Dabo Swinney could very well have a career as a movie critic if he ever gets tired of coaching. Clemson Fall camp is in full swing, and as Coach Swinney took to the podium on Wednesday, Aug. 9th to discuss his team’s progress, he was asked the light-hearted question of which movie he prefers between the two current summer blockbusters.
Oppenheimer or Barbie?
“I don’t know either one of them,” he laughed. “I haven’t seen either one of them, but I would probably opt for Oppenheimer if I went to watch one because when I was at Alabama, my recruiting area, and I don’t know if this is in the movie, was East Tennessee. I had Oak Ridge, Tennessee, which they called the Hidden City.”
Dabo Swinney
Oak Ridge, of course, was one of the locations where J. Robert Oppenheimer helped develop the first nuclear bomb.
“I would go up there, and I would wonder, what’s down that road,” joked Swinney. “Kind of some shady looking roads, but they built the atomic bomb there.”
Dabo Swinney
As Clemson dives deeper into camp, Swinney hopes he has a team that can go nuclear on the rest of the ACC and obliterates the competition on the way to another College Football Playoff appearance.
He feels good about where his team stands as week one of camp wraps up.
“I’m super excited,” he said. “These guys have put in a lot of work. The staff has done a great job, and it’s been a lot of fun since January just getting everyone on the same page. Being able to take it to the practice field and start to build some confidence and rhythm, it’s been really good. I want to see a great team. I am the most excited about our team. It’s hard to be clicking on all cylinders right out of the gate, but I hope we have a veteran enough group that we can play well early.”
Dabo Swinney
A big positive early has been the heath of the Tigers, who have weathered many combustible injury situations over the past two seasons. Swinney points to being healthy as a key to this season.
“We’ve got some good people in a lot of good places,” he added. “Catch a little break this year from a health standpoint and I think these guys will be fun to watch.”
Dabo Swinney
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Clemson’s first scrimmage takes place this Saturday, and for the next several days the team will practice on Jervey Meadows. Swinney is looking forward to using the next 48 hours to prepare his team for their first live competition reps since the spring game.
“We just want to get (the team) competition ready,” he stated. “We’ve gotten in our normal down stuff, we’ve done third downs, we’ve got into some red zone and green zone, we’ll get into some short yardage and goal line tomorrow, a little two-minute tomorrow, so just continuing our situational installations, but also offense, defense, and kicking game installations. It’s a lot of work and things we have to get done, so from a coaching and players standpoint I want to see them mentally push through. Full pads tomorrow and we’ll get a little bit of live work. It’s hopefully going to be hot and it’s a quick turnaround. We flip the camp from late afternoon to morning which is purposeful for how we do it.”
Dabo Swinney
Swinney added, “I want to see the leaders lead. I want to see them embrace it and love it. I want to see the mental toughness and continue to do your job consistently when you’re tired and a little fatigued. Those are the things you are looking for.”
Dabo Swinney
Saturday’s scrimmage will be a good first look for the coaching staff on where the Tigers stand both physically and mentally. It also brings the team one step closer in their preparation for their season opening game against Duke on Labor Day Monday. In all, Swinney is excited about the direction his squad it headed. The Tigers could be a destructive force.
“I’m excited to see them play Saturday,” Swinney said. “We’ve got a lot of guys, it’s just been a while since they played without some type of constraint. We only get two of those opportunities so it’s kind of our first preseason game if you will. So, I’m excited to see some of these young guys and evaluate.”
Dabo Swinney
