What Dowell Loggains and Clayton White said previewing Kentucky

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

Dowell Loggains

— If the players don’t execute the way you want them to, that’s on the coaches. It’s about having better practice. They need to coach better to help the players.

— LaNorris Sellers is 1-0 so that’s mission accomplished. He was really excited about the opportunity. That was the first time he felt that pressure to play in front of 80,000 people and have so many people count on him. He’ll grow from it. The game was definitely fast for him. It’s an awesome opportunity to grow.

— Run game got a little “leaky” at times in the red zone. He could have been a little more aggressive with his play calling. When you get into long third downs, you’re going to settle for field goals.

— Thought they were better up front on the offensive line for the first game compared to where they were at last year. They played really hard and with good effort. But there were too many sacks. They did what they needed to do to win. But that won’t fly this week. They have to be a lot better.

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— Doesn’t think there’s a correlation with offensive success and time of possession. Explosive plays and turnovers are the two things that matter. They weren’t explosive enough in the passing game. For them to continue to get better, they have to be more explosive.

— You coach your tail off to help get the team to gel quicker. You take some lumps and play some young players. They have to go through the games. They have to practice to become better. They weren’t good enough last week. That’s how they have to do it this week.

— Doesn’t think Sellers looked scared or timid. He looked excited, sped up. It’s not easy to go start as a redshirt freshman in the SEC. His timing was sped up too fast due to his youth and age. He approached everything the right way. Felt how excited he was to get out there. He’s going to be much better when he gets back out there this week.

— On the final drive for the offense on Saturday, he would have loved to see them finish out with a good drive. They thought running the ball three times would be a good idea with how the passing game was. They wanted to stick with what had been working then turn the game over to the defense. But they need to finish with getting a first down and finishing the game with the ball in their hands.

Clayton White

— Glad to get the win on Saturday. Proud of how the defensive guys finished the game. It was awesome to see how mature the guys played towards the end.

— DQ Smith had a bad couple plays. Two plays don’t make it a bad game. His process of readiness was on point. Definitely want to keep his confidence up.

— They want to put fires out. You never know when the fire alarm is going to ring. You have to go out there and get it. He was proud of OD Fortune on the interception in the end zone. What he did happens once every fall camp or spring. ODU ran the route kind of low. Nick Emmanwori did a nice job of making the receiver cut. Fortune was able to fall off and the quarterback threw it low.

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— More excited about the defense’s preparation going into the week. Never satisfied, they want more. Impressed with the edge rushers. It was nice to see them do it in the game.

— The two mistakes are inexcusable. He needs to do a better job of getting the defense prepared in those situations. You have to live and learn from them. The 72-yard TD, they weren’t ready for it. The other touchdown run, it was just a mistake.

— Dylan Stewart isn’t similar to a bigger Bradley Chubb, who is more like Kyle Kennard. The closest he’s coached to a guy like Stewart is DeAngelo Malone, who’s now playing with the Atlanta Falcons.

— Kentucky’s scheme is something they’ve seen before. Loves doing a nice investigation on a new coach with Kentucky having a new OC. Likes to get a feel for the background and how they play. It’s frustrating not to have a ton of tape to break down so early in the season, especially with a new coordinator.

— Up front is where the most of the depth is at LB and on the DL. You want to make sure you’re rotating your guys. Wants a couple more linebackers and one to two more defensive ends to play more.

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