Clemson football not releasing a depth chart for LSU game. Dabo explains why
For the second year in a row, the Clemson football team made a change to how it provides depth charts heading into its season opener.
Last year, Clemson broke with tradition by not providing a Week 1 depth chart until a few hours before its season opener against Georgia in Atlanta. This year, before a huge Week 1 game against LSU, they aren’t providing one at all.
No. 4 Clemson did not include a depth chart in the first edition of its weekly Monday “game notes,” and coach Dabo Swinney confirmed Tuesday the move was made partially for competitive reasons before they play No. 9 LSU on Saturday.
“We’re just trying to be mysterious, keep everybody guessing,” Swinney said.
Heading into only the seventh AP Top 10 matchup in Memorial Stadium history, Swinney said that Clemson also has a few starting decisions the team “literally may not make until pregame,” including at punter.
Clemson is deciding between veteran Jack Smith, walk-on transfer Will McCune and converted kicker Robert Gunn III for its starting punter job. Swinney said that competition is still ongoing as of this week.
The Tigers also have a close position battle at safety (junior Khalil Barnes is a sure starter, but the other spot is open) and could see some movement on the offensive line, depending on the health of starting RG Walker Parks.
“So, no real need in it,” Swinney said. “It just creates more conversation than what we need to deal with right now. We’ll talk about it next week. Y’all will be like, ‘Well, you ran this guy out there first.’ It’ll give us something to talk about.”
Clemson plans to provide a depth chart starting next week, after the LSU game and before Clemson hosts Troy in Week 2, per a team spokesman. The depth chart will be included in each week’s game notes for the remainder of the season.
Last year, Clemson’s decision to not initially provide a depth chart stemmed partially from the fact Georgia, its opponent, doesn’t provide a Week 1 depth chart. (The teams also ran across that issue when they played in 2021.)
LSU has not released this week’s game notes yet, but the school didn’t provide a depth chart in game notes during the 2024 season, according to its archives.
South Carolina also isn’t putting out a Week 1 depth chart before its season opener against Virginia Tech in Atlanta, coach Shane Beamer said Wednesday.
Using the ‘unknowns’ to your advantage?
Not releasing a depth chart at all is another small change Clemson and Swinney have made heading into a season with national championship expectations.
At the start of 2025 preseason practice, Clemson also broke with tradition by not publicizing the results of its “BIG Weigh-In,” a pre-camp event where each player on the roster weighs in and the team celebrates those who’ve added weight or muscle, dropped weight and so on. At one point, the event was livestreamed.
“I didn’t really see a need to put it out and send that to our opponents and all that stuff,” Swinney said at the time. “Just gotta keep guessing. But I’m happy to answer any questions about it.”
Swinney said Tuesday that the nature of Week 1 college football games is a challenge, but it’s one that he and his program embrace — and face head-on, since they often open with a marquee non-conference game (Georgia, LSU).
A lack of preseason games and the addition of the transfer portal can add to the mystery of scouting your first opponent. LSU and coach Brian Kelly have 18 transfers on their 2025 roster, and that’s on the low end nationally.
“You have no video,” Swinney said. “You can look at last year, but it’s been a lot of time between last year and now, as far as for coaches and things like that to plan and prepare for. So there’s always unknowns.”
This story was originally published August 26, 2025 at 1:21 PM.
