Clowney Clearinghouse: What's being said about S.Carolina's DE
09/04/13
ATHENS – Hope you got a chance to read my story on Georgia’s plans for dealing with South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney. It’s a premium story that can be found on myAJC.com, along with a story on the Bulldogs’ touchdown celebrations in the wake of Malcolm Mitchell’s season-ending injury and Jeff Schultz’s terrific column on quarterback Aaron Murray.
Of course, the Clowney discussion has been fast and furious this week, what with him being the player he is for South Carolina and his remarks this summer that Murray is one of several quarterbacks he believes are genuinely scared of him. So with that in mind, I’m just going to empty my notebook of all the rhetoric it currently possesses and let you guys take it all in and react to it as you wish.
So here it is, unfiltered . . .
SOUTH CAROLINA COACH STEVE SPURRIER:
“Well J.D. is ready to play, I think one thing he learned is that the camera is on him all the time now. It wasn't on him last year, it was on him on the replays after he made sacks, big plays and stuff like that, but every play the camera is on him. So he knows that and hopefully he is ready to go. It was a hot day last week as we all know, and sometimes the heat effects people in different ways, it affected him no questions about it and hopefully we can get him a little bit better prepared physically to go the distance against Georgia.”
GEORGIA LEFT TACKLE KENARIOUS GATES:
On preparing to face Clowney . . .
"I’m just going to treat it like I do every other game. It’s another game on the schedule. It’s the most important game because it’s the next game. It’s not just me as an individual. It’s a team. We’re going to do it as a team. We’re going to win as a team, we’re going to fight as a team and we’re going to work together.”
On how he did vs. Clowney last year . . .
"I don’t look at what happened last year. I’m the type of person who moves on. I try to make myself better as a person and make myself better as an individual. I take what happened in the past and just move on. I’m going to continue to work hard and give all my effort."
On performance in Clemson game . . .
"It was a good game, great competition. I give them props because they got the win and they’re a good team. We just didn’t put it together as a team and came up short. I think I did pretty good. I just made a couple of mistakes out there but overall we did good. I did the best I could and that’s all I can do."
On Clowney's claims Aaron Murray is scared of him . . .
"People are going to say what they want to say and he can say what he wants to say. Overall we’re going to play together as a team. As an O-line we’re going to protect our quarterback, so we’re going to make sure we get the job done."
On scheming for Clowney . . .
"We’re not going to do anything different. We’re just going to do what we do. We’re Georgia. We have a powerful offense and we’re going to do what we do. We’re not going to run away from this player or that player. We’re just going to do what we do and be a powerful offense and be explosive and work hard."
On what he's done specifically to prepare . . .
"We’ve watched past games from last year to see what different teams have done to get a win. We watched the North Carolina game. . . . We’re just going to be the offense we know we can be."
On whether Clowney is the best player he's faced . . .
"There’s a lot of talent out there. Everybody gives great effort. Don’t get me wrong; he’s a good player. But I’m not going pick out an individual and say, ‘oh, he’s the greatest player I’ve played against’ because there’s a lot of talent out there that’s good as well. . . . He’s a great athlete. He’s just one of them guys you’ve got to be disciplined against and don’t try to be perfect. You just have to work hard as a team and give great effort.”
On Murray getting sacked four times this past Saturday . . .
"Sometimes mistakes happen and you’ve got to overcome it. It might be a missed assignment here, a missed assignment there. You never know. . . . Mainly you just try to overcome it and move on to the next play because that play’s behind you. You try to focus on that play.”
GEORGIA HEAD COACH MARK RICHT:
On what can be done to slow Clowney . . .
“There are a lot of different things you can do on pass protection. One of the things is that if you slide your protection towards a guy like that, you free up your tackle not to block him one-on-one. Your tackle basically is responsible for taking him on an outside rush, but if he makes a move inside of him, there will be a guard waiting for him, so that’s one way. Another way is to try to even put a tight end to the side that he’s at and give him a little bit more to navigate as he’s coming through the line of scrimmage. The other thing is to have a back or a tight end off the ball who can chip on the way out. You can also design plays where you don’t hold the ball very long. Set your point, get up in the pocket and get the ball out quickly. There’s always your quick passing game where you may try to change up your blocking technique with the cut block from time to time. That might give him something to think about, but those are the things that you try to do. You can also sprint your protection to or away from him or move the pocket from time to time.”
