What Dowell Loggains and Clayton White said previewing LSU

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

Dowell Loggains

— Goal at this point is 2-0. That’s where they’re at.

— LaNorris Sellers was seeing things well against Kentucky. There’s always a formula to win. The offensive line was protecting well and they were hitting some shots on passes, which created more balance.

— Consistency is the next step for this offense. Need to eliminate negative plays. It’s easy to say the OL was responsible for the sacks but that wasn’t the case.

— Anytime it’s good, it’s the players. Anytime it’s bad, it’s the coaches. The players were in their spots for the big pass plays.

— LSU’s DC has had some success against South Carolina. Creates a culture of playing hard. LSU has elite recruiting and good players. It’ll be a great opportunity for the offense to go up against their scheme and talent.

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— Michael Smith has handled everything well so far. The moment hasn’t been too big so far. Just needs to clean a few things up. For him to be able to go out there and handle the volume of his roles, he’s been very good. He does things the right way.

— Wish they weren’t playing this many freshmen. But the moment isn’t too big for Mazeo Bennett. They’re fortunate to have those type of kids like him and Smith. He was able to do his job and get open for the two big catches he had, especially on the first touchdown of the game.

— LaNorris Sellers and Robby Ashford have unique but different skillsets. You need momentum. Kentucky’s defense is really good. They’re really well-coached. It’s hard to prepare for them. If you don’t get the points on the field goal drive Ashford led, who knows how that game goes.

— Some of the fumbles Sellers had were blindside shots. Spencer Rattler got hit on some of those plays last year. It’s making sure everyone around him is protecting him and doing their job. He’s concerned with the other factors on those plays. It’s making sure they diagnose why it happened and helping make sure Sellers doesn’t fumble on those plays.

— Been excited about the OL’s style of play with how physical they are. They play together. You can see they’re playing for each other and that’s really important. They’re playing well enough to be 2-0.

— The tight ends are good players. Balance in the offense isn’t always run pass. The ball distribution is important. They only played 50 total plays. But when you’re splitting up how often you’re running and passing, it helps a lot. 

Clayton White

— Ready to start off another week, this time against LSU. They’ve never been short with talent. The guys are ready to rock and roll.

— The energy was very contagious against Kentucky. Everyone wanted a piece of the pie.

— 44 passing yards is a hard mark to repeat. LSU has a very good offense. The game plan is always changing every week. You definitely want to keep the focus on yourself. There’s a lot of things the defense could’ve done better. Just need to keep bringing that good energy.

— Campbell and Jones at tackle for LSU are talented. Their intangibles are more important than their talent. Definitely aware of who they are their skillsets.

— You definitely want the best 11 on the field. They have a deep defense but the players understand to play defense as a group and keeping the mindset where it needs to be.

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— You have to take the time to evaluate how the defense is creating takeaways and tackles for loss. You have to let the defense use their athletic ability more and let them play faster. Tried to make sure they all have opportunities.

— Didn’t change anything that they did when they got the win against Kentucky. Today was the day to work primarily on third downs.

— Pass coverage and rush goes hand in hand. Had a couple guys in the window when Nick Emmanwori had the pick six. The second was a disguise by DQ Smith and the QB flung it a little high on the interception to Jalon Kilgore. Everybody plays a role. Need to keep that going.

— White was a rookie with the NY Giants in 2001. Sept. 11 was a trying time for a lot of people. The team landed in NY the morning of 9/11. Remembers practicing on the Wednesday after 9/11 with seeing the smoke from the towers. It’s definitely deep and heavy with everything that happened from those times but memorable for sure.

— Was definitely not scared in the event Kentucky changed up their offense with throwing the ball more. Saw from his standpoint Vandagriff was getting hit a lot and they probably wanted to run it more. Felt like they had an advantage in that way.

— It’s better to get home with three or four. It may seem easier but it’s never easy in this league. The defense is ready to take on the challenge on Saturday against LSU.

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