Early this week, Steven Sawicki told the media he was comfortable kicking the football from about 50 yards. When Dabo Swinney heard about his kicker’s confidence on Wednesday evening, he chuckled a bit and said he is probably not as comfortable as his kicker.

“I am glad he feels comfortable. Hey, you would whether say whoa than sic ‘em, right,” Swinney said.

The Clemson coach says 47 yards is about his comfort rate with Sawicki, who he named as No. 2 Clemson’s starting kicker for Saturday’s game at Louisville.

“A lot of it depends on what are the elements, what’s the weather, what’s the wind and all of that stuff. I feel pretty confident from 47, but that has not really been a problem for us. The problem has been the easy ones,” Swinney said.

Swinney is referring to the last few misses from sophomore kicker B.T. Potter, who he benched for Sawicki after missing a 24-yard kick in last week’s win over Florida State. It was Potter’s third miss in his last four kicks.

Potter has missed 2 of his 5 attempts inside 39 yards this year and is just 5-for-9 overall this season.

Sawicki took advantage of his opportunity, making his lone attempt—26-yard field goal—and making both of his extra points in the second half of the Florida State game. He now is Clemson’s field goal kicker, while Potter will be the long-distance kicker and will continue to kickoff.

“He has really had a good week. I think he is 10-for-10 on the week, counting today’s kicks,” Swinney said about Sawicki. “I’m excited for him. I tell guys all the time to be prepared. He went into that game last week with no expectation he would be thrown in and have to go make a kick and he was ready.

“He took advantage of his opportunity. So, he has earned an opportunity to go see if he can be consistent.”

Swinney says Potter has continued to respond in a positive way and his attitude has been great.

“It is like I said, sometimes everybody needs to get a foot in their rear and sometimes you need to sit and watch for a minute,” Swinney said. “But B.T. is made of the right stuff and he has had a good week. He has missed a couple. He is probably 8-for-10, but he has had a good week.

“He is good. He will still be the long guy and do our kickoffs and all of that and we will see how it goes.”

The Tigers (6-0, 4-0 ACC) will need Potter’s strong leg against the Cardinals. Louisville is second in the ACC averaging 30.5 yards per kick return, including a 100-yard return for a touchdown against Wake Forest last week by Hassan Hall. He also had an 83-yard return in the Cardinals’ 62-59 win.

In his 32 kickoffs this season, Potter has recorded 27 touchbacks (84.4 percent), with most of those going through the end zone.

Clemson is very familiar with what Hall can do. He returned a kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown in last year’s game at Clemson, while setting a Louisville record for kickoff return yards in a game with 247 yards.

Hall is currently leading the ACC with a 38.8-yard average on kickoff returns.

“These guys have been awesome. And they are bringing it out of the end zone,” Swinney said. “That guy, it was not like he was on the five. He was two or three yards deep in the end zone and took it to the house. So, we have to do a great job, first with the kick, but really our coverage has to be really, really good.

“We got to show our speed. We have to be fundamentally sound, make sure we do the right things as far as getting down the field and getting in the right position.”

Clemson and Louisville will kick off at noon Saturday from Cardinal Stadium in Louisville, Kentucky.