WATCH: Tim McKay Talks What Worked Against Clemson Last Year (with transcript)

Redshirt Senior Offensive Guard Tim McKay met with the media after practice yesterday. He broke down what worked against Clemson last year, how the OL is gelling and the importance of Running Backs in the blocking game. You can watch the video ABOVE and read the transcript BELOW.

What have you seen from Clemson, getting ready for this weekend’s game?

Clemson is known for having a good defense, good interior guys, good defensive ends. So I know this week’s gonna be a good competition, and just playing hard is really important. Going out there competing, giving the quarterback time is really important, especially with this front, active front, big front, so it’ll be important.

It seemed like the offensive line held up pretty well against Louisiana Tech, didn’t allow much in the backfield. What was kind of working there, just as a unit, to keep them out of the backfield?

I think we played together that game, for sure. It’s like the first two weeks, we were kind of all over the place, but we kind of took that personal after the Tennessee loss, just came together and really talked about what we need to do better, having to communicate better and different stuff.

So, coming to the LA Tech game, Grayson (McCall) went down, and then CJ (Bailey) came in, just really coming together. We knew that they’re gonna have to rely on the offensive line. So, I think us playing together was a big part of a lot of the LA Tech game.

Does CJ, when you compare the way you block for CJ and the way you block for Grayson, are there any kind of differences there? Obviously, we know CJ has some of that kind of running ability. We know that he is much taller, can stand in the pocket like that. Is there a difference between the two?

I would say the main thing with the more mobile quarterback is just knowing that the play can be extended a little bit longer.

So, just give that one more second that coach just talks about, just being up field, blocking for guys, just making sure that your guy doesn’t end up in the pile is really important with a guy like that.

How hard is it in those situations to not go upfield too early? I feel like you see it all the time in college this year, pros, it’s getting called all over the place. How hard is it just to be a little more patient?

It’s really important not to get that penalty. But making the conscious effort just to stay back and just make sure you’re not going up field is really important. It’s hard though.

You’re approaching almost a one year mark of being a Guard. Is it still weird to you to be a guard?

At this point, it’s just football. It’s fun.

I get to pull a lot, get out on the screen. So, I know I was playing Tackle for a while in my career, but now being a Guard, I feel comfortable. Got the reps in spring, got the reps in fall camp, and now three games under my belt, I feel pretty comfortable.

With this being CJ’s first start, is it even more important to get the run game going early and kind of take some of that pressure off of him?

Yeah, for sure. I feel like Coach Doeren talked about complimentary football. And us starting fast up front, running the ball, opens up RPOs, opens up the passing lanes, and match detection, different stuff like that.

So, it’s me and us, the offensive line, just really start fast, get the run game going so that Coach can open up the play, but we can do different things.

Is there anything you guys did against Clemson last year as an offensive line that you think helped you guys get that win that you can maybe replicate this week?

I think we just had a dominant game. We’re playing together, playing for each other, and just really having that one more second mentality, just straining, getting on the field, hitting guys, getting pancakes, just showing.

It’s our dominance on the field, that was really important in that game.

We talked about playing more together this past weekend. What was the biggest difference in between the first two games?

I feel like, personally, we had a new Center in there with Zeke Correll, and just us kind of meshing in there was different, just communicating and stuff like that, really.

It was different for us, the interior guys, but we had a talk, we practiced better, we had more communication throughout the week, and a lot of that game really showed that we’re together.

Could you feel that during the week of practice, knowing like, ‘All right, it’s starting to feel a little bit more comfortable?’

Yeah, for sure. It’s one thing to do it against our defense during fall camp and spring ball, playing together, but when you go against a different defense, like LA Tech or Tennessee, it’s a little different, a little faster, so have some time to adjust, but I feel like we’re on a good page right now.

I think Coach Doeren said that he was like hanging out at the line of scrimmage early on in the game, seeing if the O-Line was getting a push.

He was talking about that for a couple of days, just him standing at the line of scrimmage and making sure that we pushed our guys past the line of scrimmage a couple of yards, but honestly, I forgot he was there during the game, so there was no extra pressure. But I know he’s harped on just having a good run game, so that’s something we really took pride in this week, just making sure we start the run game fast, like I mentioned earlier.

And going off of that, Kendrick (Raphael), Hollywood (Smothers), Jordan (Waters), it feels like they all have different running styles. How would you describe what each one of them individually brings to the table as a running back?

I think they’re all pretty different. Kendrick is a shifty guy, you saw the hurdle he had against LA Tech.

Waters can get down the sideline and catch it too, and Hollywood is just all around a good blocker. So I feel like us knowing who’s behind us is really important, knowing where the ball’s gonna go. Just being locked in on who’s behind us and just making sure we do our job.

If we do our job, it doesn’t matter who’s behind us.

It seems like all three of them have done really well at pass protection this year. How much does that help an offensive line?

It’s really special having a running back just going in there, just throwing their hat in there, being 200 pounds, hitting someone who’s 250. It shows us a lot. It really shows that they’re here to play and it makes us play harder too.