On the left tackle position . . .
“Right now, (Kenarious Gates) will be our left tackle. I think we still think that there’s at least six guys that can play and deserve to play, so I think part of our issue has been (Chris) Burnette coming off of surgery. We haven’t been wanting him to play the entire game necessarily. I’m not saying he won’t this week, but going into last week, we were wanting to give him some relief throughout the game.”
On Gates specifically . . .
“I think Gates is a very good player. He is the guy that has the best shot at matching up out there (with Clowney). We wouldn’t be playing him at left tackle if we didn’t think he could do it. He went up against Jadeveon a year ago, so it won’t be like a first-time experience for him. He’s ready to go, and he’s confident that he’s going to play well, but we all know that it’s a 60-minute game. You probably have 200 plays in a game between offense, defense and special teams, and every snap is a battle. You’re going to win some and lose some, but we think he gives us our best shot to succeed.”
GEORGIA QUARTERBACK AARON MURRAY:
On pass protection versus Clemson . . .
“I think a majority of the time they did a great job up front. It’s tough in a hostile, loud environment where defenses are able to get a jump on the ball. As an offensive tackle it’s hard to hear. I mean David (Andrews) was having trouble hearing me and I’m right under center. I can only imagine how hard it is to hear the cadence if you were playing left or right tackle. So those guys I thought played pretty well for being in that type of environment and I think they can only get better this week at home.
On other players he has faced that affect the game similarly . . .
“The dude from Auburn a couple of years ago – (Nick) Fairley. That guy. He was very similar in being able to affect the game.”
On game-planning for Clowney . . .
“We’re going to have to slide protection to him. Have back or a tight end chip him or stay in protection. He really does change a lot of things.”
GEORGIA OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR MIKE BOBO:
On game plan for Clowney . . .
“Don’t turn a bad play into a catastrophe. Guys need to hold onto the ball. I said it back in the summer, the guy’s going to make plays. We’re going to have to do some different things against him. But he beats double-teams, he beats chips, if you’ve got somebody chipping he jumps over it. The guy’s a great player and we’re going to have to know where he is. But at the same time we’ve got to play ball; we’ve got to man up and go play ball and whatever we decide to do on that play we need to handle him. The guy or guys have to do their job. And if he beats us we got to hang onto the ball. We can’t let him do something that can alter the game.”
On Gates’ ability to handle the challenge . . .
“He went against him last year. He definitely wreaked havoc last year and made some plays, but there were some times that Kenarious did a good job, too. And we have to do a good job of staying balanced. Last year we obviously got down and we were in too many third-and-longs, third and 10, third and 11. You can’t do that against a team like this that has really a bunch of good pass-rushers. Number 90, (Chaz) Sutton is a good pass rusher and they do a good job of putting him inside, too. So we have to do a good job of staying ahead of the sticks and being in manageable situations.”
On Clowney’s supposed sub-par game against North Carolina . . .
“Personally I think he was playing so hard early in that game, I thought he was trying to win the Heisman in the first 25 snaps. That’s how hard he was playing. I think he just got a little bit tired and it was extremely hot that night. You turn on the tape, and I know they highlighted four or five plays on TV, but the guy affects plays when he doesn’t make plays. Other guys get sacks because you’re worried about him, you’re doubling him or not getting a back out and it frees up a ‘backer to make a play or rush. I mean, there were two or three plays in that first half where the play is on the other side of the field and runs all the way across and gets in on the play. He’s just a phenomenal athlete who makes plays and we’ve got to make our share of players.”
On whether he’s seen anyone who compares . . .
“No, he’s special. He’s got speed off the edge and if you try to chip him or put another guy on him he can turn it into a bull rush and get into you. He has extreme power in his hips and he plays hard and he’s got size and speed. It’s a rare combination.”
On whether you can game plan too much for Clowney . . .
“There’s no doubt. You’ve gotl to execute and do what we do to be successful. But we can’t go out there and say, ‘hey he doesn’t exist’ either. If we don’t y’all are going to rip us and say we didn’t have a plan for Clowney. So we’ll have a plan for him.”
