Chomping at the bit

CLEMSON - Dabo Swinney meets with the media on Wednesday night to discuss this weekend's showdown with Virginia Tech.

How’s practice been the last few days?
Swinney: It’s been good. They’ve had three good days, good energy all three days. That’s what I was talking to them today; hopefully they’re getting excited about playing again. Having a little off time, it’s been good preparation. A lot of work on ourselves. It’s been good work getting ready for Virginia Tech. Just anxious to get back at it, to see where they are. Hope we play with a lot of energy on Saturday, just like I’ve seen at practice.

Are you going to have everybody available, health-wise?
Swinney: We’re going to have everybody. This is the best we’ve been in quite a while. That’s a good thing. Hopefully, we can put a good run together and get lucky, as far as staying healthy, keeping everybody out there for a good while.

Can you give us an update on Kellen Jones, Martin Jenkins?
Swinney: Kellen’s good. Kellen’s going to be back soon…Jenkins looks good. He’s back in his uniform. He’s still not released to practice. He’s doing a lot of rehab work. Justin Parker’s doing good. All those guys have made really good progress. Tony McNeal is back and dressing. He’s out there running and doing some cutting. All of those guys are making some progress.

Who would be the first running back off the bench, after Andre Ellington?
Swinney: We just kind of make those decisions as we get into the flow of the game. Sometimes there are certain things we prefer different guys to do. It just kind of depends on the situation. We don’t have any hesitation with playing [Rod McDowell or D.J. Howard]. I think they’ve both demonstrated and earned our confidence, especially Rod. We felt good about D.J. coming out of the spring. But Hot Rod has really gone out on the field and performed at a high level for us. The confidence in him is really high. We feel like we’ve got three guys that can go play. Andre Ellington is our bell cow, as he should be.

Mike O’Cain said after the season that he called Kevin Steele to ask him if y’all knew there signs in the ACC Championship game. Were you aware of that? What are your thoughts?
Swinney: It would be news to me. We just probably played our best game of the year, that night. We made plays on offense and got stops on defense. I haven’t heard anything about that.