Wake Forest Athletics
Weekly Press Conference & Video: October 16
10/16/2018 1:00:00 PM | Football
Dave Clawson and Sam Hartman met with the media Tuesday
By Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeFB)
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Following the team's bye week, freshman quarterback Sam Hartman and head coach Dave Clawson met with the media Tuesday at the team's weekly Carrabba's press conference to preview Saturday's game against Florida State.
Head Coach Dave Clawson
Opening Statement...
"We had a good, productive bye week. We got a couple practices in and gave our kids some days off. Om Sunday, we got an early start on Florida State. The first thing I want to share is that we had a player, over break, get into a serious car accident. LaRonde' Liverpool got into a bad car accident on his way home to Virginia Beach. He is in the hospital now in Richmond and is going to have to undergo a number of surgeries. It was very scary. It looks like he is going to survive, but he had a number of serious injuries in his lower body. We are not quite sure when he will rejoin us. He is done for the season and we just send our thoughts and prayers to him and wish him a speedy recovery.
"Moving forward to Florida State, it is always a challenge to go out there. This is a team, along with Clemson in our conference, recruits the elite athletes around the country. They are an improving football team. As always, they are extremely talented at every level. They are adjusting to a new staff. Coach Taggert is in his first year and in the last three weeks, they have played their best football. They beat Northern Illinois, they beat Louisville and then lost a heartbreaker to Miami. They are an improving team. It starts with their defense. They are in the top half of the conference in every major category: scoring defense, total defense, rushing defense, Offensively, they are always very skilled. Francois is back for them and he is one of the rising stars in the conference. He is adjusting to the new offense. The running back combination of Akers and Patrick is probably as good of a 1-2 punch as any team in the conference. Their perimeter skill is always excellent. Their special teams are good. The return game is good. Ever since the first few weeks, they are getting better every week.
"We are going to have to play well. We have our own challenges. We haven't played well on defense and going against their skill level, we are going to have to get lined up, keep things in front of us and do a great job tackling. Those are the things we didn't do against Clemson. It is always challenging to go down to Tallahassee. We are looking forward to getting back out there and continuing the season. Hopefully we can improve and find a way to get this one."
On bye week practice...
"I can't tell you it went exactly as we wanted because we are down so many players. We wanted to take that bye week and retool things a little bit and then we got out there and everybody was hurt. We were down over 25 players. A lot of those guys are at the linebacker or safety. We were able to do walk-throughs and some meetings, and we have tweaked some things that I think will help us, but we needed reps. We did a little, but we didn't do everything that we wanted to do because we didn't have players to do it with. Justin Strnad is out, DJ Taylor is out, Ryan Smenda was out, Nate Mays is out- every linebacker was out, we didn't have one healthy linebacker over the break. We had to move things around just to be able to practice. Some of the moving involved moving some safeties to linebacker, so then we weren't able to do some things in the secondary. Fortunately on Sunday, we had a lot of those guys come back. Cameron Glenn came back, Strnad came back, DJ came back. We aren't all the way healthy, but we are healthier than when we left the Clemson game."
On pulling redshirts...
"It is just one of those years. We were going to play Peyton Woulard this week and then he pulled his hamstring. He was a guy that we wanted to get in the mix and we thought he would help us and then he pulled his hamstring at practice, We just have to adjust. If we stay healthy we will be fine. We have Cam Glenn back, we have Chuck back, Luke Masterson is as healthy as he has been all year, Nasir Greer is healthy, Justin is healthy, DJ is healthy, so we have the main core back, we just don't have any depth. We can't lose anybody. Some of those positions, there isn't a redshirt. The only redshirt we weren't playing at safety was Peyton. He was a guy that we were going to have ready just to help the special teams out and then he goes down. There is nobody else."
On Nasir Greer…
"Nasir is healthy, he is going to play. He flashed in the Notre Dame game and got a concussion. He didn't play against Rice. He didn't practice much the week of Clemson, and like everybody else, that was a tough game to come back in. He has practiced now and has had a good week. He is a guy that we did give a lot of reps to and he will keep playing more and more… The two positions that require the most processing are linebacker and safety. I think mentally those are the hardest positions to play as freshmen. And yes, it is getting better. We had Nasir here in the spring and he was here all summer. He is a quick learner. He is bright, he works hard at it and he is a guy that will play more and more as the year goes on and he will be a really good player here."