GEORGIA OFFENSIVE LINE COACH WILL FRIEND:
On offensive line lineup versus Clemson . . .
“We just thought they were the best five going into Saturday. But we’re going to keep competing as we go. Those guys are smart enough and have played together enough to know that the guys that play the best and play the hardest are going to be the guys we go with. So, no, it’s just a matter of playing your best five.”
On sophomore tackle John Theus not playing as much . . .
“He’s a better player than he was this time a year ago. . . . I think (his foot injury) hurt him a great deal because at the end of the spring he was struggling. He missed spring workouts and the agility program and the first two or three weeks of spring. He’s starting to come arouond now and he’s better than he was a year ago, but obviously it hurt him being out. He worked hard this summer and, hey, he’s going to be a good football player and he’s getting better every day and he’s working hard.
“We’re trying to rotate some guys and play some people. You start with trying to play the best five guys. The best five at the end of camp were who started the (Clemson) game. But whoever didn’t start was going to play a lot and he played a bunch. I think he got 40 snaps or something.”
On Gates remaining at left tackle . . .
“Ken’s the best left tackle we’ve got and that’s what he was all the way through camp and that’s why he’s the starter there.”
On what he wants most to see from line in this game . . .
“I want to see them play for four quarters. I thought there was a quarter-and-a-half that they were playing pretty good. And then there was about a quarter or so that they were not good at all. We didn’t finish like this program is supposed to and we didn’t play with the toughness that we’re supposed to. They kind of came back toward the end of the game and played better. But they didn’t play for four quarters
"And the penalties killed us. You can’t put yourself behind the chains in important games and expect to win on the road. You’re sitting there with first-and-25s and no matter who you’re playing it’s hard to convert first downs when that happens. Four of those penalties were because of us. So the penalties were disappointing. And then obviously the pressures were disappointing. Some of it had to do with the fact that the penalties put us in a situation where they could pin their ears back and come after us.
“So we’ve got to play better and we’ve got to do it this week. We’ve got a heck of a football team coming in here, so no better chance to do it than this week.”
Link: http://www.ajc.com/weblogs/uga-sports/2013/sep/04/clowney-clearinghouse-everything-you-need-know-abo/
09/04/13
ATHENS – Hope you got a chance to read my story on Georgia’s plans for dealing with South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney. It’s a premium story that can be found on myAJC.com, along with a story on the Bulldogs’ touchdown celebrations in the wake of Malcolm Mitchell’s season-ending injury and Jeff Schultz’s terrific column on quarterback Aaron Murray.
Of course, the Clowney discussion has been fast and furious this week, what with him being the player he is for South Carolina and his remarks this summer that Murray is one of several quarterbacks he believes are genuinely scared of him. So with that in mind, I’m just going to empty my notebook of all the rhetoric it currently possesses and let you guys take it all in and react to it as you wish.
So here it is, unfiltered . . .
SOUTH CAROLINA COACH STEVE SPURRIER:
“Well J.D. is ready to play, I think one thing he learned is that the camera is on him all the time now. It wasn't on him last year, it was on him on the replays after he made sacks, big plays and stuff like that, but every play the camera is on him. So he knows that and hopefully he is ready to go. It was a hot day last week as we all know, and sometimes the heat effects people in different ways, it affected him no questions about it and hopefully we can get him a little bit better prepared physically to go the distance against Georgia.”
GEORGIA LEFT TACKLE KENARIOUS GATES:
On preparing to face Clowney . . .
"I’m just going to treat it like I do every other game. It’s another game on the schedule. It’s the most important game because it’s the next game. It’s not just me as an individual. It’s a team. We’re going to do it as a team. We’re going to win as a team, we’re going to fight as a team and we’re going to work together.”
On how he did vs. Clowney last year . . .
"I don’t look at what happened last year. I’m the type of person who moves on. I try to make myself better as a person and make myself better as an individual. I take what happened in the past and just move on. I’m going to continue to work hard and give all my effort."
On performance in Clemson game . . .
"It was a good game, great competition. I give them props because they got the win and they’re a good team. We just didn’t put it together as a team and came up short. I think I did pretty good. I just made a couple of mistakes out there but overall we did good. I did the best I could and that’s all I can do."
On Clowney's claims Aaron Murray is scared of him . . .
