Football Weekly Press Conference | Clemson
Sep 02, 2019 | Football
Coach Fisher and the Aggies met with the media to look ahead to Saturday's game at top-ranked Clemson.
Catch Coach Fisher's full press conference, plus quotes from Jhamon Ausbon, Bobby Brown III and Jared Hocker below.
JIMBO FISHER PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES
After going back, evaluating the film from the game, a lot of good things. I mean, a lot of young players got their first taste of college football in some big situations. I thought we played well in a lot of different situations. There's obviously some things we've got to clean up and like in any first game, you see things that happened. But from the standpoint of what I loved is, you know, very few penalties in the game, which I think is important. Early in the season, we had three. Any is too many, but not a lot of penalties. Unfortunately, we had the two turnovers which was disappointing. Substitutions for the most part…we had one thing on defense later getting a guy off the field, but other than that communication, getting personnel on and off the field, timing, clock…we had one time where we called time out and Kellan actually would've got it off, but I called time anyway as it ran down. I wasn't sure if he'd saw it, but he did and he knew it. So, you know, managing the game, those types of things you don't really realize until you get into it. I think organization, our kids did a good job of communicating and doing those things like that. We played hard in the game. I thought we were physical. Defensively we did a great job controlling the line of scrimmage against the run, of course. Created the turnovers. The turnovers are great to see, we played the ball very well when it was thrown. Great on third down, got off the field. Offensively, had good balance again, running and throwing. Thought Kellen was extremely sharp on his decision making, his accuracy, where he was going with the football. He had a lot of back side reads, third and fourth reads, on plays even when he got pressure, finding outlets on the side that were built in and was very accurate with the football. He controlled our whole offense extremely well. Knowing everything to do with protection calls, run checks. I thought our backs did a good job. Jashaun ran the football well, did a good job catching it, picking up blitzes. Isaiah got in, got his first taste and did a nice job. Our young tight ends got some good playing time, and the receivers the ones and twos, and those guys all made plays and did the things they had to do. On defense I was pleased with Myles in the secondary. Those guys were making the plays on the ball. I thought our linebackers did a really good job. It was great to see Hines back out there playing after a year off, thought he played well inside especially the first game with the nerves and the jitters, to go back and all that stuff when you're in those. I think Buddy did a good job. Madubuike was really good up front in those things. Special teams was very solid. I thought Seth was excellent, kicked the ball where he's supposed to kick it, hit his kicks. Mann was excellent, hit punts well. Had two inside the 20, with the one being a sky kick, which he did a really good job of that. Return teams did a great job. Paul did a good job on some really short kicks of getting to the ball and catching it, not letting it hit the ground and roll. I think that's very important in field position. I thought we did a good job there. The one kickoff return we had, we were close to coming out. But for the first game, I was pleased. Still a lot of room that we can improve on. We had a couple turnovers, they got that drive late. There's a lot of little things that we've got to…you know, there's always stuff that you don't see from the stands or things even sometimes from the sideline. Get those areas cleared up and making sure you are communicating all the way across the board, offensively and defensively, where all guys know what the next guy's doing and your communication. Those things are never ending. Those go all the time.
Of course it will be a much harder challenge going on the road this week, playing in a hostile environment where the noise is a lot different. But for the most part I'm very pleased. Our staff did a really good job of getting the guys ready to play. And as I say, everybody was saying were you looking ahead to Clemson? We didn't practice Clemson, We didn't think Clemson. We worked on Texas State, and that was it. Now we're working on Clemson, getting ready for a great game with them. That's an outstanding football team, Dabo's done a tremendous job. Everybody says where is their strength at, when you win the national championships and you're ranked number one, you're good in all three phases. Offensively, extremely talented quarterback. We all know where it starts. But those wideouts are tremendously talented…the whole crew out there. The young guys they got, they brought in, you could just see those guys in what they do. Offensive line is very good. Replaced some guys up front, but, you know, even bigger and stronger. Etienne, he's a very, very talented running back. He's big, he's strong. He's direct. Fast. Can run with speed, power. Catches the ball. Trevor is excellent. I mean, very, very talented team. Very well-coached. Defensively, really lost a lot of D linemen, but the same time it looks like just the same bodies in different numbers. I mean, guys running around making plays. They were dominant upfront. They can rush the passer, they can play the run. The backers are active. Brent does a great job on defense. Multiple looks, different schemes, blitzes, Terrell leads the secondary back there, those guys are all very talented and do a great job. They play the ball, they're used to playing it, they see it in practice. Special teams, their kick off guy's kicking it kicking a mile. The field goal guy, punters are excellent. You have a heck of a team, this is one heck of a team. It's talented, it's well coached, it's confident, and they're playing at home. So it's gonna be a heck of a challenge for us and hopefully something our kids are up for and we look forward to going to play.
