Today is the main press conference day, and Dabo Swinney said he's absolutely stoked for it to get here after dealing with the extra week before the start of the season. Let's get to it with the most interesting stuff we picked up today:
-- The common reaction to Korie Rogers' departure was to get really worried because, well, who the heck is this Jalen Williams guy? He's a freshman. He's listed at 5-foot-9. Heck, when you go to the official web site to find out more about the guy you see they don't even have a picture of him:
But the more folks you talk to, the more you get the feeling this guy from Blythewood could be a dependable backup to Ben Boulware. Swinney said something interesting today on the topic of Williams. When talking about the two inside linebacker positions, Swinney said Williams "was going to win one of those jobs either way." Assuming Kendall Joseph is indeed back to the form he showed in the spring, I'm doubting Williams would've beaten him out at the backup MIKE spot behind B.J. Goodson. So the best guess is Williams would've beaten out Rogers had Rogers stuck around.
I asked Brent Venables about Williams today, and Venables doesn't spend this much time praising someone if he doesn't fully believe it.
"Jalen has very good instincts, good quickness. He's a good tackler. He's relentless chasing the football. Still a young player who's going to make some mistakes, but great football intelligence. Just ahead of the curve that way. Hard to block. He doesn't stay blocked when he does get blocked initially. He gets off off blocks really well. I'm excited about Jalen. He's a guy that cares a great deal about his performance and his preparation. He's not just excited about getting in the game. You coach those guys who want nothing to do with the preparation, they just want to get to games and they love to play according to them. But you can't put the cart before the horse, and Jalen really values the preparation and detail that goes into playing at a high level. And for a young guy, that's normally not the case. They don't want to worry about all the details. But Jalen has shown that he's an exception that way in how he thinks."
Venables, who recruited Williams, said "everything" stood out to him when he evaluated him. Said he was very focused and determined. He even brought up Grady Jarrett's name.
"He's going to be in the front of the line and take every rep and just wear out people. Jalen was the same way. He just continued to impress the longer you were around him. That's who he's been since he's been here."
On Williams' height: The media guide, which was printed earlier this summer, lists Williams as a 6-footer. The more recent roster and depth chart list him at 5-9. We asked Tim Bourret about the discrepancy and he said 5-9 is the accurate number and reflects the measurement performed by the strength and conditioning staff, as opposed to the more inflated numbers that are commonly thrown around during the recruiting process.
-- We're going to make a regular habit of soliciting questions from subscribers in advance of gatherings with coaches and players. It's a way for you folks to get involved, and often there are questions we haven't yet considered that end up enlightening us all. Today's question to Swinney comes from yemassee, who wanted to know about the separation between Nick Schuessler and Kelly Bryant.
Here's Swinney's answer, in its entirety:
"Pretty big right now. Nick is clearly -- it's so funny, every year we have a quarterback controversy. Every year. It's the starter, it's the backup. And now it's, 'Who's the number 2 guy?' Nobody wants to give ol' Nick much credit. Nick Schuessler can play. I think he has really earned the respect of his team. And he did that this past spring, which was tremendous for him.
"A lot of people don't think Nick can run. Nick can run. He ran a 4.6 this summer. He's way more athletic and fast than what people may think. He's got some quick twitch to him. His arm is stronger than it's ever been. He's bigger and stronger than he's ever been. Very cerebral player that has really bought in to what he has to do to make himself the best player possible. He is clearly our number 2, and we're excited about him.
"Now having said that, Kelly Bryant -- I can't brag on him enough. From where he was in the spring to where he is now at the end of camp, I mean he's in a different hemisphere. He's now made himself relevant as far as, 'OK, we can win with this guy.' There's no way we could have won with him this spring, but we didn't have to win with him in the spring. So you give him so much credit for the amount of work he put in this summer. He is such a sincere, genuine young man that possesses this great work ethic. And then he's just a physically special guy. Size, strength, ability to run. So pleased with what I've seen him develop from an accuracy standpoint, his understanding of what we're doing. But that comes with work.
"With Tucker (Israel), literally the first five minutes of camp we think those guys are going to kind of compete. All of a sudden he's gone, and all those reps that Kelly were able to get really paid off. So right now Kelly is clearly third, but we're as far as we can go from a competition standpoint and an evaluation standpoint. But he's going to play. We have to create some experience and depth at that position. We have to. Even if he just plays a little, a little is going to mean a whole lot to us next year. We just can't afford to go into next season with just two guys that have played. We have to develop another guy, and that was kind of our plan to figure out which one of those guys and it would just kind of work itself out. Hopefully we can hold Tucker, but who knows? We have no idea. We may have to play him too, depending on the health of our roster. But we're going to try to find as many opportunities to not just play Kelly, but to play Nick too. We've got to continue to develop confidence and experience at the position. But we like the guys that we have there. We're just thin."
Sorry for the wall of text, but presenting the entire quote is useful in this case.