On the defense…
"We had to return to the fundamentals- pad level, getting off of blocks, wrapping up, how we tackle. Some of it is schematic, but some of it, if you look at the Clemson game, some guys are just out of control. Guys were flailing around and not playing with good body control and not tackling with the technique that we coach. Part of it is we are playing with some guys that we didn't think we would be playing with and part of it is the lack of discipline. We have to play the same way whether it's a tie score, up 20 or down 20, that's just how we play ball and we are not doing that right now. It's broken on defense but we are doing everything we can to try and fix it. We are taking steps to do it, but it takes time."
On previous seasons not starting out well...
"A year ago, we were 4-3 and lost 3 straight games. One year at Richmond we started out 1-3 and ended up 9-4 and winning the conference. I think some of the most rewarding years can be when the team doesn't start well and they stick together and improve. We are 3-3. We have been worse here in my time and we have been better. We have half of a season left and there are still a lot of goals that we can accomplish, and our focus is on our process and getting better. I've been a head coach for 19 years. I've had seasons that we start well and don't finish well and seasons that you don't start out well and finish right. Some seasons you are bad and some seasons you are good. I'm very optimistic with this football team that we can find a way to put it together and find a way to get some wins."
Freshman quarterback Sam Hartman
On the bye week...
"It was very good. Overall, those two practices before we had the break off were great. We were just getting back into the swing of things and back to the basics, working on the little things and the details that we need to get back on track and just setting things straight. We needed to get back to what we were doing in the first couple of weeks. It was a huge help for us to have this bye week."
On the team's mindset at practice...
"We were looking to get back and fix what we needed." Overall we knew we had to get going. We are at the halfway point of the season and we just needed to get back as a unit."
On performance during the first half of the season...
"I have a lot of things to improve on. I am really thankful for my O- Line and receivers for helping me get this far, without them I would not still be standing up here. We have a lot of room for improvement, but i have to keep getting better."
On Florida State's defense...
"Those guys are all great athletes and great players. I think we just have to execute, which we didn't do last week. The name of the game is execute and do our jobs all the way around. If we all do our job we can have success."
On the Clemson game...
"It was a learning experience, just going back and watching film. It is about critiquing yourself and seeing where you can make improvements and not make the same mistakes- that's the biggest thing."
On the upperclassmen helping with the transition...
"We are doing a lot of scout periods and it is kind of the same routine. We are making sure we are being loud with cadences and scout periods. It is a whole different environment, but it is a cool challenge. This is why I came to Wake- to play the big games at big stadiums."
On personal development over the first half of the season...
"There is a lot of room to improve. You can't win a game by yourself, you need support from the guys around you and trust that the coaches are going to put you in the right plays and just do your job."
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Following the team's bye week, freshman quarterback Sam Hartman and head coach Dave Clawson met with the media Tuesday at the team's weekly Carrabba's press conference to preview Saturday's game against Florida State.
Head Coach Dave Clawson
Opening Statement...
"We had a good, productive bye week. We got a couple practices in and gave our kids some days off. Om Sunday, we got an early start on Florida State. The first thing I want to share is that we had a player, over break, get into a serious car accident. LaRonde' Liverpool got into a bad car accident on his way home to Virginia Beach. He is in the hospital now in Richmond and is going to have to undergo a number of surgeries. It was very scary. It looks like he is going to survive, but he had a number of serious injuries in his lower body. We are not quite sure when he will rejoin us. He is done for the season and we just send our thoughts and prayers to him and wish him a speedy recovery.
"Moving forward to Florida State, it is always a challenge to go out there. This is a team, along with Clemson in our conference, recruits the elite athletes around the country. They are an improving football team. As always, they are extremely talented at every level. They are adjusting to a new staff. Coach Taggert is in his first year and in the last three weeks, they have played their best football. They beat Northern Illinois, they beat Louisville and then lost a heartbreaker to Miami. They are an improving team. It starts with their defense. They are in the top half of the conference in every major category: scoring defense, total defense, rushing defense, Offensively, they are always very skilled. Francois is back for them and he is one of the rising stars in the conference. He is adjusting to the new offense. The running back combination of Akers and Patrick is probably as good of a 1-2 punch as any team in the conference. Their perimeter skill is always excellent. Their special teams are good. The return game is good. Ever since the first few weeks, they are getting better every week.
"We are going to have to play well. We have our own challenges. We haven't played well on defense and going against their skill level, we are going to have to get lined up, keep things in front of us and do a great job tackling. Those are the things we didn't do against Clemson. It is always challenging to go down to Tallahassee. We are looking forward to getting back out there and continuing the season. Hopefully we can improve and find a way to get this one."
On bye week practice...
