Tony Elliott 'missed' facing South Carolina last year as a former Tiger player
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On this being a normal week:
“This is a week and a season in its own. It's one of the goals that we have on the board, so (The) South Carolina game takes on a life of its own this week.”
”In terms of the approach, the approach is the same in terms of Monday, Tuesday, what our plan to win is. But everybody knows kinda what's at stake with this one. This game right here is 365 days.”
On how much they missed this game last year:
“You know as a former player being from the state of South Carolina, knowing the impact that it has on each local community from an economic standpoint and from a pride standpoint, you missed it.”
On preparing his guys for the environment Saturday:
“So I know we have some virtual reality stuff that we video and film from opposing stadiums just to give him (DJ Uiagalelei) an idea of what it looks like in Williams Brice. Coaches do a good job throughout the course of the week just really really visually creating the mindset and also the environment that these guys are going to walk into out here on the practice field. Obviously, we gotta recreate the noise just so they get ready for the noise, but with all that being said it's still gonna be a little bit tough to completely replicate that but we'll do the best that we can to have all these guys ready who haven't been down there for the battle.”
On what he's telling the players on the NC State and Wake Forest games:
“It doesn't matter, what matters is going to Williams Brice and winning that game. We understand the magnitude of that game and whatever happens happens. We control what we control and put ourselves in this position and you don't want to have ill will towards anybody let it play out the way it plays out and we're focusing on South Carolina.”
On South Carolina’s defense:
“I think the back end is a little different than what you've seen in the past. They can stop the run with their six and they can play man coverage on the back end, but the strength is their front therefore they don't have to bring a ton of pressure and then they're good enough on the back end to roll coverages and play combo coverages and then also lock you up and play man coverage. They've been really really good-- Top 15 in the country in pass defense so that's gonna be a good challenge for us. When they've given up some yards is in the run game so hopefully, we can take advantage of that but we're gonna have to play our best game.”
On how this season has helped him improve as a coach:
“I think the first couple of weeks were very difficult just because of the initial onslaught of adversity, but once I got through the first couple of weeks and just reassessed myself, my perspective, it's actually been a lot of fun. A Lot of fun seeing these guys grow and develop, and also the challenge to myself to make sure I have the right mindset every single day.”