-- One of the things keeping Venables and the defensive staff a bit on edge right now is the uncertainty of the quarterback they'll face Saturday against Wofford. Junior Evan Jacks (6-0, 205) is the first guy listed on the depth chart, but Mike Ayers has said he might not make a decision until right before the game. The odds seem to favor Jacks, but sophomore Brad Butler (6-2, 220) could get significant playing time in the first half. The other two options are senior Michael Weimer (6-5, 225) and Brandon Goodson (6-0, 205).
-- The more pressing concern for Venables, by far, is keeping his guys on their feet. This defense spends a lot of time throughout the year on cut blocks, not just to prepare for the occasional Georgia Tech-style offense but also to be prepared for a lot of the perimeter blocking that goes on in today's horizontal spread game.
He said Wofford presents a challenge because they disguise where the blocks are coming from.
"It's not like they're announcing, 'Hey, I'm the guy that's going to cut block you,'" he said. "If we're not on our feet, we can't defend them very well. It starts inside-out."
-- Contrary to popular belief, Christian Wilkins is not ready for the NFL right now and he actually -- gasp! -- has some learning to do. Venables tried to temper the growing sensation surrounding Wilkins. He's going to be a baaad dude in time, but Venables pointed out that he lost four months of weight-room time as he recovered from the broken wrist suffered last fall.
-- One of the cool things about living in a college town is you get to see coaches out of their professional element on a pretty regular basis. The latest example presented Venables on Friday night at Daniel High about an hour before watching his oldest son play. Venables has a daughter who is in elementary school and was participating in a youth cheerleading production. Like the rest of the parents, Venables was beaming as he used his smart phone to film his daughter going through the routine on the sideline in front of the varsity cheerleaders. He was just a regular, proud dad in that moment. Neat scene.
-- Quotes of the day:
"I like people that like to rip people's face off. If you want to all that swagger -- I've seen too many guys who have the swagger without the play." -- Venables
"That's what the psychologist is for." -- Venables, on how he prepares his guys for the psychological challenge of offensive players going for their knees
"I love our offensive line. We've got 10 guys that can play for anybody. I think when the season is over y'all are going to quit asking me about the offensive line." -- Swinney
-- A few images from today:
Cool view from the WEZ:
Here's Coach V. sitting down to answer questions:
-- A bunch of trophies being prepared for display in the WEZ:
-- SID Tim Bourret telling Jordan Leggett, "Dude, please don't say this is your money year for the NFL" (no, Tim did not really say that):
-- I take a seat at the press conference table to tell reporters I'm going to physically assault whoever questions my downfield passing game:
And Dabo holds court:
-- The common reaction to Korie Rogers' departure was to get really worried because, well, who the heck is this Jalen Williams guy? He's a freshman. He's listed at 5-foot-9. Heck, when you go to the official web site to find out more about the guy you see they don't even have a picture of him:
But the more folks you talk to, the more you get the feeling this guy from Blythewood could be a dependable backup to Ben Boulware. Swinney said something interesting today on the topic of Williams. When talking about the two inside linebacker positions, Swinney said Williams "was going to win one of those jobs either way." Assuming Kendall Joseph is indeed back to the form he showed in the spring, I'm doubting Williams would've beaten him out at the backup MIKE spot behind B.J. Goodson. So the best guess is Williams would've beaten out Rogers had Rogers stuck around.
I asked Brent Venables about Williams today, and Venables doesn't spend this much time praising someone if he doesn't fully believe it.
"Jalen has very good instincts, good quickness. He's a good tackler. He's relentless chasing the football. Still a young player who's going to make some mistakes, but great football intelligence. Just ahead of the curve that way. Hard to block. He doesn't stay blocked when he does get blocked initially. He gets off off blocks really well. I'm excited about Jalen. He's a guy that cares a great deal about his performance and his preparation. He's not just excited about getting in the game. You coach those guys who want nothing to do with the preparation, they just want to get to games and they love to play according to them. But you can't put the cart before the horse, and Jalen really values the preparation and detail that goes into playing at a high level. And for a young guy, that's normally not the case. They don't want to worry about all the details. But Jalen has shown that he's an exception that way in how he thinks."
Venables, who recruited Williams, said "everything" stood out to him when he evaluated him. Said he was very focused and determined. He even brought up Grady Jarrett's name.
"He's going to be in the front of the line and take every rep and just wear out people. Jalen was the same way. He just continued to impress the longer you were around him. That's who he's been since he's been here."
On Williams' height: The media guide, which was printed earlier this summer, lists Williams as a 6-footer. The more recent roster and depth chart list him at 5-9. We asked Tim Bourret about the discrepancy and he said 5-9 is the accurate number and reflects the measurement performed by the strength and conditioning staff, as opposed to the more inflated numbers that are commonly thrown around during the recruiting process.
-- We're going to make a regular habit of soliciting questions from subscribers in advance of gatherings with coaches and players. It's a way for you folks to get involved, and often there are questions we haven't yet considered that end up enlightening us all. Today's question to Swinney comes from yemassee, who wanted to know about the separation between Nick Schuessler and Kelly Bryant.
