Clemson offensive lineman, Sean Pollard, addressed the media on Thursday after the Tigers third and final 'Live Scrimmage' of fall camp.
Pollard on offensive line depth in 2018 compared to previous years...
"I thought we were deep every year. In my opinion we've always had functional depth....We've had a lot of o-line play a lot of ball. It's nice to have that and it's a blessing to have that."
Pollard on his move to the offensive guard position...
"I've enjoyed it. Coaches said 'you're moving to guard,' yes sir. I really didn't ask questions. Battling Dexter [Lawrence] and Christian Wilkins is a little bit different than Austin [Bryant] and [Clelin Ferrell]. But it's been fun, I've enjoyed it. I played guard in high school. Haven't since my sophomore year so it's a bit of a learning curve but it's gotten easier since spring."
Pollard on getting to battle the 'hyped' defensive line every practice...
"You're going against the best defensive line in the country. Obviously every day I'm not gonna come out smiling like I'm excited I get to go against that defense. But it's also a blessing. We realize [Coach Venables] is the best d-coordinator in the country, the best d-line in the country, I mean, we're gonna see more on our practice field then we do in games."
"Some days it sucks but it's a good feeling to know you're going against them every day and getting better."
Pollard on if he thinks O-Line has been holding their own against D-Line...
"I think so. Yall heard about the first scrimmage, second scrimmage was a good battle and third scrimmage was a great battle today. We're definitely having fun and definitely holding our own, we're not just getting destroyed."
"Overall it's just a blessing going against them. Iron sharpens iron for sure."
Pollard on other offensive lineman who don't get a lot of publicity...
"[Matt Bockhorst] has a nastiness in him. It's crazy. He'll finish all the D-linemen. They'll get aggravated with him but they respect him cause he's definitely gonna play till the whistle."
"[Blake Vinson] is smart and he's fast."
"And [Cade Stewart] is a baller. He's so strong. He ran just as fast as some of the nose guards did so he's an athlete. And it's just fun having competition."
Pollard on Lyn-J Dixon and how he compares to where Etienne was this time last year...
"[Coach Elliott] goes and finds them and it's awesome. The O-line, we don't block for just one person, we block for everyone. We make holes. We know we have great running backs across the board that are gonna be able to make plays. As a freshman he's doing great. He runs hard, he runs fast and he doesn't take any prisoners. He runs straight downhill and it's awesome to see."
Pollard on what he's seen out of Gage Cervenka...
"He's great. I would trust him in a game. He knows what he's doing. He's smart, he's strong, he's athletic; that's all you need in a center. He's doing really well all camp. He's probably had his best camp since he's been here. He's improved. He's a true student of the game. He's taken a pride in his craft and has gotten so much better just like the whole O-line has this fall camp."
Pollard on the challenges with moving from Tackle to Guard...
"Footwork's hard and it's the most important thing but it's just how quick everything gets on you. At tackle you can kind of sit back and watch things play out - at guard you don't have that time. You gotta step and you gotta react. It's all reactionary. If your footwork's not key, you're not gonna pick up stuff on the inside. At guard, you have to rely on your footwork."
Pollard on coaches saying it was Kelly Bryant's best day of camp...
"I was blocking for him. On O-line, we know what we're suppose to do, we're not gonna question our quarterbacks. They're all really good players; every single one of them can go out there and start for us and play. All I know is when we block for any of them, they're all gonna make completions cause they're all great quarterbacks. So as the O-line, we take pride in keeping them clean so they can go out and show out."
"If Kelly's having a great day, then his O-line had a great day too. I don't know what the quarterback's suppose to do but if they said he had a great day then he had a great day."
Comments