"People are going to say what they want to say and he can say what he wants to say. Overall we’re going to play together as a team. As an O-line we’re going to protect our quarterback, so we’re going to make sure we get the job done."
On scheming for Clowney . . .
"We’re not going to do anything different. We’re just going to do what we do. We’re Georgia. We have a powerful offense and we’re going to do what we do. We’re not going to run away from this player or that player. We’re just going to do what we do and be a powerful offense and be explosive and work hard."
On what he's done specifically to prepare . . .
"We’ve watched past games from last year to see what different teams have done to get a win. We watched the North Carolina game. . . . We’re just going to be the offense we know we can be."
On whether Clowney is the best player he's faced . . .
"There’s a lot of talent out there. Everybody gives great effort. Don’t get me wrong; he’s a good player. But I’m not going pick out an individual and say, ‘oh, he’s the greatest player I’ve played against’ because there’s a lot of talent out there that’s good as well. . . . He’s a great athlete. He’s just one of them guys you’ve got to be disciplined against and don’t try to be perfect. You just have to work hard as a team and give great effort.”
On Murray getting sacked four times this past Saturday . . .
"Sometimes mistakes happen and you’ve got to overcome it. It might be a missed assignment here, a missed assignment there. You never know. . . . Mainly you just try to overcome it and move on to the next play because that play’s behind you. You try to focus on that play.”
GEORGIA HEAD COACH MARK RICHT:
On what can be done to slow Clowney . . .
“There are a lot of different things you can do on pass protection. One of the things is that if you slide your protection towards a guy like that, you free up your tackle not to block him one-on-one. Your tackle basically is responsible for taking him on an outside rush, but if he makes a move inside of him, there will be a guard waiting for him, so that’s one way. Another way is to try to even put a tight end to the side that he’s at and give him a little bit more to navigate as he’s coming through the line of scrimmage. The other thing is to have a back or a tight end off the ball who can chip on the way out. You can also design plays where you don’t hold the ball very long. Set your point, get up in the pocket and get the ball out quickly. There’s always your quick passing game where you may try to change up your blocking technique with the cut block from time to time. That might give him something to think about, but those are the things that you try to do. You can also sprint your protection to or away from him or move the pocket from time to time.”
On the left tackle position . . .
“Right now, (Kenarious Gates) will be our left tackle. I think we still think that there’s at least six guys that can play and deserve to play, so I think part of our issue has been (Chris) Burnette coming off of surgery. We haven’t been wanting him to play the entire game necessarily. I’m not saying he won’t this week, but going into last week, we were wanting to give him some relief throughout the game.”
On Gates specifically . . .
“I think Gates is a very good player. He is the guy that has the best shot at matching up out there (with Clowney). We wouldn’t be playing him at left tackle if we didn’t think he could do it. He went up against Jadeveon a year ago, so it won’t be like a first-time experience for him. He’s ready to go, and he’s confident that he’s going to play well, but we all know that it’s a 60-minute game. You probably have 200 plays in a game between offense, defense and special teams, and every snap is a battle. You’re going to win some and lose some, but we think he gives us our best shot to succeed.”
GEORGIA QUARTERBACK AARON MURRAY:
On pass protection versus Clemson . . .
“I think a majority of the time they did a great job up front. It’s tough in a hostile, loud environment where defenses are able to get a jump on the ball. As an offensive tackle it’s hard to hear. I mean David (Andrews) was having trouble hearing me and I’m right under center. I can only imagine how hard it is to hear the cadence if you were playing left or right tackle. So those guys I thought played pretty well for being in that type of environment and I think they can only get better this week at home.
On other players he has faced that affect the game similarly . . .
“The dude from Auburn a couple of years ago – (Nick) Fairley. That guy. He was very similar in being able to affect the game.”
On game-planning for Clowney . . .
“We’re going to have to slide protection to him. Have back or a tight end chip him or stay in protection. He really does change a lot of things.”
GEORGIA OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR MIKE BOBO:
On game plan for Clowney . . .