Here's Swinney's answer, in its entirety:
"Pretty big right now. Nick is clearly -- it's so funny, every year we have a quarterback controversy. Every year. It's the starter, it's the backup. And now it's, 'Who's the number 2 guy?' Nobody wants to give ol' Nick much credit. Nick Schuessler can play. I think he has really earned the respect of his team. And he did that this past spring, which was tremendous for him.
"A lot of people don't think Nick can run. Nick can run. He ran a 4.6 this summer. He's way more athletic and fast than what people may think. He's got some quick twitch to him. His arm is stronger than it's ever been. He's bigger and stronger than he's ever been. Very cerebral player that has really bought in to what he has to do to make himself the best player possible. He is clearly our number 2, and we're excited about him.
"Now having said that, Kelly Bryant -- I can't brag on him enough. From where he was in the spring to where he is now at the end of camp, I mean he's in a different hemisphere. He's now made himself relevant as far as, 'OK, we can win with this guy.' There's no way we could have won with him this spring, but we didn't have to win with him in the spring. So you give him so much credit for the amount of work he put in this summer. He is such a sincere, genuine young man that possesses this great work ethic. And then he's just a physically special guy. Size, strength, ability to run. So pleased with what I've seen him develop from an accuracy standpoint, his understanding of what we're doing. But that comes with work.
"With Tucker (Israel), literally the first five minutes of camp we think those guys are going to kind of compete. All of a sudden he's gone, and all those reps that Kelly were able to get really paid off. So right now Kelly is clearly third, but we're as far as we can go from a competition standpoint and an evaluation standpoint. But he's going to play. We have to create some experience and depth at that position. We have to. Even if he just plays a little, a little is going to mean a whole lot to us next year. We just can't afford to go into next season with just two guys that have played. We have to develop another guy, and that was kind of our plan to figure out which one of those guys and it would just kind of work itself out. Hopefully we can hold Tucker, but who knows? We have no idea. We may have to play him too, depending on the health of our roster. But we're going to try to find as many opportunities to not just play Kelly, but to play Nick too. We've got to continue to develop confidence and experience at the position. But we like the guys that we have there. We're just thin."
Sorry for the wall of text, but presenting the entire quote is useful in this case.
-- One of the things keeping Venables and the defensive staff a bit on edge right now is the uncertainty of the quarterback they'll face Saturday against Wofford. Junior Evan Jacks (6-0, 205) is the first guy listed on the depth chart, but Mike Ayers has said he might not make a decision until right before the game. The odds seem to favor Jacks, but sophomore Brad Butler (6-2, 220) could get significant playing time in the first half. The other two options are senior Michael Weimer (6-5, 225) and Brandon Goodson (6-0, 205).
-- The more pressing concern for Venables, by far, is keeping his guys on their feet. This defense spends a lot of time throughout the year on cut blocks, not just to prepare for the occasional Georgia Tech-style offense but also to be prepared for a lot of the perimeter blocking that goes on in today's horizontal spread game.
He said Wofford presents a challenge because they disguise where the blocks are coming from.
"It's not like they're announcing, 'Hey, I'm the guy that's going to cut block you,'" he said. "If we're not on our feet, we can't defend them very well. It starts inside-out."
-- Contrary to popular belief, Christian Wilkins is not ready for the NFL right now and he actually -- gasp! -- has some learning to do. Venables tried to temper the growing sensation surrounding Wilkins. He's going to be a baaad dude in time, but Venables pointed out that he lost four months of weight-room time as he recovered from the broken wrist suffered last fall.
-- One of the cool things about living in a college town is you get to see coaches out of their professional element on a pretty regular basis. The latest example presented Venables on Friday night at Daniel High about an hour before watching his oldest son play. Venables has a daughter who is in elementary school and was participating in a youth cheerleading production. Like the rest of the parents, Venables was beaming as he used his smart phone to film his daughter going through the routine on the sideline in front of the varsity cheerleaders. He was just a regular, proud dad in that moment. Neat scene.
-- Quotes of the day:
"I like people that like to rip people's face off. If you want to all that swagger -- I've seen too many guys who have the swagger without the play." -- Venables
"That's what the psychologist is for." -- Venables, on how he prepares his guys for the psychological challenge of offensive players going for their knees
"I love our offensive line. We've got 10 guys that can play for anybody. I think when the season is over y'all are going to quit asking me about the offensive line." -- Swinney
-- A few images from today:
Cool view from the WEZ:
Here's Coach V. sitting down to answer questions:
-- A bunch of trophies being prepared for display in the WEZ:
-- SID Tim Bourret telling Jordan Leggett, "Dude, please don't say this is your money year for the NFL" (no, Tim did not really say that):
-- I take a seat at the press conference table to tell reporters I'm going to physically assault whoever questions my downfield passing game:
And Dabo holds court:
