This comes in from TI correspondent Gavin Oliver:
TONY ELLIOTT
“I thought it was a great team effort, a great team win. Offensively, I thought we were balanced, thought we did a good job running the ball. I thought Deshaun played very well. Very clean execution for our first game — not a whole lot of mistakes, and that’s just a testament to the young men that they prepare, prepare with purpose and went out and had effort and technique, and they were committed. We challenged them coming in because it was a long camp, especially having an extra week of practice after school started, to remain committed to the task at hand, prepare with purpose, and they did, and it’s just a testament to them. They played their butts off.”
Talk about the fast start.
“We always want to go in and get off to a fast start. We’re a tempo team, we want to stretch the defense, make them cover the entire field, so we had a good plan going in, and Deshaun got out there and led the troops, and everybody was making plays. It was imperative that we got off to a good start, and we found ways to continue to do it drive after drive.”
It seems like you guys were moving and calling plays even faster than last year. Did you see it that way?
“We’re a tempo offense. Again, we had the game plan narrowed down. We knew what we wanted to do. Wofford is very sound in what they do. You kind of know what they’re going to be in, so you kind of have your calls ready to go, but there was emphasis on trying to call it as fast as we can, and at the same time, making sure we’re calling the right plays in the right situations.”
What are your thoughts on the running backs?
“I tell you what, it’s exciting because I know how hard those guys work, and I know how humble they are and how unselfish they are. For all of them to have a chance to get in there and touch the ball multiple times, and a couple of the guys finding the end zone… We’ve been challenging them the last two years, let’s average over 200 yards rushing per game, so we really put a lot of pressure on those guys. It looked from where I was at, and I’ll have to validate it on film, but it looked like their eyes were pretty disciplined, didn’t see a whole lot of dancing, looked like they were finding the holes when they were supposed to and got some into the open field. Still have to work on finishing the play — I wanted Wayne (Gallman) to score on that one he broke out, and I kind of got on him throughout the course of the game on the headsets, but it’s just good because I know the kind of young men they are, how unselfish they are, how humble they are, how hard they work and how much they want it, not just for themselves, but they want to be the workhorse for this football team.”
What was it like for you calling plays?
“Excited and nervous, a little bit anxious, obviously because you want to do the best you can to help these young men be successful and make sure that you can process the information quickly, and it was a great team effort. It wasn’t just me up there, it was Coach Swinney, Coach Scott, Coach Streeter was a tremendous help, Coach Pearman sitting right next to me in the box, Coach Caldwell making adjustments on the sidelines. So, they put me at ease because they have confidence, and we work on the plan together, so we feel like the plan is sound when we go into the game. The pressure mounted a little bit, and got a little nervous, but I was anxious, too, because I knew our guys had prepared well, and I wanted to see them have success.”
JEFF SCOTT
“New team, new offense, got guys in different roles, but everybody was anxious for the last month, really, to get started with the season, but I was very pleased with the way the offense played, especially the way that we came out the gate. It’s really something that we’ve really talked a lot about over the last week, and in 2011, we didn’t come out with the right focus, and we had to score a touchdown and a two-point conversion just to tie it up at half. We didn’t want that to be our first impression this year as an offense, and I think the guys responded and came out really fast, so we were pleased.”
What’s going through your mind when you’re seeing Mike Williams laying there at the goalpost?
“Yeah, you hate that. When you’ve got these high-caliber athletes, these guys play fast, and there’s a lot of collisions and things that happen in the games, so you know there’s a possibility. That’s why we’ve got eight guys in our group, and we talk about it all the time — we’re not going to go a whole season without somebody getting hurt, so we’ve cross-trained a lot of guys. But you just hate it for Mike. He’s worked extremely hard all offseason, has had a great fall camp, and the best news right now is not about football, it’s that he’s up moving around and is going to be fine. I have full confidence that we have plenty of receivers in that room who can get the job done until he gets back.”
What’s your evaluation of the quarterback position today?
