Sunday Night Update: Swinney details injury news, possible position change

Barrett Carter impressed in his move to weakside linebacker on Saturday.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sun Nov 13 19:24:03 GMT-04:00 2022

CLEMSON – Clemson walked out of Saturday’s win over Louisville with only one injury of note, a much-needed win, a possible position change, and the knowledge that there is still work to be done.

Head coach Dabo Swinney met with the media on his weekly Sunday night teleconference, and he recapped the 31-16 victory over Louisville and looked ahead to this week’s matchup against Miami. The Hurricanes are 5-5 overall and 3-3 in conference play.

Swinney said he liked the way his team responded in the win over the Cards.

"I'm proud of our team. Just what we needed. A great response. Far from perfect but we played tough and physical,” Swinney said. “And you have to have that to win a game. We showed up in the right mindset. We won the division outright. That's our tenth and ninth outright. We've put ourselves in a position to have a really good finish. We need to build on what we did. Offensively we ran the ball well. (Phil) Mafah and (Will) Shipley were great. We were at 71-percent completion. We scored touchdowns in the red zone. We had a great start to the game. Too many penalties, too many turnovers which is crazy what's happened in the last three games.

“We should have easily had two more third downs which would have put us on track for our quality control but we had poor situational awareness. We still have to improve in a lot of areas. We did a good job of picking up a lot of their pressures and covering guys up. I thought DJ (Uiagalelei) did well. He bounced back and graded a winner. That's how he has to play for us to have a chance to win.”

The Clemson defense gave up just 16 points to the Cardinals.

"Defensively we played tough and physical but gave up too many charity plays. The two third down runs were disappointing. The last play there at the end of the game, we did not play that well at all,” Swinney said. “Barrett Carter was phenomenal, and Trotter was outstanding as well. It was probably Bryan Bresee's best game. We got two turnovers and stops on fourth downs. That's what allowed us to win the game. They got no points off of turnovers. We did a great job on third down and also got after the quarterback. I just didn't like how we finished at the end. We gave up 80 yards late that we didn't need to give up.”

Injuries

“Injury-wise, we came through it pretty good. (Tyler) Venables pulled his hamstring pretty good. He’ll be out for a while. I hate that for him because he had just gotten back and had a great week of practice. He’s a tough kid, but he’ll bounce back. Other than that, we’re in a good spot. Beaux (Collins) we’ll see where he’s at. I think we’re going to work him back in at practice.”

Mitchell Mayes grade?

“He did good. Overall a very good first start for Mitchell. I’m proud of him. We ran the ball very well. He had some minuses here or there but a good start for him and a good confidence builder. Trent Howard got in there and did well also.”

Is it possible that Barrett Carter stays at the WILL and Simpson moves back to SAM?

“Yeah. That’s what we do as coaches … always evaluate. It gives us a lot of flexibility with how we can use our personnel. Yeah, Trenton can play anywhere. He’s a special player. That’s where Barrett will be long-term. Trenton, yeah, he played great last year and his knowledge has grown so much and he’s had two years on the edge, so we have more flexibility that we didn’t have going into that game.”

On RJ Mickens

“He’s a very good player. He’s incredibly smart and instinctive He’s coachable, tough and physical. His father played a long time in the NFL. He’s grown up around ball. He just gets it. I’m really proud of him. He played multiple positions yesterday and you will continue to see that. He’s a very good and dependable player for us.”

On Wade Woodaz and flexibility at linebacker

"Not just this year, either. I'd say the next few years. He's a baller. He's very similar to Barrett and Isaiah. He's more like Barrett. Isaiah (Simmons) had a lot to learn when he got here. Barrett and Woodaz were ready when they got here. Woodaz played quarterback much of his career and then safety. The game comes easy to him. He's long, he's tough, he's smart and he can run. He's physical by nature. He can play anywhere. He could go play safety for us and go be excellent. That's why we played him this year. He was ready to play. Good to see him in there. He got him a sack. He's going to be a really good player for us."

On Bryan Bresee

“I think he played his best game. That’s a good sign. He was very disappointed in how he played last week but he went back to work and had a good week of practice. Outside of a couple of plays, he played his best game. We’ll see if he can build off of that and finish up the season the way he is capable of.”