You've talked a lot in the off season about the opportunity that this schedule presents, how big of an opportunity is this one as you try to elevate your program?
I mean, it's the next opportunity. That's the thing you gotta understand. There's a lot of 'em on there, but this is the next one you gotta focus on. They're the defending national champs, number one in the country, and you have to go in and play it like that. But you know, before you play the game you have to prepare, and I think that's what we have to do. A great job of preparing during the week and not being ready to play until it's time to play, but understanding of how to prepare. But it's a heck of an opportunity. That's what you need.
Late Thursday night, you said you wanted to look at the video closer in terms of your offensive line…
Played solidly, did a really nice job. Some of the things that were miscommunications, like I said, some of the runs getting communicated out to our receivers and tight ends of who they're blocking, which clogs some things up at times as the line would block. But did some real good things. They missed a couple blocks as always, but the center played well, right guard did a good job. Sometimes they're moving in the first game. Kenyon, a couple times on down blocks he over set some things, let things come back outside in, but he's so athletic and he got back to it. But it's knowledge of what was going on. Always could tell you what was happening, what calls he had, things like that. Some of those things we've got to get communicated to our receivers and tight ends, making sure that we're all on the same page on the angles, cause that will clog some of the runs outside up. And we missed a couple inside, but very solid performance for the first time, and it's the same thing happened in the pass. We got miscommunicated on the call, turned the guy loose, but they knew exactly what happened, and could explain it and fix it. So not perfect by any means, and we've got to get much better. And I think you're always looking to get better up front. But a just a solid day.
What about your team? First time in the venue of Clemson. You've been there. What's different about that venue and an update on Renfro?
The venue. It's one of the best places to play college football. It's Death Valley. It'll be loud. A lot of orange. If you like orange, there'll be a lot of that. A lot of happy fans. They're a great fan base, tremendous fanbase, classy fan base, but very loud and hard to go play. And, you know, it's just like in our league. It's like the venues you're going to and play in our league, and, it's 80 something or 90,000, whatever it is, and they love their ball and they're very good. They're passionate about it, that's for sure. It's one of the places, being able to say you played there when you're a player, and one of the venue's you can say you were able to coach and you definitely want to have been to Death Valley. It's a great atmosphere. And Renfro will not play this game, he will be suspended one more game.
Jimbo we all remember just the huge performance that Kellen had last year. Will he have to have a similar performance for you?
He's going to have to play well, but everybody's going to have to play well. And one of the reasons he had that performance was the guys around him played well. They made catches, they made runs, they blocked. They did those things and he made the plays. But Kellen's a leader. He needs to play well for us and the decisions that are being made. Make great decisions, be accurate with the ball. Play the play that's there. Play smart, play tough, play aggressive. And that's what you'll have to do. And if the numbers come, they come. If they don't, they don't. But, that's how he's gotta play, the guys around him gotta play. But you have to have your quarterback play well. There's no doubt. But that's every week.
What are the challenges of trying to take away at least one aspect of Clemson's offense, when you do have Lawrence and all those receivers plus, you have Etienne?