“Don’t turn a bad play into a catastrophe. Guys need to hold onto the ball. I said it back in the summer, the guy’s going to make plays. We’re going to have to do some different things against him. But he beats double-teams, he beats chips, if you’ve got somebody chipping he jumps over it. The guy’s a great player and we’re going to have to know where he is. But at the same time we’ve got to play ball; we’ve got to man up and go play ball and whatever we decide to do on that play we need to handle him. The guy or guys have to do their job. And if he beats us we got to hang onto the ball. We can’t let him do something that can alter the game.”
On Gates’ ability to handle the challenge . . .
“He went against him last year. He definitely wreaked havoc last year and made some plays, but there were some times that Kenarious did a good job, too. And we have to do a good job of staying balanced. Last year we obviously got down and we were in too many third-and-longs, third and 10, third and 11. You can’t do that against a team like this that has really a bunch of good pass-rushers. Number 90, (Chaz) Sutton is a good pass rusher and they do a good job of putting him inside, too. So we have to do a good job of staying ahead of the sticks and being in manageable situations.”
On Clowney’s supposed sub-par game against North Carolina . . .
“Personally I think he was playing so hard early in that game, I thought he was trying to win the Heisman in the first 25 snaps. That’s how hard he was playing. I think he just got a little bit tired and it was extremely hot that night. You turn on the tape, and I know they highlighted four or five plays on TV, but the guy affects plays when he doesn’t make plays. Other guys get sacks because you’re worried about him, you’re doubling him or not getting a back out and it frees up a ‘backer to make a play or rush. I mean, there were two or three plays in that first half where the play is on the other side of the field and runs all the way across and gets in on the play. He’s just a phenomenal athlete who makes plays and we’ve got to make our share of players.”
On whether he’s seen anyone who compares . . .
“No, he’s special. He’s got speed off the edge and if you try to chip him or put another guy on him he can turn it into a bull rush and get into you. He has extreme power in his hips and he plays hard and he’s got size and speed. It’s a rare combination.”
On whether you can game plan too much for Clowney . . .
“There’s no doubt. You’ve gotl to execute and do what we do to be successful. But we can’t go out there and say, ‘hey he doesn’t exist’ either. If we don’t y’all are going to rip us and say we didn’t have a plan for Clowney. So we’ll have a plan for him.”
GEORGIA OFFENSIVE LINE COACH WILL FRIEND:
On offensive line lineup versus Clemson . . .
“We just thought they were the best five going into Saturday. But we’re going to keep competing as we go. Those guys are smart enough and have played together enough to know that the guys that play the best and play the hardest are going to be the guys we go with. So, no, it’s just a matter of playing your best five.”
On sophomore tackle John Theus not playing as much . . .
“He’s a better player than he was this time a year ago. . . . I think (his foot injury) hurt him a great deal because at the end of the spring he was struggling. He missed spring workouts and the agility program and the first two or three weeks of spring. He’s starting to come arouond now and he’s better than he was a year ago, but obviously it hurt him being out. He worked hard this summer and, hey, he’s going to be a good football player and he’s getting better every day and he’s working hard.
“We’re trying to rotate some guys and play some people. You start with trying to play the best five guys. The best five at the end of camp were who started the (Clemson) game. But whoever didn’t start was going to play a lot and he played a bunch. I think he got 40 snaps or something.”
On Gates remaining at left tackle . . .
“Ken’s the best left tackle we’ve got and that’s what he was all the way through camp and that’s why he’s the starter there.”
On what he wants most to see from line in this game . . .
“I want to see them play for four quarters. I thought there was a quarter-and-a-half that they were playing pretty good. And then there was about a quarter or so that they were not good at all. We didn’t finish like this program is supposed to and we didn’t play with the toughness that we’re supposed to. They kind of came back toward the end of the game and played better. But they didn’t play for four quarters
"And the penalties killed us. You can’t put yourself behind the chains in important games and expect to win on the road. You’re sitting there with first-and-25s and no matter who you’re playing it’s hard to convert first downs when that happens. Four of those penalties were because of us. So the penalties were disappointing. And then obviously the pressures were disappointing. Some of it had to do with the fact that the penalties put us in a situation where they could pin their ears back and come after us.
“So we’ve got to play better and we’ve got to do it this week. We’ve got a heck of a football team coming in here, so no better chance to do it than this week.”
Link: http://www.ajc.com/weblogs/uga-sports/2013/sep/04/clowney-clearinghouse-everything-you-need-know-abo/
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