We are still a few months away from Clemson opening up the season against the Duke Blue Devils, and the expectations from the fan base seem to be pretty high. We wanted to take a deeper dive into the expectations of the 2023 season with a fan based perspective.
Clemson football is coming into the 2023 season off of two consecutive good seasons, but not up to the expectations of the fans. Clemson has built this program on the saying “Best is the Standard,” but the fans haven’t seen that goal reached on the offensive side of the ball since the covid season in 2020.
During the 2022 season the defense took a small step back but that was to be expected with the loss of players like Andrew Booth, Nolan Turner, James Skalski, and Baylon Spector, and the loss of 10 year defensive coordinator Brent Venables. 2022 was the first year for defensive coordinator Wes Goodwin. Clemson finished the 2022 season ranked 28th overall in total defense.
This season is still packed full of questions, with the hiring of Garrett Riley as offensive coordinator, new quarterback in Cade Klubnik. Can the offensive line take another step forward? Can the wide receivers stay healthy this year? Is the tight end room ready to be a weapon for the offense? Can the defense bounce back to being one of the nation’s elite?
We sat down with a lifelong Clemson Football fan to see what expectations are looking like for the 2023 season.
What Are Your Expectations For The Offense This Season?
“I am excited to see the “beyond fast pace” offense with a 2nd year Cade Klubnik running HIS show. I would love to see the offense be a very balanced attack from both a running and passing standpoint. I would like to see the passing yardage well exceed the 232 yards we averaged per game last season. I am also wanting to see the talented running backs average around 200 yards per game. Overall my expectation is to see a big improvement from last year. In a perfect world I would love to see around 500 yards of total offense per game.”
What Are Your Expectations For Cade Klubnik?
“My expectation for Cade is to get the Tigers back to what we, as fans, have grown accustomed to (and maybe somewhat spoiled) good QB play. I do not want to put the pressure on him to be as good as Lawrence or Watson but he has to be a huge improvement over the starter from the last two seasons. Make good decisive decisions, don’t be scared to pull the ball and run it. I would love to see at least 25 passing TD, at least a 60% completion rate, and less than 5 interceptions. 500 rushing yards with a few TDs there as well.”
What Do You Expect To See Out Of The Wide Receiver Room?
“Really excited to see Antonio Williams, Cole Turner, Adam Randall, a healthy Beaux Collins, and the rest of the talented WRs have field days in this new offense. To put individual expectations on them is not fair but as a group I expect to see major improvement over last season. Let’s not forget about the talent at TE either. Briningstool is going to be huge. Would love to see him be a big part of the offense just like Brock Bowers (UGA TE) has been for the Dawgs.”
Does The Defense Bounce Back To Elite Status In Year 2 Under Wes Goodwin?
“Looking at what the defense lost from last year one may think the defense will take a step back, but I totally disagree. After watching the defense go out and bust their butt game after game with not much of an offense having their back, I feel like they will take a step up this year. I love Wes Goodwin as the DC, and under his leadership along with an extremely talented front 7, I expect BIG things from them. Not to mention that they will have a much improved offense supporting them and keeping them off the field more often. Individually, I am super excited to see Peter Woods, Tyler Davis, Barrett Carter, Jeremiah Trotter, Xavier Thomas (in his 5th season as a Tiger), Jalyn Phillips, and Mukuba take us back to defensive dominance.”
What In Your Eyes Would Be A Successful Season?
“Being extremely greedy, I feel like anything less than another perfect regular season and a trip to the playoffs would be a let down. However, my realistic expectation is to see the defense completely dominate once again, and the offense to take a huge step forward. So with all that being said, I expect MY Clemson Tigers to win at least 11 games and get revenge on our little brothers at Billy Brice.
GO TIGERS!!!!!!!!!!”