Well, that's what I'm saying. Say you want to take all the wide outs away, they run the football. And they're very good up front, they protect and they can run, they're physical. You say, OK, I want to double this guy. Will you leave another guy wide open? I mean, that's the thing, and how you match it up, where you're at, trying to create different looks at different times. You can't do the same thing. Trevor's too smart. They're too good of coaches. You're gonna have to keep your looks multiple. You're gonna have to disguise things. You're going to have to do things as best you can, but the same time you can't do it where you're out of position to make plays. They're so challenging, because some teams have one dominant wideout where he's just so explosive. They've got 3, 4, 5 of those guys, their backs are the same way. So it's an extremely tough challenge. It's gonna be a big burden on, everybody says our secondary, but your defense. It's your front, it's your linebackers, because at different times when you do different things there's gonna be pressure put on different guys within your defense. And they're as challenging as anybody. Then you have a quarterback who can really throw it and is as good as Trevor is. The thing about Trevor is, I don't want people to lose sight of too, he's very athletic. You start thinking well, he's just a big pocket guy, but this guy can run. He can create plays with his legs, too, and keep plays alive or create plays. They're an extremely dangerous team. And it will be a huge challenge for us, no doubt.
The play Kellen made in the first quarter, where rolled out to his left and hit Jhamon to the one yard line, is that as good of a play that you've seen from Kellen?
He's made a lot of those in practice recently, really has. And you know, there's two things on that play. One, Kellen's vision of knowing where somebody comes when you get pressure. We know we talk about things, if you get flushed to the left, this is where your eyes need to go. Because that's your look you have to get to. But the other thing is on offense, a lot of guys don't do this. Till you get five full-speed routes, you're never a very good offense. What I mean by that is guys on the backside say you know, I don't ever get this ball, and they run around about half speed, 3/4 speed. That play was as much a tribute to 2 as it was 11. That play by 11 was tremendous. He felt pressure, he came out, he saw it. The throw he made and the type of throw he made, that was big time. It was a tremendous play, but the same time, that look, possibly the ball may not have went there unless the pressure went there, Jhamon—which is Jhamon—runs that route full speed, no matter what the situation is. Because you don't want the defense to know when you're getting or when you're not getting it, and he got rewarded for being selfless in a play. And it was really good. Cause in our offense, we have the ability to throw to all five guys, if Kellen sees the matchup and relationship he wants.
How important is the run game going to be in order to keep Trevor and that offense off the field and continue to success you saw last week?
Two things, keep their offense off the field and to keep those D-linemen from pinning their ears back, because you become one dimensional against a team that's that talented, against their defense, you get eaten alive. I mean, you have to have balance. You have to have physicality. You have to make 'em feel things to be able to do that. And then like I say, if you can control the football, that's just less time those guys are on the field, there's no doubt. It's gonna help us as a team. Being able to run the football is always gonna be a part of our game and try to be a part of our game, and definitely gonna be a part. Cause they do a great job of stopping it. And they do a great job themselves. You talk about the numbers...last week they ran for 400 yards. Now they threw it a bunch, but they ran for 400. So they're very physical and we understand that, too. So it is about controlling the clock and controlling your opponent when you're able to run the football. It's a great asset, that's for sure.
I wanted to ask you about refrigerator Bobby Brown, and kind of the idea of using him in that situation, is that you go ahead and show it to give Clemson, something else to prepare for?
I didn't want to show it to 'em, I want to make sure we can do it. Listen, I don't mean that in a bad way, all that hiding stuff, I'm a guy, I don't believe in hiding anything. I believe in doing what you do, doing it well, and being able to execute it under pressure and handle it. He had never done it, so let's make sure he can do it. And that's what was required in that game. I mean, we do what we do, And, he did a great job on the plays he was in there. He got on the touchdown run, they were slanting, angling to him. So we run away. Different looks and things you do. But he did a very, very good job. We got some other guys we can put in there.
Also, you like to travel two days prior. Is it something with this situation where you just kind of keep an eye on what's going on out in the Atlantic?
You do. We're on status quo. We're ready to go as we're going to go unless other things come into play. We'll let them decide that, I can't worry…don't worry about things you can't control, where you have no idea about what the future may hold. We'll have an alternative plan if it starts to come to that. One thing I have been, when I was in Florida, I did run into a few hurricanes, so I made some plans around those things before. Unfortunately, I hate that because, you know, there's a lot of devastation that goes with those dadgum things. Our prayers are with everybody in the Bahamas right now. Wherever that thing is going to end up, our hearts and prayers and everything, we hope everything turns out well for everybody.
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