably [Darien] Mayo, Caden Story. That’d be probably those two guys. We did get Ari Watford back it was his first time to play football in quite a while because he just got cleared to play. So he got in there for a few snaps. But Caden and Mayo will be the two main guys from a depth standpoint.

Q: Looking at short-yardage situations last night… what’s the key to improving that?
Well, we just busted on the fourth-and-one. I mean, we just busted. That was there. We made an out call and we didn’t out it. And that was more our tight end than our OL right there. But should’ve had that, should’ve easily got that. Outside of that, I mean that was the main one that really I thought we struggled with. Just gotta keep working. Gotta keep getting better at what we do.

Q: You touched on this last night about Jahiem. How did he end up back in the game?
Yeah, I said, let’s get all those guys out the series before. That’s why none of them were in there. He went in there on the third-and-nine or whatever. I honestly didn’t notice him out there till he was down. But again, that’s football. I mean, you can get hurt on any play — the first quarter, the third quarter. I mean, that’s the game. Just unfortunate.

Q: You mentioned a lot of younger guys playing… who stood out?
I thought we had some guys in the OL that caught my eye and didn’t spend. A guy like Ian Reed, for example, who really hasn’t played much. But I thought there were some things on tape where he just athletically, the way he moves and the way he was able to recover a couple times, I thought that was good to see. Ronan O’Connell has played a good bit. O’Connell got in there and did a few things. Gavin Blanchard got in there and was able to show a few things.

Mason Wade got some good reps as well. They all did a pretty good job with their assignments and things like that. We didn’t have a lot of busts. Certainly some technique things we could do better.

Q: Have you had a chance to look at South Carolina yet?
For sure. Yeah, I mean, every game they’ve been in. They’ve been a good football team; just hadn’t really gone their way in some games. But they’ve been in position to win all year. They’re a talented team. Obviously, they beat us last year. So we had an opportunity and didn’t finish the game. And that quarterback is still the quarterback. He’s a great football player. A lot of respect for him — his toughness, his overall game. I mean, he was absolutely the difference last year. He’s still there.

As long as he's there, they’ve got a chance in any game they play. And that’s been the story of their season this year. A few plays away from having a great season. But again, that’s the same for us. I mean, honestly, they’re a good team.

Q: On turning down the temperature in the rivalry postgame:
Well, I hope we get the opportunity to be better. But we talked about that last year. And that’s definitely something that does not need to happen. We don’t need to disrespect the other team’s logo and all that stuff. We need to win the game with class and celebrate, certainly, and all that stuff. We need to do everything we can to make sure that doesn’t happen when you’re at the opposing team’s stadium, regardless.

Q: On South Carolina’s defensive line:
Yeah, they’re really good. The two ends are special players and good inside. They play a bunch of guys. Like I said, they’re a team that could have won any game they’ve played. So I’ve got a lot of respect for them.

Q: On any common thread in the offensive struggles the last two years vs South Carolina:
We’re just trying to have a good practice tomorrow, fellas. I’m not worried about last year, years before, or whatever. We’re just trying to have a good practice tomorrow and have a great, great plan this week and see if we can go find a way to win the game, 3-2, or whatever it takes — just everything we can to have one more point.

Q: On backup quarterback Chris Denson’s play:
Yeah, I mean, he just did exactly what we see him do all the time. We called some quarterback draws. He’s just an electric guy with the ball in his hands. He’s a natural runner. He’s very gifted. He’s elusive and explosive and has great vision with the ball in his hands.

So obviously, a situation where we were able to call a few run plays with him and a few quarterback draws, and he found some lanes and did the rest. Didn’t ask him to do much outside of that. He threw a couple of screens. Had the RPO to Logan, which was a good job. He’s a smart kid. He’s very conscientious.

He’s just got to develop. He’s just in that process. He’s got to develop as a quarterback in totality. Big spring ahead. That’s why we recruited him. What y’all saw yesterday live is why we recruited him. Because that’s what we saw: this is a dynamic player that, if he can develop, he could be a great quarterback. So that’s what we’re in the process of doing since he got here. And he’s made good progress. Knew for sure he was going to redshirt. So good to be able to get him some confidence and experience yesterday.

Q: On where Denson needs to grow:
Just the totality of the passing game. That’s the main thing. He’s still a maturing passer. That’s really the biggest. And he’s made huge strides since when we first got him here. So, just the totality of playing quarterback. Obviousl,y he’s gifted and can do all the things as a runner. But he’s got to be an elite passer too. And that’s part of why we signed him, because we felt like he could be. But we also knew he was very raw, and it was going to take a lot of development.

What you don’t know when you’re recruiting a guy is who they are mentally — how they’re going to take things from a mental standpoint. And the good news is he’s just a natural. He really understands the game. He’s smart. He’s savvy. He’s got good instincts. He’s coming from a background where he ran around a lot and wasn’t really asked to do a whole lot, and didn’t have a lot of time to do a whole lot from a protection standpoint. So we’re excited about his potential.