"I can't tell you it went exactly as we wanted because we are down so many players. We wanted to take that bye week and retool things a little bit and then we got out there and everybody was hurt. We were down over 25 players. A lot of those guys are at the linebacker or safety. We were able to do walk-throughs and some meetings, and we have tweaked some things that I think will help us, but we needed reps. We did a little, but we didn't do everything that we wanted to do because we didn't have players to do it with. Justin Strnad is out, DJ Taylor is out, Ryan Smenda was out, Nate Mays is out- every linebacker was out, we didn't have one healthy linebacker over the break. We had to move things around just to be able to practice. Some of the moving involved moving some safeties to linebacker, so then we weren't able to do some things in the secondary. Fortunately on Sunday, we had a lot of those guys come back. Cameron Glenn came back, Strnad came back, DJ came back. We aren't all the way healthy, but we are healthier than when we left the Clemson game."
On pulling redshirts...
"It is just one of those years. We were going to play Peyton Woulard this week and then he pulled his hamstring. He was a guy that we wanted to get in the mix and we thought he would help us and then he pulled his hamstring at practice, We just have to adjust. If we stay healthy we will be fine. We have Cam Glenn back, we have Chuck back, Luke Masterson is as healthy as he has been all year, Nasir Greer is healthy, Justin is healthy, DJ is healthy, so we have the main core back, we just don't have any depth. We can't lose anybody. Some of those positions, there isn't a redshirt. The only redshirt we weren't playing at safety was Peyton. He was a guy that we were going to have ready just to help the special teams out and then he goes down. There is nobody else."
On Nasir Greer…
"Nasir is healthy, he is going to play. He flashed in the Notre Dame game and got a concussion. He didn't play against Rice. He didn't practice much the week of Clemson, and like everybody else, that was a tough game to come back in. He has practiced now and has had a good week. He is a guy that we did give a lot of reps to and he will keep playing more and more… The two positions that require the most processing are linebacker and safety. I think mentally those are the hardest positions to play as freshmen. And yes, it is getting better. We had Nasir here in the spring and he was here all summer. He is a quick learner. He is bright, he works hard at it and he is a guy that will play more and more as the year goes on and he will be a really good player here."
On the defense…
"We had to return to the fundamentals- pad level, getting off of blocks, wrapping up, how we tackle. Some of it is schematic, but some of it, if you look at the Clemson game, some guys are just out of control. Guys were flailing around and not playing with good body control and not tackling with the technique that we coach. Part of it is we are playing with some guys that we didn't think we would be playing with and part of it is the lack of discipline. We have to play the same way whether it's a tie score, up 20 or down 20, that's just how we play ball and we are not doing that right now. It's broken on defense but we are doing everything we can to try and fix it. We are taking steps to do it, but it takes time."
On previous seasons not starting out well...
"A year ago, we were 4-3 and lost 3 straight games. One year at Richmond we started out 1-3 and ended up 9-4 and winning the conference. I think some of the most rewarding years can be when the team doesn't start well and they stick together and improve. We are 3-3. We have been worse here in my time and we have been better. We have half of a season left and there are still a lot of goals that we can accomplish, and our focus is on our process and getting better. I've been a head coach for 19 years. I've had seasons that we start well and don't finish well and seasons that you don't start out well and finish right. Some seasons you are bad and some seasons you are good. I'm very optimistic with this football team that we can find a way to put it together and find a way to get some wins."
Freshman quarterback Sam Hartman
On the bye week...
"It was very good. Overall, those two practices before we had the break off were great. We were just getting back into the swing of things and back to the basics, working on the little things and the details that we need to get back on track and just setting things straight. We needed to get back to what we were doing in the first couple of weeks. It was a huge help for us to have this bye week."
On the team's mindset at practice...
"We were looking to get back and fix what we needed." Overall we knew we had to get going. We are at the halfway point of the season and we just needed to get back as a unit."
On performance during the first half of the season...
"I have a lot of things to improve on. I am really thankful for my O- Line and receivers for helping me get this far, without them I would not still be standing up here. We have a lot of room for improvement, but i have to keep getting better."
On Florida State's defense...
"Those guys are all great athletes and great players. I think we just have to execute, which we didn't do last week. The name of the game is execute and do our jobs all the way around. If we all do our job we can have success."
On the Clemson game...
"It was a learning experience, just going back and watching film. It is about critiquing yourself and seeing where you can make improvements and not make the same mistakes- that's the biggest thing."
On the upperclassmen helping with the transition...
"We are doing a lot of scout periods and it is kind of the same routine. We are making sure we are being loud with cadences and scout periods. It is a whole different environment, but it is a cool challenge. This is why I came to Wake- to play the big games at big stadiums."
On personal development over the first half of the season...
"There is a lot of room to improve. You can't win a game by yourself, you need support from the guys around you and trust that the coaches are going to put you in the right plays and just do your job."
Players Mentioned
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