Mickey Conn, co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach, spoke at Clemson’s media day on Tuesday. Speaking with reporters, Conn focused on the versatility of Clemson’s defense in the fall and how different players can use their physicality and speed to adapt to those different positions.
Question: When you’re looking at Andrew Mukuba, Trenton Simpson, and some others, is the versatility from the entire defense rare?
Conn: “Throw R.J. Mickens in the mix and Tyler Venables in the mix, too. You ask them to do a lot of different things. Malcolm Greene. You have guys that can play a lot of different positions and it gives them the chance to be here and play. This gives us a chance as coaches to use them as different personnel groups that will help us be successful. All these guys we are talking about can really, really run and change directions. Credit to them for getting in the film room and learning it and learning the different spots.”
Q: When you have someone like Nolan Turner leave for the NFL, how does this position group as a whole replace that kind of experience?
Conn: “He gave us such great leadership. Those guys sitting under him, humbly waiting, those guys are ready to go. Take a guy like Jalyn Phillips, who has really benefitted from Nolan’s leadership and seeing how Nolan came up to — Nolan was a 2-star guy that everybody thought was just cheering to be here and he turned out to be an all-conference, All-American type player. Those guys have really learned from him and those guys have taken over some leadership roles he left behind. Just paving the way.”
Q: Andrew [Mukuba] said in the spring, you may see me at safety, you may see me at nickel, you might see me all over the field…
Conn: “He’s a good corner, too. He can do a lot of things. When you got a physical guy like that who can run, he’s a match-up problem for offenses, because he can match up with your best guy. And you know a lot of guys, that’s what they want to do. They want to get a match-up with a linebacker or safety and Mukuba’s the type of guy that can cover. He covers like a corner and hits like a linebacker.”
Q: To follow up, do you think he’s more comfortable closer to the line?
Conn: “I think he’s comfortable anywhere on the field. He’s a really good player. He can even return some kicks and punts sometimes.”
Q: The 2018 defense speaks for itself. Do you have the feeling that this defense is faster? Is this the fastest group you’ve had?
Conn: “I think so, just looking around. This is a really fast defense, especially those linebackers. Those guys can really, really run and that’s what you want. Up front we can really run. Xavier Thomas, those guys coming off the edge, they are really, really fast. Bryan Bresee coming back, Myles Murphy, there will be a lot speed. Get out of the way and let them run.”
Q: You have all this versatility, speed and these adjectives to describe your defense. How do these things make your life easier when crafting a game plan when you sort all of this talent on the defense?
Conn: “Well, we need to make sure we don’t move too many pieces. We need to make sure we hone in on what they are best at. I think as a defensive coordinator this is exciting. I feel like I’m not handcuffed and everybody can stay healthy, knock on wood. I feel like we can play a lot of guys and that’s what we want to do. That’s coach Swinney’s whole philosophy, which is development and playing guys. That’s our whole goal on defense, to have guys in there and train them to play different spots.”
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