Photo by Austin Silvey
The Clemson Tigers held their first scrimmage of fall camp on Saturday. Dabo Swinney, Brent Venables, Jeff Scott and a couple of players all addressed the media afterwards and apparently, the offense had a "really good" day.
We caught up with the Tigers explosive running back, Travis Etienne, to get his thoughts on their first scrimmage of the season, how camp has been going so far and what some of his expectations and goals are for the upcoming season.
Etienne is coming off of a limited, yet explosive freshman season. In his limited action, he rushed for 766 yards on 107 carries and 13 rushing touchdowns.
1) Etienne on what he thought the biggest difference was between last year's version of himself and this year's...
"The knowledge. Knowledge of the game, knowing what to do, how to do it and why I'm doing it."
2) Etienne on where he is at in pass protection and how comfortable he is doing it at this point...
"Definitely a lot more comfortable. Last year was a total train wreck. Last year was just horrible for me. Not knowing what to do play-wise. This year I have a better understanding of what to do and where to be. Even if I don't make the block, I'm at least in the right position."
3) Etienne on how much weight he put on in the offseason...
"I got up to 204 so about 15 pounds."
4) Etienne on how he put on that weight...
"It was mostly just taking the weight room more seriously, drinking my protein shakes. When I first got here, I didn't really drink the protein shakes, didn't really take the weight room seriously. But now this summer, with my role coming up [this season], I need to be focused and work on the little things. Hitting the weight room everyday and drinking those shakes after workouts...."
"They didn't change my eating plan at all; just the shakes. I drink about one a day after workouts...I'm all in now. Finally started drinking my shakes and it really helped me."
5) Etienne on interchangeable quarterbacks and if he sees same tempo and amount of big plays regardless of who is in...
"Most definitely. Each quarterback that goes in has the ability to do what they do. Each quarterback is unique in their own way. Whoever's in there you don't see a drop-off and that's what I like about it. You don't really know that there's another quarterback in. They're up to speed on everything."
6) Etienne on his goals for the rest of camp heading into the season...
"Just continue to get better at the little things, get better at my conditioning, and just keep working to get better."
7) Etienne on offense having a great scrimmage against some of the best defensive players in the country...
"It's definitely a good thing. But we can't get complacent. We have to come out here and keep doing better. We see this defense every day and that's what's great about it....iron sharpens iron. You're gonna get their best every day and if you come out here lackadaisical they're gonna expose you..."
"You have to come out with that mentality to bring it every day and I'm just thankful for that defense that we have."
8) Etienne on having to really 'bring it' next practice cause defense will be mad about how first scrimmage went...
"Most definitely. But they come with it every day. Today we just kind of got the better of them. It's just that way when it's such a competitive team. You can't win them all but it's how you respond to it. The defense I know that they are, they're gonna come back on Monday even harder. We just gotta keep bringing it and keep trying to get better."
9) Etienne on consistency of coaching staff at Clemson...
"That's definitely one of the reasons I came here. The consistency at the coaching positions; you know you're gonna be coached by the guy that brought you in. That's really helpful to the team and the organization that we have. It's easier for players to buy in when they come back."
FULL INTERVIEW W/ #9 TRAVIS ETIENNE
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