Wake Forest Athletics
Weekly Press Conference & Video: Oct. 7
10/7/2019 1:57:00 PM | Football
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson met with the media Monday (Oct. 7) at the team's weekly press conference luncheon to discuss the Deacs' upcoming game with Louisville.
Head Coach Dave Clawson
Opening Statement...
"I hope you enjoyed the bye week. Needless to say, we are in the middle of preparations to play a very good, a very improved and a very talented Louisville football team who just a great win over Boston College this past Saturday. I think it is obvious that Coach Satterfield has done a very good job in a short amount of time. He has Louisville playing at a high level. It starts with their offense, which is extremely explosive. They had 664 yards against BC. Their skill is excellent. They have two running backs, Hawkins and Hall, who are over 800 yards already. Hawkins had a huge game against BC. Their collection of receivers is probably better than anybody we have faced this year. Their slot, Atwell, is a very dynamic receiver. He runs their speed sweeps. He can make you miss and is extremely fast. They have a couple guys on the outside, Fitzpatrick and Dawkins, that are just big-time receivers. All three of those guys were over 100 yards last week. That is the combination you want. You have got that slot that you can motion and run speed sweeps with, and he can be part of their zone read game. Then you have big guys on the outside that go up and get it. Their ability to make explosive plays will make this as big of a challenge as we have had in the secondary. They had 12 plays of over 20 yards against BC. Their offensive line is extremely well coached and physical. Right now, statistically, is one of the best offenses in the ACC.
"On defense, they are very aggressive, they're athletic and their style is a little bit different. They are based out of an odd front. They take advantage of their athleticism and how active they are by moving guys. They have a player at every level. The safety, Pass, is their leading tackler and a very good football player. He has a nose for the football. He had some great tackles last week against A.J. Dillon in space. They were physical, wrap-you-up tackles. He just has a knack on his run fits of where the seam is going to be. At linebacker, Avery is very active. On the outside, the Burns kid is very versatile. There aren't many times you see an outside linebacker also be the punt returner. That gives you an idea of what his skill set is. Inside, G.G. Robinson is a big, 300-pounder, who can move.
"Louisville has always been talented. When we evaluate talent, this is always a team that is in the upper third or quarter of the conference. This team is no different. They have a coaching staff that has worked together. I think when you learn to be a head coach at a place like App, when you go to Louisville, you don't make many mistakes. He has a staff that has worked together and they are on the same page. Even though they are a new coaching staff, this is not a young football team. If you look at their two-deep, 28 of them are juniors or seniors. These are guys who have played a lot of football and believe in what they are doing. This is going to be a very challenging and hard game. We are going to have to play extremely well to win this football game."
On what the team has done differently during the bye week compared to previous years during a bye week: "
We've looked at what we've done during other bye weeks and quite frankly, we probably gave the kids in the past too much time off. We gave them one less day off, we made sure that our work load is greater than it was. We don't want to get out of a rhythm. We had a really good practice last night. We got after it. We had a good work load and we'll find out on Saturday if we handled it well. That was one of the things I did a deep dive on this offseason. No. 1, the injury thing that we had last year things that we could do to prevent that and secondly, what can we do better in a bye week so that we play better coming out of the bye week. Some of those losses were early (in our tenure) and we weren't good. Certainly some of them were our opponents but some of those losses were we just didn't flat out play well. If you just say its coincidence or ironic, I think nationally, statistically, people who come off of a bye week usually win at a lesser rate. A bye week, most people think it's an advantage but the statistics would tell you that's not uncommon. Most teams don't play well coming off of a bye week so that's a challenge and we shared that with our team. That'll be two weeks since we played football and we've got to be ready to go early because this is too good of a football team to fall behind to."
On how the injuries from last year and being better prepared during a bye week can affect how he manages the team this year compared to previous years:
"I would agree with that. I would say that the plan that we came up with in preseason for the bye week we were actually able to follow it because we were healthy. Now we purposely, intentionally used to give the kids more time off and then we looked at that and we just saw that in the bye weeks, the workload got so little in the bye weeks that when you came back and had a game week, the increase was so great you probably weren't a peak performance level come game week. Again, those are one of the things we studied with our strength coaches in the offseason to find out what other people were doing, what sports scientists recommend, and we definitely changed our approach during the bye week this year than what we've done in past years. But the overall health of our football team has certainly allowed us to do that."
