Swinney on Uiagalelei: 'His confidence, his leadership-- it's contagious.'
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Opening Statement: "Great game last night. Proud of our team. A lot of fun to be a part of it-- really special moment. Just an awesome environment. That is kind of the essence of college football. So just a great, great night in the valley. Appreciate our fans and just proud of our team. Back-to-back ranked teams. It's good to get those wins. We still have a lot of potential ahead. We've still got a chance to improve a ton. Our best football is, is still in front of us. So I'm excited about that. But I just loved the energy that our guys had and how they fought to the end-- heart, toughness-- they got better as the game went."
"I thought D.J. had another outstanding game. Proud of how everyone's competing. A lot of guys are involved. A lot of guys are making plays. I love how we finished the game. Need to turn a couple of those field goals into touchdowns, would like to see that. Had some bad penalties. Three really big missed plays. Obviously dropped a potential touchdown. Had a snap issue which cost us 10 yards. A lot of good things though, just a good physical game. Those guys battled all night long."
⭐ Elite four-star KingJoseph Edwards recaps his visit to Death Valley⭐ |
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On the defense: "Defensively. I didn't like how we started the game, but I loved how we finished it. I thought we had a really good second half. We settled in-- just 34 yards rushing; that's the fewest amount of yards that NC State has rushed on Clemson since 2001. We won the line of scrimmage and created some turnovers. The two turnovers were huge. Three sacks and young guys stepping up, we still have not really had a complete unit on that side of the ball, but we're finding a way and getting better. I love how we got better as we went settled in in the second half."
On prepping for NCST: "I really feel like we won that game in practice Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. So just kind of picking up where we left off there and just polishing up with our details and discipline and football awareness and situations. A lot of things to do better, but really proud of our defense. 279 total, and a really good offense is a great night."
On D.J. Uiagalelei having another good game: "That's what good players do. The good players have consistency in their performance, regardless of who they play against. It's good to see that. It was definitely a big night for him. He'll watch the tape and see two or three plays that he's gonna know he could make. He's just competing relentlessly. He continues to really put a lot of stress on the defense with his legs. You obviously can see his arm talent. I mean, there's no part of the field that he can't attack with his arm. His confidence, his leadership-- it's contagious. So I'm just really proud of him again."
On Bryan Bresee's medical situation: "So everything was good again today. They'll check him again in the morning. So you know, just making sure everything stays where it needs to be with the issue he's dealing with. He'll be day to day until they say he can go full speed. As long as things keep trending in the right direction, we're heading in a good spot."
On the offense having multiple weapons: "That's when we're at our best around here-- when we can involve a lot of different players, and we can win different ways. That's who we've been for a long time. That makes you dangerous when you got a lot of guys that can do something with it. We've got a bunch of guys that can make plays. You saw (Phil) Mafah get in there last night. I mean, he had a couple of really nice runs, and none bigger than that 3rd-and-9, you know, all-conference player there and he just runs right through him. You saw his strength is balanced-- and then his awareness to stay in bounds there."
On not playing behind the chains: "We had some critical penalties. We haven't really been doing that. We jumped offside a couple of times. Obviously, we felt like we had a great play call on the one play where we snapped the ball early. Wasn't a bad time. We just snapped at early. Nobody was ready. So now your 10 yards there. We had 25 negative yards; we like to have none, but ten of them on one play."
On jumping in and calling plays: "I mean, I've done that my whole career. There's never been a year that I haven't been a part of play calling. That's an instinct thing. I mean, I don't have a number. I'm just always a part of it. I've made a lot of calls over 14 years-- some good, some bad, but I'm always a part of that. I've just always trusted my instincts when it comes to those things."
On how the coordinators have adjusted: "I give them an A. We're 5-0. We haven't been perfect, but the name of the game is to find a way to win. So we've been able to do that. We've been able to come up with this crucial stop when we've had to have it and the crucial score when we've had to have it. So you know, that's ultimately what it's all about. We are really settling in and growing. It's not just Wes or Streeter or Mickey; it's our whole support staff. We have a lot of moving pieces in our support staff on offense and defense, and, man, those guys are doing a fantastic job week in and week out."
"Sometimes you make a bad call, and you don't get hurt with it; somebody makes you look good. Sometimes you make a perfect call, and somebody busts and you look bad. So there's a lot that goes into it that people don't really necessarily know or see. But those guys have done a great job."
On Nate Wiggins having a green light to jump routes: "Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, you want him to make sure that if he's going to go for it that he gets it because you don't want to miss, and next thing you know, guys got a nice play out of it. We will coach that up-- play through the guy-- I'd rather say whoa, than go, any day of the week. I like how he played. He played his best game. I thought he played with much better poise than what he played in last week. Stayed within himself and stayed focused and dialed in all night. So had some nice plays, but was really really close on a couple of plays."
On Andrew Mukuba’s play: "He did good. I mean, he's a baller. He's one of the best players on this team on both sides of the ball. Very natural, instinctive football player and really proud of him, obviously. Hated that he had to go out and miss him, but you look at it now, we were able to really grow Toriano."
On Adam Randall's return to action: "It's been good. I love how he practices, just hasn't had a lot of opportunity yet-- but he will. He had an unbelievable practice last week. I mean, just a great week. Really good to see that. I think he's really gotten his legs under him. He's ready for primetime. There's no doubt. I think he had one grab but didn't really have a lot of opportunity last night, but he will. There'll be more to come for that guy, for sure. He's doing well."
