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COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF SEMIFINAL AT THE CAPITAL ONE ORANGE BOWL: CLEMSON VS OKLAHOMA

December 29, 2015

Shaq Lawson

Miami Gardens, Florida

Q. What's the plan this year with two guys in the backfield?
SHAQ LAWSON: I feel like we've just got to be aggressive and did the same thing last year, with just being able to handle two guys at a time. Both are outstanding backs. I was very impressed when I watched on film how he runs. He's going to be a great player. He's a great player right now, but he's going to be a better back. Perine, apart from running, he's been doing it since last year. We've just got to come in and bring our "A" game and be ready to tackle them.

Q. Does it feel like there's a little bit of heat between Clemson and Oklahoma going into this game?
SHAQ LAWSON: Oh, yeah. I heard they did a lot of trash talking the other day, one of their D-lineman. We ain't saying nothing because we've been through that experience before where teams talk trash, like Miami. We're just going to let our game do the talking and handle ourselves. They've improved after the last year, so that's how I feel. It's something between the two teams.

Q. You were smiling a little bit. Do you like it when other teams talk like that? Is that motivation?
SHAQ LAWSON: Oh, yes, sir, I do, I love that a lot. I like to talk myself. As long as you are able to back it up on the field no matter how you talk. It's going to be a fun game. They already said they're going to talk the whole game, so we're just going to be ready for it.

Q. Speaking of talking trash, I heard Brent Venables has talked a little bit of trash during practice. You may or may not have gotten a hit on him.
SHAQ LAWSON: Yeah, yeah, he's been talking trash to us. He's very competitive when he does that scout team quarterback. One day I had -- I didn't intend to hit him, but I actually did hit him hard, and he got up and shook it off like he went hard, and he didn't have no pads on, so it was crazy.

Q. How is he as a quarterback?
SHAQ LAWSON: Oh, he can't pass the ball, but he will try to take off running fast.

Q. How do you accidentally hit somebody hard?
SHAQ LAWSON: I was running too fast, and I couldn't stop, and then I just hit him. But I pulled up. I really didn't hit him hard, but when I hit him he bounced back up like it didn't hurt. I'm like, man, that's got to hurt. He ain't got no pads on.

Q. How did your teammates react?
SHAQ LAWSON: Everybody started laughing because we know how Coach V is. Nothing fazes him, so everybody just started laughing. We seen when I hit him and everything, and he just got back up and went to the next play, and it was fine.

Q. What was going through your mind when you see him go down? Were you saying, please get up?
SHAQ LAWSON: I was like, man, I hope I didn't kill my coach.

Q. (Inaudible.)
SHAQ LAWSON: Oh, yeah, I seen what he said. He can feel that way. They've got a lot of weaknesses that we're going to expose there, too. That's how he feels about the game. We're just going to be ready to play. I guess he seen some of the stuff on film and everything, but we don't got to worry about that. If we play how we played the first five games of Clemson football, we'll be straight.

Q. He says you guys aren't as good as you were last year. What's your thoughts on that?
SHAQ LAWSON: Oh, I feel differently. I feel like we're about the same as a defense last year. I mean, we've just got to show what we're going to do to them and stop the run.

Q. Do your eyes light up when you look at the Oklahoma lineup and see two freshman tackles starting on the offense?
SHAQ LAWSON: Yes, sir, I kind of did. They're both very talented players. Brown is a big kid, going to be a very great player down the road. I really didn't know that was a freshman until I started getting into game prepping situation. But a freshman on a big stage, he's going to be ready to play me because of who I am, and how I've been playing this year and stuff like that. So it's going to be a great match-up between both of us.

Q. How difficult was it for you? I know you were playing, but still, you were kind of having to bide your time the first couple games. Was that a difficult time?
SHAQ LAWSON: No, I've been waiting patiently all my life, startling out when I had to go to Hargrave Military School. I was just patient, and then I knew when I came here I was playing behind an All-American like Vic Beasley, so I was just patient the whole time, and when I got through that patient part and made the most of my time, when Vic left, Vic kind of helped me out with that because he had played behind some great players before his time and everything.

It wasn't really hard. I just knew I had to wait my turn and make the most of my opportunity.

Q. Everybody kind of plays the respect card now. Oklahoma is certainly doing that. I was just curious, with you guys, even though you've been No. 1 all year, everybody is waiting for you to lose. Do you get that feeling?
SHAQ LAWSON: Oh, yeah, we've had it all year. We hear every week we're going to lose to a small school, anybody. That just motivates us when we see that on TV during the week, just motivates us to get ready to play and do what we've been doing all year in these games we've been in.

Q. Have you given any thought to the finality coming up for you?
SHAQ LAWSON: Oh, no, I've not thought about it. I've just been focused on these next couple games. I'll probably get that feeling out of the locker room when it's all said and done, how I'll feel about leaving these guys. I'll really miss them and everything and all the coaches and everything. I'm just going to miss them. It really hasn't hit me yet, so I can wait until after the games.

Q. You were talking about those young tackles a minute ago. Are you a lot more freed up now that you're out of the shoulder harness? How are you feeling?
SHAQ LAWSON: I don't know -- yeah, I can play with a shoulder harness or not. I don't know what I'm going to do yet. I'm getting comfortable with both. It don't really stop me. I feel free when I play anyway. If I know my task and my game plan, it frees me up anyway.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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