Dabo Swinney explains what concerns him about the South Carolina offense
By Keith Farner
Published:
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney celebrated his 49th birthday on Tuesday, and gave extended thoughts on how the Tigers will prepare for South Carolina this week at Memorial Stadium.
Swinney’s initial thoughts on the Gamecocks were that while they are 6-4, they could easily have eight wins.
“This is one of the better groups that we’ve seen,” he said of the offense, and added that WR Deebo Samuel is a game changer, along with the other receivers as a group.
The Alabama native said the Clemson-South Carolina rivalry and the Alabama-Auburn rivalry are essentially the same in his mind because of how similar the two states are: no pro teams, everyone picks a side, it’s personal all year long. The one difference is in the Palmetto Bowl, the teams are in different conferences.
Swinney, who is looking for a five-game winning streak in the series, is 5-5 against South Carolina as Clemson’s coach.
Here’s what Swinney told reporters at his weekly press conference:
Dabo on playing USC: I just want to win every year. I want to win for our team. I want to win for our fans. I want to be one of the 12-0 teams. It's not about me.
— TigerNet.com (@ClemsonTigerNet) November 20, 2018
Dabo on losing five in a row: I'm still lugubrious. That was a tough stretch.
— TigerNet.com (@ClemsonTigerNet) November 20, 2018
Swinney: USC offense appears to be much better, Bentley has been very good, receivers are a good group, Samuel is really tough to bring down, Edwards can go up and get it, Shi Smith is dangerous.
— SportsTalk Media Network (@sportstalksc) November 20, 2018
Swinney: Zack Bailey very good player on the USC offensive line, really likes him, not too concerned with tempo offense, they've seen that this season.
— SportsTalk Media Network (@sportstalksc) November 20, 2018
Swinney: USC is 6-4 but lost two close ones so really could be an 8 win team…defense up front is very good and they will get some people back on defense this week…impressed with DJ Wonnum, TJ Brunson and Rashad Fenton.
— SportsTalk Media Network (@sportstalksc) November 20, 2018
Dabo on South Carolina's offense "This is one of the better groups that we've seen."
— Matt Connolly (@MattConnollyOn3) November 20, 2018
Dabo on Deebo Samuel "He's as good a player as we've seen all year. He's a game changer."
— Matt Connolly (@MattConnollyOn3) November 20, 2018
Dabo on Jake Bentley: He's got a big arm and he's accurate.
— TigerNet.com (@ClemsonTigerNet) November 20, 2018
Swinney on playing USC: "I just want to win every year." He's 5-5 vs Gamecocks.
— SportsTalk Media Network (@sportstalksc) November 20, 2018
Dabo: This is what it's all about. This is a one game season for us.
— TigerNet.com (@ClemsonTigerNet) November 20, 2018
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
