Swinney loves fall camp, says his approach and temperament haven't changed

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney loves this time of year.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Fri Aug 18 07:00:16 GMT-04:00 2023

CLEMSON – Dabo Swinney has different feelings about different days on the football calendar, and sometimes even compares National Signing Day to Christmas morning. And while he doesn’t have a special expression for how he feels about fall camp, there is no doubt he loves it.

Swinney and the Tigers are close to breaking fall camp. The Tigers will take most of the weekend off to rest and recharge, then start preparations for the season opener at Duke when the team gets back together on Monday. Clemson plays at Duke on Labor Day night on ESPN.

The team scrimmaged Wednesday afternoon in Death Valley, the last full scrimmage of fall camp, and Swinney spoke to the media in one of the new media rooms underneath the stadium. Swinney didn’t hide how he feels about camp.

“I love camp," Swinney told the media. “Because it is the one time of year that we are together all day. I mean from morning until late at night we are together. To me, it is just a magical time with your team and it can make or break you as far as what gets developed in camp. The chemistry. The togetherness. All those types of things. Everyone understanding their roles, buying into the team. Buying into what it takes. All of those things. None of that has changes."

Former players love to tell stories about practices under head coaches like Danny Ford. Levon Kirkland once told the story about how Ford told the players to get water, and they all thought practice was over so they filled up with water. But Ford pushed them back onto the field, and everyone lost the water and whatever else was in their stomach as they ran in the August heat.

Swinney admits things have changed.

“The biggest change would be the format of what we can do from a practice standpoint as far as what we can do - that has changed drastically over the years as we have gained more knowledge and learned more things," Swinney said.

That doesn’t mean the expectations have changed. At Clemson, after two three-loss seasons in a row, expectations are higher than they are at other schools.

"A lot has changed. Obviously, you go back to when I started -- it was two-a-days, like real two-a-days, like real pads, and it was a different deal," Swinney said. "But the rules have changed as far as the parameters of camp. So we’ve had to adapt and adjust to that. But my approach, my temperament, the expectations - none of that has changed because it takes what it takes. You can’t change what it takes. All of those haven’t changed at all.”