Leadership potential in 2017 excites Swinney, Tigers

Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney is looking for new leaders in 2017.

The Tigers lost a small, but impactful, senior class, which included center Jay Guillermo, linebacker Ben Boulware, cornerback Cordrea Tankersley and safety Jadar Johnson. Also gone are four offensive juniors – quarterback Deshaun Watson, running back Wayne Gallman, as well as receivers Artavis Scott and Mike Williams – who had already earned their degrees and entered the NFL Draft.

“The natural thing to do when a season is over is to focus on who’s gone, who’s left,” Swinney said. “Our focus is on who’s here. And the good news is we’ve got a lot quality people, a lot of talented young men that are on this roster.”

Swinney’s 2017 squad, which began spring practice last week, returns just seven scholarship seniors.

That means Clemson won’t rely on a large number of juniors and sophomores simply for production. That’s where much of the leadership will come from as well.

Watson and company bought into those roles quickly last year.

“We don’t have as many seniors this year, but we have the same, I think, type of people from a leadership standpoint because our junior class is so big,” Swinney said.

Swinney’s leadership group, which he met with last week, contained a mix of rising seniors, juniors and even a few sophomores.

In the first practice, rising juniors Mitch Hyatt, a left tackle, and Marcus Edmond, a cornerback, were in charge of the opening stretching session, roles typically reserved for team captains and seniors.

Dorian O’Daniel, a rising senior, joins Christian Wilkins, Kendall Joseph and Van Smith on defense, where the void left behind by Boulware will be immediately felt.

“I won’t try to be Ben Boulware. I’ll just try to be myself,” said Joseph, a rising junior. “I know I need to step up and try to be a little more vocal, so I will be.”

Wilkins seems like a natural to step into a larger role on the defensive line. He has a fun, infectious personality that’s become a trademark of this team. Smith should be the main voice in the secondary after attaching himself to the hip of Johnson last season.

Offensively, there’s not a defined group, especially with Watson being replaced.

Receiver Hunter Renfrow, who will be a junior, has plenty of respect from his teammates since going from former walk-on to the kid who caught the touchdown that beat Alabama in the national title game.

Becoming a better leader is one of the three areas Renfrow identified as improvements he’s eyeing this spring.

Hyatt will get a chance, as will experienced running backs C.J. Fuller and Adam Choice.

This story was originally published March 11, 2017 at 9:39 PM with the headline "Leadership potential in 2017 excites Swinney, Tigers."