Swinney speaks out on conference realignment as practice begins

Swinney speaks with the media ahead of the first practice (Photo by Merrell Mann).

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Fri Aug 04 16:04:45 GMT-04:00 2023

CLEMSON – Dabo Swinney isn’t worried about conference realignment or revenue gaps because Clemson has always been at a deficit compared to other teams and conferences. He’s just ready to go win the opener.

Swinney met with the media Friday afternoon ahead of the first practice of fall camp. The Tigers will practice Friday, and Saturday, have an off-day Sunday, and then practice the first six days of next week before taking another day off on Sunday, August, 13th. The last practice of fall camp will be August 22nd, and then the Tigers will break fall camp and start preparations for the season opener at Duke on Labor Day night.

He was asked about the rumors swirling around conference realignment, the ACC, Clemson, and Florida St. and he answered in his typically candid way.

“There is a lot going on, for sure. My job is to get the team ready to play. I don’t get caught up in all that stuff. It’s just the next domino in where it’s going. Eventually, there will be 54 teams and a 16-team playoff. I don’t know what it will be called,” Swinney said. “That is where it is going to be eventually, and there are steps to getting there. There are narratives. I know there is a lot of conversation about our league and those things are important. Things change. Just wait till next week because something will be different. But we focus on what we don’t have, and I focus on what we do have. We have 85 scholarships and as long as we have 85 we are going to be awesome at Clemson.

“There is a lot of talk. A lot of conversation. But not a lot has changed since 15 years ago, from my perspective. My job is to take what we’ve got and go beat what they’ve got. And we’ve always had a gap. We’ve never had a bigger TV contract. And in revenue, we’ve never been the highest, somewhere from 17-to-40, and we’ve never had the top recruiting class. Not to minimize that, but I don’t control any of that. I concentrate on what we do have. There has always been a gap here at Clemson. The other thing we have here at Clemson is IPTAY, the greatest fundraising organization in the country, and passionate fans. I do know Clemson is a special place and will always be a special place. We are 3-1 against Ohio St. and we don’t have the alumni base of Ohio St. But I don’t control any of that. I control practice today and trying to go win the opener. I have to get 135 guys with one heartbeat and a single purpose of going out there every day to be our best.”

Other notes

*No better day than this one right here. Look forward to this every year. A ton goes into getting to this point and a lot of preparation that goes into getting to this day. A ton of great energy.

*Swinney says all of the metrics and indicators of success have been there this offseason.

*Excited to see all of the freshmen. Wants to see how much further along the mid-year guys are, to see the results of the mental work they’ve put in. And of course he wants to see the new 14 guys that came in over the summer.

*Swinney says freshman OL Harris Sewell is “going to help us. We saw that this spring. It’s not often you see an offensive lineman show up and all the dots are connected.” Says Sewell was physically and mentally ready, and you don’t see that very often. “To see a freshman come into that position ready to play is rare. Harris, I don’t think he’s gone backwards since the last time I was on the field with him in the spring.”

*On the receivers, Swinney says he has a deep and talented group and it starts with Beaux Collins. Swinney says Collins is still a young player, will be a junior, and if he stays healthy will have a great year. Fast, strong, polished, and passionate. “Hopefully this is a year where he stays healthy all year.” Says Antonio Williams, Adam Randall, Cole Turner, Brannon Spector will be the main group. Said they aren’t counting on Troy Stellato, limited with hamstring, but they hope he can be health because he has a lot of talent. Swinney says they have 10 guys then can count on.

*On the offense, this is the third round of installation. Installed a lot in the spring, but had some guys that weren’t available. What needs to happen? They need to show up with great focus and commitment every day and build off the mistakes from the day before. Need some luck to stay healthy.

*Swinney says the opener is always the hardest game to prepare for because of the amount of preparation time, new coaches, new players, new systems, and there are a lot of unknowns. He says Duke is playing with a ton of confidence and has a lot of players returning. Swinney said the key is to win the opener and go from there.

*Tyler Venables spoke to the team for about 30 minutes Thursday night about his journey. Swinney said, “It was amazing.”

*On linebacker depth, Swinney says it’s tough to lose a guy. The number they want is eight, but they were under one at seven with TJ Dudley and now are at six with Dudley leaving the program. “It’s definitely disappointing to lose a player. But the good news is you don’t have a lot of 4-3 anymore. Most teams run 11 personnel, and so you are three-deep there.

*Says the offensive line looks good physically and they are mature, have been around for a while. They have been grinding. Can’t polish anything without grinding. They are made up of the right stuff and this is the deepest they’ve been in a while. They have guys they can trust and can go play and they have to figure out the best five. Thinks there are eight that can compete for five spots.

*On Chad Morris, Dabo says he feels like he is living in the Twilight Zone. He said Jeff Scott lives two doors down and his wife is taking food to the Scotts, and now Chad is back in the building. It’s been eight years since Morris has been here (left the Sunday after the South Carolina game). Swinney hopes the Tigers can help Morris reset himself and work with both offense and defense. He is very cheap labor for his expertise. He will go and see Chandler (his son, QB at TCU) on the weekends. He will be a week ahead and study opposing opponents offense and defense.