Coach Charles Kelly
Q: Reflect a little bit back as you reviewed the tape from Liberty on Saturday. What were you most pleased with from your guys?
A: I was pleased that we competed for 60 minutes in the game, I think I was most impressed with that. When people watch our football team, we want them to say, hey, these guys are fast, they're physical, they're tough, they're disciplined, and they will compete. And we did those things in the game. We weren't always perfect. It wasn't pretty all the time, but they did those things, and I appreciate our players for doing that. We got a lot of things we can clean up. We've got to get to where we're more consistent on both sides of the ball and in the kicking game, but if you play with those kinds of intangibles, you're going to have a chance to win the game. And I think they went out and did that.

Q: Share some thoughts on Georgia Southern. 
A: Well, first of all, let me say this about Georgia Southern. They have a great program, lot of tradition. They've had a lot of great football coaches there. They got a great football coach right now in Clay Helton. I've known Clay since the early 90s. I mean, he is a phenomenal offensive football coach, phenomenal head coach. He's done a really good job everywhere he's been, and he's one of the best people in this business. I got great respect for his father, who was also a coach. I worked with his brother at Tennessee. They're just solid people, and he's done a really good job. They've had a really challenging schedule. They've been in California. They played Fresno State the opening week, came back and played USC, so they had to stay out there. I mean, that that was challenging for his team. And they put up some good numbers in some spots. So they're going to be very well coached. And thing our players got to understand we're going to Statesboro, Georgia. It's one of the toughest places to play in college football. I think it's like the fourth highest winning percentage at home of any college in FBS. So it's a huge challenge for us. So, but we're looking forward to the challenge.

Q: Kick off, looking back through film, what did you see that allowed that? Is it the scheme? They really couldn't get anything on returns e
A: First of all, on the kickoff, it all starts with where the kick placement is. So that's number one. The only time we didn't place it right, it went out of bounds. And I wasn't really happy with that, but for the most part, we put the ball where we needed to put it. Max (Thurmond) did a good job of scheming how they were trying to return. We think players first and plays second. Gray, he's a good return guy, and we knew how he liked to return and kind of what his characteristics were, so we tried to create things that would make him do something that he didn't want to do. And I think Max did a good job with that, but you got to give our guys credit on the kickoff team. I mean, they were fast getting down the field. I mean, we had everybody on the kickoff. Most people were inside the 30 yard line, or at least inside the 35 when the ball was caught. When you do that, it's it makes it tough on the kickoff return team. 

Q: Could you talk about how Gavin (Wimsatt) has played the first two games? Because it seemed like he had especially good game on Saturday.
A: Very good game. What I've asked Gavin is the most important thing for a quarterback is his decision making. That's the most important thing. You got to be able to take what the defense gives you. You can't force things. We've had one turnover in two games, and that's our first thing we talk about is protecting the ball. And people want to look at raw statistics and say, well, we didn't throw the ball for this much well, what they were giving us, we were able to run the ball, but when we needed a completion, we had a couple of drops early in the game. On third down, that ball was thrown right where it needed to be, but there were 2/3 downs where he completed a ball to Caleb across the middle, that were huge plays in that game. It changed field position. It kept us on the field. And those are the kinds of things that you don't really see in the statistics. But for what we want our quarterback to do, I thought he did a really good job. It'll be the same way this week. You're going to have to take what they're going to give you. They're going to give us opportunities to throw the ball, put extra guy in the box. We'll drop back, throw it and execute it. So that's what we have to do. But I'm proud of and I think he's becoming a better leader because I challenged him last week, the way you move is the way everybody else is going to move. And I felt like you could see that an offense this past week.

Q: You've had pretty big plays on special teams in each game, where did that emphasis on special teams come from during your career?
A: As a defensive backs coach early in my career, and running backs coach, I was always a part of working with some part of special teams, but I think it was probably in 2006 when I was hired by Chan Gailey as the special teams coordinator at Georgia Tech, I probably learned more about the management of the game and how special teams affects the game than any other time in my career. I made the point last night, this is what people don't get, but they don't think about it like this. On special teams, I've told the players, if we punt five times in a game and we average 40 yards a punt, that's 200 yards in a game. If Cam Cook runs for 200 yards in a game, he's gonna be Player of the Week, which he was this week. It's the same amount of yards you're just punting it instead of running it, but in a game, it's still yardage. So if you can gain 200 yards, that's an advantage for us, and I think our guys understand the importance of field position, but one out of every six plays is a special teams play in a football game. So what I try to do is take one out every six minutes in practice and work on special teams, because it is that important, and our players know it's important. I mean, our entire team is in here when we talk special teams, when we have our final special teams meeting, even the quarterbacks are in here. So they understand how the game is managed through that. But probably I learned more with Coach Gailey than any and he had been a prior special teams coordinator with the Denver Broncos, so he helped me a lot. 

