Dabo Swinney Trevor Lawrence Austin Bryant

College Football Playoff Media Conference Monday, December 31, 2018 Dabo Swinney Trevor Lawrence know. Like you said, we've played them now four years in a row, and this is a veteran team that we have. They Austin Bryant understand that this is a game where you just have so little margin for error. I mean, it's two or three plays, College Football Playoff Media literally. You've got to have great preparation mentally Conference and physically to get yourself ready. GINA LEHE: On behalf of the College Football Playoff, I mean, these are two really good teams that are both we'd like to congratulate Clemson and look forward to hard to beat, and you've got to do the little things to welcoming them to the Bay Area. At this time please give yourself a chance, whether it be that field position welcome head coach Dabo Swinney. battle, it's where your guys are, it's your footwork, positioning, it's technique, because you just don't have DABO SWINNEY: Thank you. Well, just kind of long a lot of room for error, either team. I think when you day yesterday and traveling back, and quickly turning look at this game, I think both teams are kind of mirror the page to this incredible opportunity that we have in images of each other to be honest with you, really good front of us. But first of all, I just want to say thanks to defenses, dynamic quarterbacks, very talented running all the CFP folks. Y'all know y'all do an amazing job backs, and explosive skill, and just kind of built in the working all year to make this a great experience, and trenches. We're so similar. the Cotton Bowl was just awesome for us. Everybody associated, our players had a great time, and it was So it's going to come down to just execution and just a really, really good week. mentally being sharp and making those two or three plays that you don't know when they're coming. So you We played a tremendous opponent in Notre Dame, and just have to truly play every play like it's the play. we played a heck of a ballgame. Really proud of my guys. They've worked their tails off all year to put But we love that challenge, and we know exactly what's themselves in this situation, so we're excited about coming for sure with the type of team that we're getting heading out to California later in the week. ready to play. You know, I think that this is clearly the two best teams Q. I'm curious if there has been any more that in Alabama and Clemson, and it's going to be an you've been able to learn about the situation with exciting game. I mean, this is the way it should be, and Dexter or the two other players and if you we know we've got a huge challenge. Want to anticipate any sort of an appeal process going congratulate Alabama, as well, for just another through prior to the National Championship game? amazing year, and Coach Saban and what he's done, DABO SWINNEY: I have not learned anything, like I it's just -- they're hard to beat. say, since Thursday. Obviously we played and traveled all day yesterday, but Dan Radakovich is leading that But we're excited about the challenge, and we're off front, and I know that they'll be having some meetings and running with our prep, and got a short week to kind and stuff today and trying to figure out what the of get ready to make the long flight out there on Friday. moving-forward process is going to look like. But we're so thankful to have the opportunity to be a Obviously we don't have a lot of time for this game. I'm part of it. hopeful that maybe something positive will come out, but I don't know anything at all. Q. I know you've used the Rocky movies going into this in the past, but now that you've seen Alabama And then beyond this game, we've got -- there will be for four years, what's the biggest thing mindset- an appeal process that our players for sure will want to wise that you emphasize with your players in battle because there's consequences for next year. preparation? Dexter obviously has the ability to go pro, and with DABO SWINNEY: Well, I don't really have to Zach and Braden, Zach has got a year left, and Braden emphasize it with this group, I mean, because they is just going to be a sophomore. There's a longer Rev #1 by #166 at 2018-12-31 16:21:00 GMT page 1 of 5 runway for dealing with that and the process that's in hardly any DB's, and then all of a sudden those guys place and what they've all got to do, but I don't know decided to go ahead and go pro. T.J. Green and anything at all as far as relevant to this game. Jayron Kearse and Mackensie Alexander and Travis Blanks, they all left. Now we're going out and all of a Q. The other thing I wanted to ask you, you've sudden we've got about three weeks to recruit DB's, talked a lot in the past about how you can watch and we found K'Von Wallace, and I didn't know who recruiting film of a guy and see the talent that they K'Von Wallace was until a week before signing day. have, but you don't really ever know how that And he's a starter. translates until they're actually doing it on that stage. At what point did you realize that Trevor We found Isaiah Simmons out in Kansas. I had never was never going to be overwhelmed by the stage heard of Isaiah Simmons until about eight days before that he was on, that he's sort of the coolest guy in signing day. We were able to get Trayvon Mullen, who the room all the time? we had recruited, but wasn't sure how it was all going DABO SWINNEY: Yeah, well, you know, I don't think I to play out and if we'd have a spot, and then we were can say I actually knew until I started coaching him last just kind of looking around, and I said, you know what, spring and just saw how quickly he processed things, I'm going to go back and look at Nolan's film again, and how easy it was for him. I don't know about easy, but I called his high school coach. I mean, I looked at his just his preparation, his focus, but his ability to absorb tape, and I'm like, man, this kid can play, and as -- I installation and then take it to the practice field and called Buddy Anderson, and when I called him, that's how quickly he adjusted to kind of the speed of what he told me. He said, Dabo -- Buddy has been everything. He just never really looked like a freshman. coaching like 50 years at Vestavia High School, and he said, Dabo, this guy is as good as any player I've ever That's probably the main thing, but the other thing is, to had. He goes back to when I was playing high school be honest with you, when he committed, you obviously ball, and he's seen so many guys come and go, and could see greatness on tape, but as far as who he is, just for whatever reason, he was just kind of he's a little bit like Deshaun in that way. But he overlooked. And I think Alabama had offered him a committed to me December of his junior year, and at walk-on spot. that time we had two really talented high school senior quarterbacks that were getting ready to sign with us in So I showed Brent the tape without telling him who he the class ahead of him, and then we had a couple of was, and Brent was like, man, this guy can play, where really good ones on the team already, and to this day, is he at, who's he, kind of a deal, and I was like, that's he never asked me about another quarterback, ever, the only confirmation I wanted right there. not one time. Never asked me one question about anybody that we were recruiting, anybody on our So we took it from there, and we signed Nolan, and his roster, and I just think that to me, that was one of the genetics, just -- we knew he was talented. He can run. things that I knew early on, like this guy here is -- he's He's explosive. He's twitchy. But now he's just kind of got a -- he's got a rare confidence and focus. developed physically. He's a 212-pound kid, and the Just has always been really locked in on himself and confidence, he knows the game. So he's a redshirt who he is and not worried about things he doesn't sophomore and has really had a great year for us. control. You know, I knew last year, he tackled Lamar Jackson Q.

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