“The fact that we were able to play three guys, that speaks a lot. I’ve been pleased with all three of those guys. Deshaun came out just like you’d want him to, and you can watch the last couple days — there’s been a lot of high-profile teams come out there and not be real sharp, so we reminded our guys of that. We want to come out and play sharp, and I think we had a touchdown every drive Deshaun was in there, and not only that, but played fast. We had 49 plays right there in the first half, and Nick came in, and other than the fumble and maybe taking a sack where he threw the ball away, I thought he made some really good reads and threw the ball where it was supposed to go. And then obviously Kelly being able to get in there, I think he showed something in the wild play with the snap going over his head. How many true freshmen would have the kind of composure to be able to pick the ball up and get out of there? A lot of guys would probably just fall on the ball right there, and you have a freshman teaching moment. But all three of those guys, it was good experience for them to get out there, and we’ll look for them to hopefully be able to continue to do that as we go throughout the season.”
How important is it now to actually have game tape to teach off of?
“That’s the big thing. You’ve got scrimmage opportunities and obviously practice video, but there’s nothing like everybody getting off and getting in that game environment. Usually, we like to say you have your most progress from game one to game two, and so that’s something we’ll challenge everybody. Even though we came out and everybody felt really good about the win, there’s going to be a lot of stuff to correct. But that’s the exciting part early in the year — we definitely can play better, and that’ll be everybody’s charge as we come out next week, is to improve on the mistakes that we made today because there’s definitely plenty of things to coach off of.”
Individually, your thoughts on Ray Ray (McCloud)?
“Yeah, we’ve kind of gotten ourselves into a spot now where every year we assume these wideouts come in, these freshmen come in, and they’re ready to play. Ray Ray, he played today just like he’s been practicing — no big deal. For some guys, the game’s a little bit faster for them as freshmen, but for him, it’s really just like high school, and I was glad to see he was able to come out and have the success he was having in practice all fall camp. So, no surprise there, but it was good to see him be able to do it on the first big stage.”
TONY ELLIOTT
“I thought it was a great team effort, a great team win. Offensively, I thought we were balanced, thought we did a good job running the ball. I thought Deshaun played very well. Very clean execution for our first game — not a whole lot of mistakes, and that’s just a testament to the young men that they prepare, prepare with purpose and went out and had effort and technique, and they were committed. We challenged them coming in because it was a long camp, especially having an extra week of practice after school started, to remain committed to the task at hand, prepare with purpose, and they did, and it’s just a testament to them. They played their butts off.”
Talk about the fast start.
“We always want to go in and get off to a fast start. We’re a tempo team, we want to stretch the defense, make them cover the entire field, so we had a good plan going in, and Deshaun got out there and led the troops, and everybody was making plays. It was imperative that we got off to a good start, and we found ways to continue to do it drive after drive.”
It seems like you guys were moving and calling plays even faster than last year. Did you see it that way?
“We’re a tempo offense. Again, we had the game plan narrowed down. We knew what we wanted to do. Wofford is very sound in what they do. You kind of know what they’re going to be in, so you kind of have your calls ready to go, but there was emphasis on trying to call it as fast as we can, and at the same time, making sure we’re calling the right plays in the right situations.”
What are your thoughts on the running backs?
“I tell you what, it’s exciting because I know how hard those guys work, and I know how humble they are and how unselfish they are. For all of them to have a chance to get in there and touch the ball multiple times, and a couple of the guys finding the end zone… We’ve been challenging them the last two years, let’s average over 200 yards rushing per game, so we really put a lot of pressure on those guys. It looked from where I was at, and I’ll have to validate it on film, but it looked like their eyes were pretty disciplined, didn’t see a whole lot of dancing, looked like they were finding the holes when they were supposed to and got some into the open field. Still have to work on finishing the play — I wanted Wayne (Gallman) to score on that one he broke out, and I kind of got on him throughout the course of the game on the headsets, but it’s just good because I know the kind of young men they are, how unselfish they are, how humble they are, how hard they work and how much they want it, not just for themselves, but they want to be the workhorse for this football team.”
