Watch Coach Swinney’s Press Conference Live on TigerCast Tuesday at 11:00 AM

Oct. 27, 2009

CLEMSON, SC – Video of Head Coach www.clemsontigers.com via TigerCast on Tuesday, October 27. The press conference will begin at 11:00 a.m. and is free to all viewers.

Coach Swinney’s weekly press conference will be broadcast live on TigerCast each week throughout the 2009 season. Sign up today and watch Coach Swinney preview the game with the media each week!

Click on the link below to watch the press conference on TigerCast:

Swinney Press Conference – October 27, 11:00 AM

Click here to view the complete fall schedule of events to be broadcast live on TigerCast.

Opening Statement “It was a really good team win last week. I am proud of our kids and how they hung in there. They showed some signs of maturity on the road. We studied the film, and we still have a lot of work to do to become the kind of team and program we want to be.

“There are a lot of very teachable things. We must have another great week of preparation as we are trying to finish strong. I was pleased that we had the fewest missed assignments we have had in a long time. On thing I want to say is our scout teams have done a great job for us. They take a lot of pride in what they do and preparing us for this week in particular will be critical for us because of how Coastal plays.

“We have to do a good job of preparing for what we have seen and even for what we haven’t seen. I just really want to compliment out scout teams on how hard they work. Also it is important to note that we have two great officials that are at practice every single day in Whitey Jordan and Larry Van Der Heyden. They did point out that we are the 11th least penalized team in the nation. Those guys have done a great job for us.”

“Coastal Carolina is the most important game of the year. We have a good opportunity this week to improve and keep getting better. It is Homecoming. That is always a great time here at Clemson. This is a neat campus to be on during homecoming week. We have Tigerama Friday night. We will be there again this year.”

“This is a good game for our state. If you are going to play a FBS school I think it is good that it is someone from your state so both programs can benefit from it.

“They are a winning program. Coach Bennett is a friend. I have known him for a while. He has done a great job. He was a graduate assistant for Coach (Danny) Ford for a couple of years (1985-86). He has a great coaching resume and has built that program up down there. They won their conference three years in a row. This is a well-coached team and a winning program that takes a lot of pride in what they do.

“I look forward to seeing those guys on Saturday. Offensively they are a combination of West Virginia and Florida as far as style of play. They have some veteran guys on offensive line and have some big play capability. I would call them a little unpredictable.”

“Defensively they are very multiple. They know what they are doing. We will have to be well prepared and play our best football game of the year. I am looking for us to have a great week of practice and play our best game.”

On C.J. Spiller for Heisman Talk: “We always do honor roll on Mondays. We honor our players of the game and all our different awards that we give for that game. It just so happened that we had some guys get National honors this week and CJ was one of them. We talked with the team about the fact that we should take pride in having a guy like that on our football team.

“Nobody has practiced harder, nobody has sacrificed more and nobody is more “All In” than CJ Spiller. This guy does it right on the field and off the field. He has been a leader and has given his teammates every ounce of what he has had all year long. He has been the first guy in the locker room to be an encourager.

“It is not about CJ winning the Heisman it is about us being a great football team. We don’t all have our head in the mud here either. This is a great kid and a special football player so we need to enjoy playing with a guy like that and they need to learn from a guy like that.

“I don’t know what he is going to do the rest of the year, but if he doesn’t play another snap this guy should to be in New York to me. He is what it’s all about. I want some of these young guys to watch how he works. You want to know what a Heisman candidate looks like? You have one on your team. He is the kind of role model we should all be looking up to. “

What have you learned about players over last couple of weeks? “They have the right stuff. The right ingredients to build a championship team with. These guys are a very close team, an honest accountable group. They practice well. The biggest thing is watching how they have responded to the good and the bad. We have a great group of kids and it is hard to fall through the cracks the way we have things structured. They have bought in to what we are trying to do and they want to be successful.”

On Breaks in Conference Schedule: “It would have been nice after that first game, but I don’t really have much say in those. I would say this is coming at a good time for us. We have all the respect in the world for Coastal. In college football you have to prepare every week, especially when you are going against a winning program that knows what they are doing, like Coastal. They do enough on both sides of the ball to really create some problems. You just can’t overlook anybody. As far as the schedule I think this is a good time to do it.”

Is Parker’s stubbornness paying off now? “I did know he was stubborn, but I was hoping we could coach it out of him a little bit. How can you not grow from that situation on Saturday. He made some mistakes that would cost you the ballgame in a lot of games, but he made some big plays. He is just like that all the time. He has asserted himself much more as a leader since the Maryland game.

“He has ramped it up emotionally. He is paying much more attention to detail. He has had a couple of ballgames where he thinks he can make every play. Lets not compound to a mistake and that is where he has to continue grow. I wanted to try to win the game. “

On DeAndre McDaniel: “He was hard to recruit. I sure am glad we got him. He has been a maturing kid and I am real proud of him. He is a great player and another one of those guys that I thought we may be better this year than last year with him at safety. He has great instincts. The instincts that make him a great player sometimes can be a negative, but he is a special player. I am really proud of him. He is a guy that has overcome a lot in his life and appreciates where he is.”

On Tight Ends: “It is what we expected coming into the season. Palmer was a real strength for us and I think that has played out. He has caught the most passes in 25 years. All of those guys have done a nice job for us. We have some really talented wide-outs. It has been really good to see the development of Michael. He is not the most talented player but he is like Tyler Grisham. He plays the right way. He knows how to get open with great hands and great confidence.”