Sunday, Dec. 28, 2008

Easy Street not on Swinney’s path

Full-contact practices are sharp contrast to lead-up into two bowl losses

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — When Dabo Swinney got his turn in the high-velocity batting cage at Clemson’s theme park outing Saturday afternoon, players hardly seemed surprised at their new 39-year-old coach’s hand-eye coordination.

They witnessed a mix of hits, whiffs and foul tips comparable to their teammates’ baseball talents.

Yet based on this month’s Gator Bowl practices, they were expected plenty of contact.

“What I want is this team to deserve to win, and you earn that through preparation,” Swinney said.

On Saturday morning, the Tigers held the first of four practices at Jacksonville University in preparation for Thursday’s Gator Bowl against Nebraska (1 p.m., CBS).

Swinney, who took over for Tommy Bowden on an interim basis at midseason, has already put his stamp on the program in many ways.

Next on his to-do list is scrapping the Tigers’ two-game bowl losing streak. Players believe Swinney has sent a message in the way the team has gone about its postseason preparations.

For the first time in several notable seniors’ memory, Clemson will have a bowl site practice this afternoon in full pads — in other words, with full contact — which means lots of hitting four days before the contest.

Coming off a three-day break, the Tigers appeared to be shaking off a lot of rust in practice warm-ups. The balmy, sunny 75-degree weather Saturday lent to the notion their vacation had been prolonged.

But instead of starting Clemson with a light practice, Swinney put the team through 18 5-minute periods that senior receiver Tyler Grisham said surpassed the standard Bowden bowl practice in terms of tempo, intensity and efficiency.

“Part of it is this is his style anyway, but he has talked a lot about making sure we’re ready to go for this game, and I don’t see how there’s any chance we don’t take advantage of this opportunity,” Grisham said.

Grisham said that would be in stark contrast to two years ago, when many players didn’t want to be at the Music City Bowl — which the Tigers lost 28-20 to Kentucky — because expectations had been so much greater weeks before.

Debuting an offensive coordinator with a mere handful of practices under his tutelage, Auburn beat No. 15 Clemson 23-20 in overtime in last season’s Chick-fil-A Bowl.

Swinney declined to cite any specifics about how his bowl preparation compares to Bowden’s. He did say his philosophy has developed in as much by seeing how he doesn’t want things done after 13 bowl games as a player or coach.

He remembers, as a walk-on receiver at Alabama, the effect that a lack of a player curfew had on the subsequent 34-7 whipping the Crimson Tide took from Louisville in the 1991 Fiesta Bowl.

Also, Swinney said he has been a part of some staffs where the coach improvised a practice plan, which Swinney felt created confusion and wasted time.

Swinney has given players a 1:30 a.m. curfew early this week — 30 minutes later than Bowden allowed, players said.

This might be his first job overseeing a team, but Swinney will likely never be accused of failing to calculate his next move.

“There’s a fine line you try to balance between having fun and taking care of your business,” Swinney said. “It’s important we do both, and that these guys see this as a reward they should be excited about.”

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