On how much the mental aspect of the bye week and if it let the team off guard a little bit:
"Yeah, I don't necessarily think that that's a bad thing. I think the reality of it is we're coaching 18 to 23-year-olds and I think even as a coaching staff, you go 12 straight weeks bang, bang, bang and I think you need those little breaks in there. I think the mental reset button is good. To me, I'm more concerned with controlling the physical. What are we doing to make sure that at kickoff on Saturday that we're ready to play a football game? The mental thing I think it's good, especially at Wake Forest where our kids have a heavy academic load, classes, and now we're starting to get mid-terms in and papers are due. You just can't keep burning that candle all the way to the end. So for us, the bye week came at a good time. Now we got a game against a really good football team. I think most people in the media do look at it preseason and now these guys are playing really well. They've already have more wins this year than they had all last year. Even in their losses, they were very competitive with Notre Dame. That game went certainly into the fourth quarter and really Florida State, they kind of had them beat and then they gave up a big play on a busted coverage but they could easily be four and one. They really could be undefeated in the ACC right now."
On what he did during the bye week on Friday and Saturday:
"I recruited on Friday. I got back late at night. My wife had organized a run for my son's school in Greensboro so I ran a 5K in the morning and then I worked at the volunteer desk working admissions for their Fall Unity Festival. So I was there selling cakewalk tickets and I got to be a dad and a husband and it was awesome. It was my wife's show and I fell in line and she was the head coach and I was the GA or quality control and I loved every single second of it. I loved it."
On if people knew who he was or recognized him:
"No, she was the star of the show and I was kind of incognito and I did what I was told. I got to get up early and run and I ran the 5K with my son. And it was really what normal people do."
On what's on tap for him for the second bye week of the season after the Florida State game:
"It's my daughter's Parents Weekend at her college. So it really worked out well that our two bye weeks were for an event at my son's school that my wife was running and then my daughter's Parents Weekend. The timing of it worked out really well that I get to be a husband and a dad at one of my son's events and I get to do the same thing for one of my daughter's events. When the schedule came out, it was one of the few times I didn't instantly call the ACC office and complain other than one game that got worked out."
Head Coach Dave Clawson
Opening Statement...
"I hope you enjoyed the bye week. Needless to say, we are in the middle of preparations to play a very good, a very improved and a very talented Louisville football team who just a great win over Boston College this past Saturday. I think it is obvious that Coach Satterfield has done a very good job in a short amount of time. He has Louisville playing at a high level. It starts with their offense, which is extremely explosive. They had 664 yards against BC. Their skill is excellent. They have two running backs, Hawkins and Hall, who are over 800 yards already. Hawkins had a huge game against BC. Their collection of receivers is probably better than anybody we have faced this year. Their slot, Atwell, is a very dynamic receiver. He runs their speed sweeps. He can make you miss and is extremely fast. They have a couple guys on the outside, Fitzpatrick and Dawkins, that are just big-time receivers. All three of those guys were over 100 yards last week. That is the combination you want. You have got that slot that you can motion and run speed sweeps with, and he can be part of their zone read game. Then you have big guys on the outside that go up and get it. Their ability to make explosive plays will make this as big of a challenge as we have had in the secondary. They had 12 plays of over 20 yards against BC. Their offensive line is extremely well coached and physical. Right now, statistically, is one of the best offenses in the ACC.
"On defense, they are very aggressive, they're athletic and their style is a little bit different. They are based out of an odd front. They take advantage of their athleticism and how active they are by moving guys. They have a player at every level. The safety, Pass, is their leading tackler and a very good football player. He has a nose for the football. He had some great tackles last week against A.J. Dillon in space. They were physical, wrap-you-up tackles. He just has a knack on his run fits of where the seam is going to be. At linebacker, Avery is very active. On the outside, the Burns kid is very versatile. There aren't many times you see an outside linebacker also be the punt returner. That gives you an idea of what his skill set is. Inside, G.G. Robinson is a big, 300-pounder, who can move.
