Young Clemson takes aim at ACC

There are plenty of reasons to like the potential of Dabo Swinney’s seventh Clemson football team, starting with the potential all-star at quarterback and a vein of offensive skill as golden as any California mother lode.

Minutes before the first practice of 2015, Swinney alluded to the helium that seems to have lifted the program on his watch and returned it to national prominence.

“I think our team is in a good spot mentally and physically,” Swinney said Tuesday. “We’re a healthy team.

“We’re not ready to play, but we’re ready to go to work.”

With the ACC Championship game 124 days away, he said the goal was “to try to make this a great and memorable season for all of us.”

“A lot of opportunity out there just like for every other team across the country. A lot of potential, but we’ve got to go pay the price,” he said. “We’ve got 12 games guaranteed.

“Everything else we’ve got to go earn.”

Asked if the ultimate goal was the College Football Playoff, Swinney pointed to the five goals that have been the standard since his first season.

“We’ve never hit all our goals in the same season,” he said, “But they’re set up to allow us compete at the highest level.”

Anticipation continued to percolate around a program that’s won at least 10 games each of the past four seasons and logged bowl victories over LSU, Ohio State and Oklahoma, programs where the baseline expectation is a national championship. Clemson announced this week that more than 55,000 season tickets have been requested – and some games (Notre Dame and Florida State) already are sold out.

A relatively young team trotted onto the practice field in temperatures flirting with triple digits. It was a squad dominated by freshmen, redshirt freshmen and sophomores – including preseason ACC player of the year Deshaun Watson, who shoulders much of the hope for this season.

After three significant injuries his freshman year, including a torn ACL in the Georgia Tech game that required surgery in December, he looked crisp and comfortable with a knee brace. Swinney said Watson will wear the brace all season.

Watson said the brace does not restrict him, and though he doesn’t know whether he’s at full strength, “It’s there for protection.” Watson said he was cleared physically about a week ago, but the full range of skills was there in the spring.

Watson said he doesn’t feel weight of fans’ expectations.

“Just want him to be Deshaun Watson,” Swinney said, dismissing the preseason chatter, “to execute the play call, nothing more or nothing less.”

“Don’t get caught up in what other people say or what other people think … good or bad,” he said, “irrelevant.”

Swinney said there were no particular concerns entering practice. Starting a first-year player at offensive left tackle, the absence of depth on a defense that was one of the best last season nor a kicking game in flux rattled the coach.

“I’d say maybe challenges,” Swinney said. “Defensively our inexperience depth is a challenge.

“The other challenge is our kicking game. We’ve got some questions we’ve got to get resolved there.

“I’d be concerned if we didn’t have talent.”