What Dowell Loggains and Clayton White said previewing Missouri

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

Dowell Loggains

— Missouri has an extremely well coached defense. Drinkwitz is a really good recruiter. It’s a tough front to get ready for. Gonna have their hands full this weekend. It’s a good challenge.

— Tree Babalade is a guy that has some experience. The only way to improve is get experience. He went out and did his job on Saturday.

— They’ve ran the ball the way they needed to the last two-three games. It’s Rocket being healthy, it’s the wide receivers blocking, it’s everyone. It takes 11 guys to get four yards. It goes back to practice. It’s the way they practice that has led to a strong run game.

— The bye week helped Rocket get back to being completely healthy. November is when you ride the big back. He becomes stronger. He’s hard to tackle. He’s been huge the last two weeks. Going to need his best game this week. Rocket is a tough guy. You add Sellers and Simon being hard to tackle, it’s a big part of this offense with the added toughness.

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— The receivers choose the depth chart based on how they practice. You want to be a kick a** football team? You have to figure out how to not kick your own a**. The way you practice helps you be rewarded in games. Whoever practices the best or has the hot hand will play.

— Knew Sellers had all these expectations coming into the year. The only way he was going to get better was playing in these games. He’s gotten better as each game has passed. Sellers is so mature for his age. For him, it’s banking reps and not making the same mistake twice. Couldn’t be more proud of him for where he’s at. He’s just getting started. He’s right where he needs to be and that’s continuing to get better.

— Loves the way Nyck Harbor is practicing. That’s why he’s played more. He got thrown into the fire last year. He’s now figuring out some of intricacies of playing receiver. Showing improvement builds confidence. When the quarterbacks trust you, it’s easier to put you out there. His ball skills are improving. Still has a lot of work to do but he’s progressing the way they expected him to.

— They’re getting better. Control what you can control. But this is a huge SEC game and you’ve got to go out there and do it again.

Clayton White

— Definitely proud of how the guys responded after the turnover the offense unfortunately gave up. Proud of how they finished and got it done against Vanderbilt. Got a good Missouri team coming into town. They present a lot of challenges. Excited for it.

— Missouri does a great job of inquiring talent, getting it in the building and then keeping it. Both of their quarterbacks are really good.

— Pretended like he didn’t know DQ Smith was going to be out. Just did that to keep himself calm. Felt like Peyton Williams has always been ready when his number is called. He was proud of him.

— Don’t have a lot of time to keep harping back on the history with Missouri over the last few years. They are a really physical football team. They play well in November. They hit on the losing streak at the beginning of the week. But they know it’s going to be a war on Saturday.

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— Demetrius Knight has been very consistent in who he is. That says a lot about his play. He’s very focused and routine based. He does the same thing over and over again. He’s never changed. He’s played well and practiced well. It feeds off on other players.

— This might be the first team they play this year where there will be four receivers on the field for most of the game. Missouri has a lot of guys that can stretch the field. Have to do a great job of understanding who they are and what they’re trying to do.

— The key to the defensive success in the second half of games is making quick decisions and adjustments to figure out what needs to change. They switched a lot of things up in the A&M game at halftime. The guys adjusted well. It starts back in January from the homework they do in learning what offenses are all about. 

— The whole defensive front works well together. The front and coverage go hand in hand and they make sure the guys understand the plan.

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