As Dabo Swinney puts it, Thursday was the last preseason game of camp for his football team, as the Tigers scrimmaged for the final time prior to their season opener against Georgia in two weeks.
“Today was again a big day, a lot of special teams stuff,” Swinney told the media afterwards. “A lot today was a lot of situational stuff, especially at the end of practice. Just some special situations that could come up throughout the course of the year. It’s too late to work on those things when they come up. So, you’ve got to make sure you’ve got a good plan, kind of a lot of our checklist stuff to make sure we’re ready.”
Swinney says the team will break camp on Friday, enjoy an off day on Saturday, and then turn their complete focus to Georgia on Sunday.
Other Notes from the Scrimmage:
- — Swinney confirmed that Ian Reed (Knee), Myles Oliver (ACL), and Watson Young (ACL) are all out for the season from previous injuries.
- — RB Phil Mafah did not participate in the scrimmage so that the coaches could get more clarity on the backup running back position.
- — The defense had a better day than the first scrimmage. The unit created two turnovers and Swinney said played with more discipline.
- — Nolan Hauser continues to have an edge for the starting spot at place kicker.
- — Jake Briningstool and Adam Randall both had big touchdown plays during the scrimmage; Randall’s coming in a two-minute situation.
- — The #14 ranking in the preseason AP poll is of no interest to Swinney. “It’s not about what people say, what people predict, what people write. It’s about what we do.”