Clemson, S.C. -- On Tuesday afternoon after Clemson's practice, head coach Dabo Swinney addressed the media ahead of the team's inter-squad scrimmage on Saturday.
"We started a week ago today last Tuesday and we've gotten a lot done in a week's time. Guys are losing themselves in the work, trying to show up every day and put the work in," Swinney said in his opening statement. "We've got a really good organization and all but we're just in the process of trying to get ready to play a football game. That's just where we are. It's a lot of install, a lot of you walk it, you talk it, you hear it, you see it, you go do it, then you study and review, and then you do it again."
Dabo's first question of the afternoon came on the quarterback room -- namely the battle between Christopher Vizzina and Tait Reynolds and the work surrounding them.
"I think we got a good room. That's what I would say. These guys are doing the work, showing up every day and competing. We're trying to have a great season and we got a good room at a very important position. So you got to get hose guys healthy."
The second question came on the topic of injury, namely the undisclosed injury Vic Burley suffered earlier at camp.
"I mean we got some bumps and bruises and you know we've had a guy or two the last couple days get banged up. So we'll just have to kind of see how it goes once I get the report but just part of it. I think he [Vic Burley] is day-to-day but we'll see."
The biggest elephant in the room, however, was how success is measured in scrimmages, especially heading into the season.
"First of how, how are they retaining the knowledge of all the things that we put in? I mean it's their job to put on tape and demonstrate to make us play them and demonstrate that they know what they're doing and they can do it with the type of effort and physicality and technique and fundamentals that win. So everybody gets evaluated on 'sometimes a play is bad because someone screwed up.' You're grading a receiver and he ran a great route but he didn't get the ball. Quarterback got sacked, whatever. You're grading him and everything that went great. You're just evaluating everybody on what they put on tape, every player, every position. And then, as far as your progress, when you see more than most of 11 guys on the same page, you feel like you're heading in a good direction. If you're having a bunch of busted assignments, a bunch of things like that, well, then you got to kind of reassess and say, 'Okay, here's what they know.' And then maybe you know what you got to go back over or take out, cause at the end of the day, it's not what we know, it's what they know. So I mean you get out of the way when you're in practice. The coaches are getting everybody out of the way. You got ACC officials and you create a game day environment [at scrimmages]. That's one of the reasons we got to the stadium just to have that type of feel. And then you know just like preseason games in the NFL, it's no different, other than we're playing ourselves but you get a chance to kind of see where some guys are and then there's also some guys that we really know where they are and so you want to challenge some other guys to see if they've taken that next step that we need."
The quote that seemed to stick out like a sore thumb came at the hands of the age-old question: has anyone stood out in camp so far?
"No, no. Everybody's just working there. A bunch of nobodies. We'll see if anybody becomes somebody as we play some games."
This question will linger on heading into the battle between Clemson and LSU in 24 days, as the Tigertown faithful look to turn around their horrendous last season and create a team of "somebodies."
Until then, Dabo reminded the media one simple thing especially about the noise regarding Death Valley vs Death Valley in Game 1:
"We just focus on the game. Just focus on getting ready to go play a ball game. All that other stuff everybody else can talk about it or make something of it. It has nothing to do with the game. We just got to get ready to go play a great opponent in a tough environment. So that's really what our focus is."
The days tick by as Clemson prepares for their biggest road challenge in four years.