"Louisville has always been talented. When we evaluate talent, this is always a team that is in the upper third or quarter of the conference. This team is no different. They have a coaching staff that has worked together. I think when you learn to be a head coach at a place like App, when you go to Louisville, you don't make many mistakes. He has a staff that has worked together and they are on the same page. Even though they are a new coaching staff, this is not a young football team. If you look at their two-deep, 28 of them are juniors or seniors. These are guys who have played a lot of football and believe in what they are doing. This is going to be a very challenging and hard game. We are going to have to play extremely well to win this football game."
On what the team has done differently during the bye week compared to previous years during a bye week: "
We've looked at what we've done during other bye weeks and quite frankly, we probably gave the kids in the past too much time off. We gave them one less day off, we made sure that our work load is greater than it was. We don't want to get out of a rhythm. We had a really good practice last night. We got after it. We had a good work load and we'll find out on Saturday if we handled it well. That was one of the things I did a deep dive on this offseason. No. 1, the injury thing that we had last year things that we could do to prevent that and secondly, what can we do better in a bye week so that we play better coming out of the bye week. Some of those losses were early (in our tenure) and we weren't good. Certainly some of them were our opponents but some of those losses were we just didn't flat out play well. If you just say its coincidence or ironic, I think nationally, statistically, people who come off of a bye week usually win at a lesser rate. A bye week, most people think it's an advantage but the statistics would tell you that's not uncommon. Most teams don't play well coming off of a bye week so that's a challenge and we shared that with our team. That'll be two weeks since we played football and we've got to be ready to go early because this is too good of a football team to fall behind to."
On how the injuries from last year and being better prepared during a bye week can affect how he manages the team this year compared to previous years:
"I would agree with that. I would say that the plan that we came up with in preseason for the bye week we were actually able to follow it because we were healthy. Now we purposely, intentionally used to give the kids more time off and then we looked at that and we just saw that in the bye weeks, the workload got so little in the bye weeks that when you came back and had a game week, the increase was so great you probably weren't a peak performance level come game week. Again, those are one of the things we studied with our strength coaches in the offseason to find out what other people were doing, what sports scientists recommend, and we definitely changed our approach during the bye week this year than what we've done in past years. But the overall health of our football team has certainly allowed us to do that."
On how much the mental aspect of the bye week and if it let the team off guard a little bit:
"Yeah, I don't necessarily think that that's a bad thing. I think the reality of it is we're coaching 18 to 23-year-olds and I think even as a coaching staff, you go 12 straight weeks bang, bang, bang and I think you need those little breaks in there. I think the mental reset button is good. To me, I'm more concerned with controlling the physical. What are we doing to make sure that at kickoff on Saturday that we're ready to play a football game? The mental thing I think it's good, especially at Wake Forest where our kids have a heavy academic load, classes, and now we're starting to get mid-terms in and papers are due. You just can't keep burning that candle all the way to the end. So for us, the bye week came at a good time. Now we got a game against a really good football team. I think most people in the media do look at it preseason and now these guys are playing really well. They've already have more wins this year than they had all last year. Even in their losses, they were very competitive with Notre Dame. That game went certainly into the fourth quarter and really Florida State, they kind of had them beat and then they gave up a big play on a busted coverage but they could easily be four and one. They really could be undefeated in the ACC right now."
On what he did during the bye week on Friday and Saturday:
"I recruited on Friday. I got back late at night. My wife had organized a run for my son's school in Greensboro so I ran a 5K in the morning and then I worked at the volunteer desk working admissions for their Fall Unity Festival. So I was there selling cakewalk tickets and I got to be a dad and a husband and it was awesome. It was my wife's show and I fell in line and she was the head coach and I was the GA or quality control and I loved every single second of it. I loved it."
On if people knew who he was or recognized him:
"No, she was the star of the show and I was kind of incognito and I did what I was told. I got to get up early and run and I ran the 5K with my son. And it was really what normal people do."
On what's on tap for him for the second bye week of the season after the Florida State game:
"It's my daughter's Parents Weekend at her college. So it really worked out well that our two bye weeks were for an event at my son's school that my wife was running and then my daughter's Parents Weekend. The timing of it worked out really well that I get to be a husband and a dad at one of my son's events and I get to do the same thing for one of my daughter's events. When the schedule came out, it was one of the few times I didn't instantly call the ACC office and complain other than one game that got worked out."
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