What Dabo wants Clemson to accomplish as training camp gets started
Dabo Swinney is entering his 10th year as the full-time coach at Clemson, and he has his most veteran team to date.
The Tigers held their first practice of preseason camp Friday with 57 juniors and seniors taking part.
Even with the veteran group, the first few practices of the preseason will be focused on installing offensive and defensive systems as the returning players review terminology and alignment, while the newcomers try to get up to speed.
“We’ve got to get our installation going. It’s a lot,” Swinney said. “We’re allowed to have some football meetings in the summer. … So we’ve made a little bit of progress. But get the young guys up to speed, and kind of get our depth situated the way we need to, make sure we’ve got everybody in their right spots. We’ve got some evaluating that we need to do early on on some guys.”
Clemson had eight early enrollees who participated in spring practice, while eight freshmen arrived in the summer.
Still, Swinney added that even the freshmen who were around in the spring will see a different level of intensity during preseason camp.
“Spring’s different because you’re practicing every other day and stuff and it’s a slower pace,” Swinney said. “There’s going to be a lot coming at these guys those first five, six, seven days. And, so, get our fundamentals in, get back to the basics. And if we can feel good about where we are, I think Day 5 when we get into full pads, from a foundation standpoint, installation, understanding of what we’re asking these guys to do, then hopefully we can kind of make another jump practices five through 10. So a lot to do these first five days.”
With a lot of returning talent and experience comes high expectations. The Tigers were ranked No. 2 in the first USA Today coaches poll, which is the same preseason ranking Clemson had when it won the national title in 2016.
The Tigers have finished higher than their preseason ranking each of the past seven years, and if Clemson does so again in 2018 it will win a second national title in three years.
Swinney was asked how this team stacks up with the 2016 group that featured Deshaun Watson, Mike Williams and Ben Boulware.
“Well, we’re going to find out,” Swinney said. “I think that we have some similarities to that team. I think we’re a very talented team; we probably have a little more depth on this team than we did that year at certain critical positions. But that’s all to be determined.
“That team was resilient. That team was committed. That team did something that hadn’t been done here in a long, long, long time. So it’s really hard to compare this team to that team. If this team can go on and have a great year and unbelievable success and things like that like that team did, then maybe we’ve got something to talk about. But right now, man, we’ve got to go put the work in, and that’s what today’s all about. Day 1, just putting 121 days of commitment together in a row there.”
Note: Clemson has agreed to a 10-year extension with Nike to keep outfitting Tiger athletes through 2028. The deal, valued at $58 million, was announced Friday by Clemson athletic director Dan Radakovich. The agreement extends the partnership with Nike, which began in 2002. Clemson says the new deal doubles the value of its previous pact with Nike and will include yearly payments of $400,000, an increase from $115,000.
The Associated Press contributed
This story was originally published August 3, 2018 at 8:06 PM.