What Dowell Loggains and Clayton White said previewing Akron

On Wednesday, South Carolina offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains and defensive coordinator Clayton White met with the media to preview this weekend’s matchup with Akron. Here’s what they had to say.

Dowell Loggains

— You play to the quarterback’s strengths. There’s some similarities but also a difference between Sellers and Ashford. You have to have smart, intelligent backups that can work without a lot of reps. It’s just the way it needs to be.

— Ball security is an issue. You’re not going to beat teams when you turn the ball over three times. The fumbles drive you nuts. Holds himself accountable when the quarterbacks fumble the ball. Needs to find a different way to challenge them to lessen the fumbles. Points out they can’t be fumbling on those two third downs they had against LSU.

— Sellers was playing his best half of football without a doubt. Refers to the first half against LSU.

— Can’t have false start penalties in the situations South Carolina did on Saturday. You can’t be hurting yourself in those spots. Would’ve loved to gain 5-10 more yards on the last-second field goal.

[Join GamecockCentral for great coverage, great communuty]

— Really fired up about the offensive line playing well in the run game. Pass pro needs to continue to get better.

— You understand now running backs make offensive lines look better coming back into college football. Referring to what Rocket Sanders has been able to do. They all deserve credit with the start they’ve gotten off to offensively.

— The third down struggles will start to change with protection. Those have been great challenges. It’s a fair question why the offense hasn’t been good enough on third down. Definitely an area they have to improve on.

— Seen Sellers get better each week. The game is starting to slow down a little bit for him. Confidence is only born from demonstrated abilities on Saturdays. Knew what he was going to be. It’s a big deal to start as a redshirt freshman. He’s told him he wants to see him get better each game, each week, and each practice. But also try to enjoy every moment of this. He played relaxed and free and that’s when he is at his best.

— Didn’t know Kamaar Bell reached 18 MPH running on Saturday. Can’t talk about him and Torricelli Simpkins enough. What offensive lineman is running 18 MPH in a game? To run that fast in a game is really impressive.

— Expects Sellers to do a little more tomorrow than he did today, answering if Sellers will play on Saturday.

— Jared Brown has taken a step forward and is starting to separate himself a little bit in the WR room. Happy with him. It’s a group that’s still improving. It’s a young group. It’s a work in progress. Thinks they have the talent they need to have. Happy with the direction they’re going in.

— There’s a lot of different things he looks at when scheming for the first drives of the game. It’s not just one thing he looks at. It’s talking to Sellers and seeing what he’s comfortable with. It’s also talking to the coaching staff to see what they should do. They come up with a plan that way. It’s not just, ‘Hey, these are the best plays.’ It’s also going back and looking at how the defense approaches the game on tape. Didn’t do what they needed to do to win the football game but there was a lot of good to take away.

[Win two tickets to the South Carolina-Akron football game]

Clayton White

— Knew LSU has a talented offense. The main idea was to put three men up front and have more guys in coverage. Doesn’t regret the decision to move from a four-man front to a three-man.

— Has a lot of respect for Joe Moorhead. Was coaching offense with him at UConn in 2011. He looks at football completely different than most. He’s a creative mind.

— Akron has two different types of quarterbacks. It gives two different types of styles. They do a good job of commanding the offense and being good leaders.

— Sometimes you can over stride instead of breaking down on tackles. Sometimes they didn’t wrap and squeeze on tackles.

— The defense did a great job of keeping Nussmeier in the pocket. Can’t reallyd defend everything. Have to give them credit.

— Dylan Stewart is growing up week by week. He understands he’s not going to get two sacks every game. But White believes Stewart had an impact on the game.

— Can definitely feel the guys on the defense are alphas. It took a while to get over the loss. Shut it down first thing on Monday. Need to make sure next time they can come together and get it done.

— Probably did pressure a little bit more against LSU compared to the first two games. If you blitz more than four or five, the math is not right on the backend. For the most part, the guys were trying to get to the run but some big plays hurt them and gave LSU momentum.

— Bangally Kamara can sift through traffic. He knows when to stop at the red light and knows when to go.

— One of the things White preaches is don’t get mad twice. It’s been that way since January 2021. Make sure they learn from their mistakes.

— Need to learn from the penalties on Saturday. Wanted to make sure he reached out to Kyle Kennard. He means a lot to the team. Mistakes were made. It happens. Need to learn from it.

Discuss South Carolina football on The Insiders Forum!