W
Wes Mitchell
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South Carolina offensive coordinator/wide receivers coach Bryan McClendon met with the media today and had the following to say...
** Ryan Hilinski is looking pretty good. He's grasping the offense and is doing a good job of having command of the offense. Have a lot to look at before considering a pecking order at QB. Are trying to get all those guys a lot of reps. Impressed with the fact that Hilinski hasn't flinched. You don't know how a QB will react when the bullets are live and people are flying around them, but he's done a good job with it and it's been impressive.
** Dakereon Joyner is looking a lot better. He's had a pretty good spring so far.
** The games that we were able to run the football and play balanced, things probably looked pretty good on offense. The games that we couldn't, things probably didn't.
** On running backs... You really need to just rely on two guys going into a particular game. Want to be able to narrow it down to two guys going into a game, because it's hard to rotate three guys and let someone get into a groove. Ideally, you want it to be the same two guys going into each game, but injuries has kept them from doing that.
** It's been good to have Thomas Brown. He's a good man and he holds his guys to a high standard. Wish he could dress out and play a couple of games, but that's probably not in the cards. He's been there and he's played in this league and in the NFL. He knows what it takes to perform at a high level and the practice habits it takes on and off the field. He knows the intricacies of the position.
** On the Belk Bowl... "We got our tails kicked. That's ultimately what happened." When you get beat and you turn the ball over, you get your tail kicked. Game plan-wise, it was what we expected, but they played and coached better than we did. We've got to get better from it.
** Do you take those feelings from the bowl game into the offseason? "It's hard not to. ... The bottom line is we're not where we need to be offensively." Left a lot of points out there last year. The games we scored 30, we could have scored 60.
** Deepest we've been on the offensive line since I've been here. Have done a good job of building depth by moving guys around and crosstraining so they can get their best five on the field.
** I don't think you can replace Deebo, but you have to do everything you can to get playmakers the ball. Edwards has done a good job and they've asked him to do some different things. Josh Vann and Shi Smith have had good springs. A.J. Turner has done well as a playmaker.
** The focus with OrTre Smith is to make sure that he's eating healthy and is in shape. Don't want for him to have any extra weight when he comes back because don't want extra weight on a recovering knee.
** Very impressed with the young defensive backs. They're young but talented and they give the wide receivers a battle every day and it helps everyone get better.
** The biggest issue with the offense during the final six quarters of the season was turnovers. Have to focus on all the small stuff and getting it right. On offense, if 10 guys do it right and one guy steps wrong, then it blows up the whole thing. Sometimes when things don't go right, guys start pressing and you can't do that. You have to win play after play to win drive after drive, and then things start going right.
** Tried to keep the offense as familiar as possible for the guys last season. Probably changed half of the scheme last year and are trying to flip the other half this year. Did that because very few first-year offenses come in and just go up and down the field, so wanted to try to keep the guys comfortable.
** Being on the sidelines helped in some aspects, but you also can't see the game as well as you can in the coaches' box. It helps as far as communicating to the guys quickly. You have to be able to trust the guys that are giving you info from up top, but it's second-hand info. Right now plan to coach from the sidelines again.
** Shi Smith still has a long ways to go to reach his massive potential. Big-time upside. Still just about him continuing to do it every single day in practice.
** Chad Terrell has had a pretty good spring. Tell him that you have to throw caution to the wind when you're coming off an injury. The hardest part coming back from something like that is the mental side. Proud of him for coming out and working like nothing happened. It's fixed and he doesn't need a brace.
** Bobby Bentley has done a good job with the tight ends. He's just a ball coach, he's coached it all at some point in his career. He's very detail oriented.
** Ryan Hilinski is looking pretty good. He's grasping the offense and is doing a good job of having command of the offense. Have a lot to look at before considering a pecking order at QB. Are trying to get all those guys a lot of reps. Impressed with the fact that Hilinski hasn't flinched. You don't know how a QB will react when the bullets are live and people are flying around them, but he's done a good job with it and it's been impressive.
** Dakereon Joyner is looking a lot better. He's had a pretty good spring so far.
** The games that we were able to run the football and play balanced, things probably looked pretty good on offense. The games that we couldn't, things probably didn't.
** On running backs... You really need to just rely on two guys going into a particular game. Want to be able to narrow it down to two guys going into a game, because it's hard to rotate three guys and let someone get into a groove. Ideally, you want it to be the same two guys going into each game, but injuries has kept them from doing that.
** It's been good to have Thomas Brown. He's a good man and he holds his guys to a high standard. Wish he could dress out and play a couple of games, but that's probably not in the cards. He's been there and he's played in this league and in the NFL. He knows what it takes to perform at a high level and the practice habits it takes on and off the field. He knows the intricacies of the position.
** On the Belk Bowl... "We got our tails kicked. That's ultimately what happened." When you get beat and you turn the ball over, you get your tail kicked. Game plan-wise, it was what we expected, but they played and coached better than we did. We've got to get better from it.
** Do you take those feelings from the bowl game into the offseason? "It's hard not to. ... The bottom line is we're not where we need to be offensively." Left a lot of points out there last year. The games we scored 30, we could have scored 60.
** Deepest we've been on the offensive line since I've been here. Have done a good job of building depth by moving guys around and crosstraining so they can get their best five on the field.
** I don't think you can replace Deebo, but you have to do everything you can to get playmakers the ball. Edwards has done a good job and they've asked him to do some different things. Josh Vann and Shi Smith have had good springs. A.J. Turner has done well as a playmaker.
** The focus with OrTre Smith is to make sure that he's eating healthy and is in shape. Don't want for him to have any extra weight when he comes back because don't want extra weight on a recovering knee.
** Very impressed with the young defensive backs. They're young but talented and they give the wide receivers a battle every day and it helps everyone get better.
** The biggest issue with the offense during the final six quarters of the season was turnovers. Have to focus on all the small stuff and getting it right. On offense, if 10 guys do it right and one guy steps wrong, then it blows up the whole thing. Sometimes when things don't go right, guys start pressing and you can't do that. You have to win play after play to win drive after drive, and then things start going right.
** Tried to keep the offense as familiar as possible for the guys last season. Probably changed half of the scheme last year and are trying to flip the other half this year. Did that because very few first-year offenses come in and just go up and down the field, so wanted to try to keep the guys comfortable.
** Being on the sidelines helped in some aspects, but you also can't see the game as well as you can in the coaches' box. It helps as far as communicating to the guys quickly. You have to be able to trust the guys that are giving you info from up top, but it's second-hand info. Right now plan to coach from the sidelines again.
** Shi Smith still has a long ways to go to reach his massive potential. Big-time upside. Still just about him continuing to do it every single day in practice.
** Chad Terrell has had a pretty good spring. Tell him that you have to throw caution to the wind when you're coming off an injury. The hardest part coming back from something like that is the mental side. Proud of him for coming out and working like nothing happened. It's fixed and he doesn't need a brace.
** Bobby Bentley has done a good job with the tight ends. He's just a ball coach, he's coached it all at some point in his career. He's very detail oriented.
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