Q: What's leading to success for guys that are coming from non-Division I programs?
A: Our director of player development is a perfect example. He went to school at Jax State, Division II. He went to San Francisco 49ers, maybe the greatest team to ever play in NFL and became a starter. Doesn't matter where you go, can't help where you're playing at, you evaluate the player. Myles (Butler) was at Campbellsville last year, and we try to evaluate just the player. There's certain criteria that we look for in players. Whether it be a DB, there's certain size. We want certain speed. Can they tackle? Can they play the ball in the deep part of the field? Same thing at linebacker, same thing at quarterback. And, I've worked with coaches before, when we evaluated people, they said, Well, they're not playing against great competition. Well, they can't help who they're playing against. You just judge them for what they do. And that's kind of what our our model is, because there's, there's so much misinformation out there. Caleb and Gavin, both. They've been at big time Division I programs, and they'll tell you, there are a lot of guys here. There are a lot better players than some of the guys from where they came from. It's just the way it is.
  Gavin Wimsatt

Q: What have been the biggest improvements you've seen?
A: For offense, one of the biggest improvements I saw was just finishing drives. I thought we did a good job, defense did a great job putting us in good positions to get the ball, but I think we executed well in finishing drives and also on third down continuing drives and staying on the field.

Q: You only throw 12 passes. Just how do you kind of balance that in your head?
A: I say that really just having a team mindset. We're playing the game to win, and at that point we know running the ball has given us the best chance to win. So, you can't be mad at all. Cam Cook's running like that. I give it to him too. So you know you can't be mad at all. Just keep doing your job, dominating your box. And you know that's really just it, just doing my job, and what's best for the team.

Q: You broke the plane for the first time as a Gamecock this past Saturday, we all saw the celebration. You look pretty excited out there. What were the emotions going through your head and your mind when you cross the plane?
A: Just excitement, really, after a good drive to finish it off that way. Give us a bigger lead is always good. And just having fun out there, really, with my teammates, because it's a hard game, and a lot of times we can forget to have fun, and it the end of the day. It's a kids game, you know, so just have fun with it. And you know, it's just excitement really right there.


Caleb Nix
Q: What have been the biggest improvements you've seen?
A: I think for defense, I would say for the whole unit, the game kind of slowed down for us. We were able to communicate more. Now, we still have some ways to go as far as communication and making sure the whole defense is on the same page, but that'll get better as the season goes. But that was a definite clear step that we made. We didn't have a ton of guys with a lot of snaps in game experience. So just each week, we expect that to get better and better and just continue communicating, tackling and just flying around.

Q: What is it like being Bo Nix's brother, Patrick Nix'x son, how have you maybe embraced that over the years?
A: A lot of people ask me what it's like, and really, I don't know anything else my whole life. My dad was a successful quarterback, successful coach. And then Bo's three years older than me, and he's always been great at whatever sport he was playing. You're kind of known as his little brother they both have just let me kind of have my own journey. And they've always been supportive. Obviously, now I'm taking a different route. So that's been kind of neat journey to kind of be the first one to play defense, and be on the other side of it. But, it's really cool to have two people that have so much experience, and like firsthand experience of the game, that they can share to you. And just being able to watch, or not watch my dad's journey, but watch Bo's journey, and you know, be a fan of his has been really cool, too.

Q: What's kind of the mentality when you're facing that 10th, 11th, 12th play of the drive to be able to get off the field. 
A: Coach (Brian) Williams says all the time that we have to defend every blade of grass. So that's really just kind of our mantra, once those drives get get going, and you'll hear guys on the field saying it, just kind of reminding, like, hey, every blade of grass, like, yeah, it's that eighth, ninth, 10th, play of the drive. But you just got to keep playing every play. That's what we've said as a defense. Like, every one of our touchdowns that we've given up have been explosive plays. We just got to keep making offenses keep snapping the ball every time they snap the ball, it gives us a chance.