What was it like for you calling plays?
“Excited and nervous, a little bit anxious, obviously because you want to do the best you can to help these young men be successful and make sure that you can process the information quickly, and it was a great team effort. It wasn’t just me up there, it was Coach Swinney, Coach Scott, Coach Streeter was a tremendous help, Coach Pearman sitting right next to me in the box, Coach Caldwell making adjustments on the sidelines. So, they put me at ease because they have confidence, and we work on the plan together, so we feel like the plan is sound when we go into the game. The pressure mounted a little bit, and got a little nervous, but I was anxious, too, because I knew our guys had prepared well, and I wanted to see them have success.”
JEFF SCOTT
“New team, new offense, got guys in different roles, but everybody was anxious for the last month, really, to get started with the season, but I was very pleased with the way the offense played, especially the way that we came out the gate. It’s really something that we’ve really talked a lot about over the last week, and in 2011, we didn’t come out with the right focus, and we had to score a touchdown and a two-point conversion just to tie it up at half. We didn’t want that to be our first impression this year as an offense, and I think the guys responded and came out really fast, so we were pleased.”
What’s going through your mind when you’re seeing Mike Williams laying there at the goalpost?
“Yeah, you hate that. When you’ve got these high-caliber athletes, these guys play fast, and there’s a lot of collisions and things that happen in the games, so you know there’s a possibility. That’s why we’ve got eight guys in our group, and we talk about it all the time — we’re not going to go a whole season without somebody getting hurt, so we’ve cross-trained a lot of guys. But you just hate it for Mike. He’s worked extremely hard all offseason, has had a great fall camp, and the best news right now is not about football, it’s that he’s up moving around and is going to be fine. I have full confidence that we have plenty of receivers in that room who can get the job done until he gets back.”
What’s your evaluation of the quarterback position today?
“The fact that we were able to play three guys, that speaks a lot. I’ve been pleased with all three of those guys. Deshaun came out just like you’d want him to, and you can watch the last couple days — there’s been a lot of high-profile teams come out there and not be real sharp, so we reminded our guys of that. We want to come out and play sharp, and I think we had a touchdown every drive Deshaun was in there, and not only that, but played fast. We had 49 plays right there in the first half, and Nick came in, and other than the fumble and maybe taking a sack where he threw the ball away, I thought he made some really good reads and threw the ball where it was supposed to go. And then obviously Kelly being able to get in there, I think he showed something in the wild play with the snap going over his head. How many true freshmen would have the kind of composure to be able to pick the ball up and get out of there? A lot of guys would probably just fall on the ball right there, and you have a freshman teaching moment. But all three of those guys, it was good experience for them to get out there, and we’ll look for them to hopefully be able to continue to do that as we go throughout the season.”
How important is it now to actually have game tape to teach off of?
“That’s the big thing. You’ve got scrimmage opportunities and obviously practice video, but there’s nothing like everybody getting off and getting in that game environment. Usually, we like to say you have your most progress from game one to game two, and so that’s something we’ll challenge everybody. Even though we came out and everybody felt really good about the win, there’s going to be a lot of stuff to correct. But that’s the exciting part early in the year — we definitely can play better, and that’ll be everybody’s charge as we come out next week, is to improve on the mistakes that we made today because there’s definitely plenty of things to coach off of.”
Individually, your thoughts on Ray Ray (McCloud)?
“Yeah, we’ve kind of gotten ourselves into a spot now where every year we assume these wideouts come in, these freshmen come in, and they’re ready to play. Ray Ray, he played today just like he’s been practicing — no big deal. For some guys, the game’s a little bit faster for them as freshmen, but for him, it’s really just like high school, and I was glad to see he was able to come out and have the success he was having in practice all fall camp. So, no surprise there, but it was good to see him be able to do it on the first big stage.”
