Venables’ goal for young Clemson defense: Stay grounded

Brent Venables’ Clemson defense passed its first test of the season in impressive fashion last Saturday at Auburn. His next task is keeping the Tigers grounded as they face Troy this weekend.

Clemson exceeded just about everyone’s expectations by holding Auburn to 262 total yards and 13 points, but just because the Tigers are playing a Sun Belt opponent at home doesn’t mean Saturday’s game will be a walk in the park.

“We had a few weeks to get ready for Auburn, and you’ve got three days to get ready for an offense you haven’t seen… The players are new, the scheme’s new, the play callers are new. Everything’s new,” Venables said. “We’re the Super Bowl for them. We’re going to get their best shot.”

Clemson debuted seven new starters on defense at Auburn and several other underclassmen played extended minutes.

Sophomore Christian Wilkins and freshman Dexter Lawrence led the defense up front and underclassmen Clelin Ferrell, Mark Fields, Van Smith and Tre Lamar also played important roles.

While all of Clemson’s younger players played well, Venables said getting a young defense ready to play against a perceived lesser team can be a big challenge.

“Immature players, young players, players that lack experience, sometimes they can start feeling good about themselves and they put their guard down,” Venables said. “ ‘I’m just going to roll my hat out, it’s not SEC,’ because they buy that garbage. The SEC is a very good conference with great players and good coaches, but Troy’s got good coaches and good players too.”

Venables added that the notion that every week you will play better and improve as a defense doesn’t always turn out to be true.

“Every week is different,” he said. “I wish it was that easy.”

Venables and Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney preached to their team this week that Troy is not an opponent to take lightly.

The Trojans finished 4-8 last year but three of the losses were to N.C. State, Wisconsin and Mississippi State, and Troy fell just short of upsetting Appalachian State on the road, falling 44-41.

The Trojans are led by junior running back Jordan Chunn, who is 6-1, 231 pounds, and rushed for 161 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries in a season-opening 57-17 win against Austin Peay.

“This is a dangerous football team,” Swinney said. “This running back, we’re going to have to put our big-boy britches on to tackle this guy. He is a man. He’s a 230-something pound back that looks like an NFL player.”

While Chunn is perhaps Troy’s best offensive weapon, the Trojans like to move the ball with a quick passing attack.

Head coach Neal Brown served as the offensive coordinator at Texas Tech and then Kentucky before arriving at Troy.

“They snap it and they’re pitching it. Then they’ll spread you out and run it downhill,” Venables said. “They have a system they believe in and things they carry week-to-week that will always show up.”

This story was originally published September 8, 2016 at 8:51 PM with the headline "Venables’ goal for young Clemson defense: Stay grounded."