Head coach Dabo Swinney spoke to the media following Clemson Football’s first fall scrimmage this past Saturday and spoke positively about players on both sides of the ball, but mentioned that there’s still room for improvement by the time they play their season opener in Atlanta against the Georgia Bulldogs.
With that being said, here are the three key takeaways from the initial scrimmage:
Offensive Line is playing exceptional; still a position battle for Center
OL Coach Matt Luke was one of Clemson’s most significant offseason additions. He spent the last 20 years coaching offensive line at several power four universities in addition to serving as Ole Miss’s head coach, proving his credibility.
Since his hire, he’s brought nothing but intensity from day one and the players bought-in immediately.
Dabo Swinney“He’s great, he’s smart. He’s been a head coach, he understands my job very well. He’s been around a lot… He’s got a veteran group and those guys have really bought in to what he’s asked them to do. I’m really proud of him, he’s done an awesome job.”
The difference in the OL seems to be evident as Dabo Swinney praised them for their performance within the scrimmage, saying they ‘won the day.’
“If I had to say who won the day, I’d say the OL won the day. I’m really pleased with how they’ve performed to this point and I was anxious to see them go today, and they came right out, opening drive; touchdown drive.”
Dabo Swinney
In addition to the hire of Matt Luke, Swinney also believes that this OL room was bound to get better as they’ve gained more on-field experience and overall development heading into this next season.
“They’re older, they’re more mature. It’s called football, its development. Tristan Leigh is a fourth-year player now, he’s a second year starter. If you’re made of the right stuff and have pride in your performance, you get better. We’re so quick to judge young players. Walker Parks is back, Marcus Tate is a fourth-year senior, Blake Miller is a third-year starter, Trent Howard is a fifth-year senior that’s started for us, Harris Sewell is not a true-freshman anymore, he’s played a whole year; he’s started some games. Colin Sadler is a starter for us, I mean we got just more guys that have played a lot of football. You should be better, it’s not a surprise.
Dabo Swinney
While the overall OL performance has improved vastly, the spot for the starting center position is still open between a few guys that have been fighting it out over the course of fall camp.
“A good battle. It [Position Battle] continues on, their stacking days. Really pleased with Linthicum and Harris, they’re taking a ton of the reps. Trent’s working at guard and center so we feel like we could go play with all three of those guys. We really truly feel that, so that’s a nice battle, it’s kind of day-to-day… I’m not disappointed in them.”
Dabo Swinney
Battle for the Starting Kicker continues
Clemson’s kicking situation last year was very sticky as true-freshman (at the time) Robert Gunn III was initially the starting kicker heading into the 2023 season, but that was cut short after he failed to live up to expectations. So, they instead had to call up former Clemson kicker, Jonathan Weitz, to finish their season. While Weitz got the job done, they still needed a lot of improvement at the position.
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Heading into this year, there are currently two kickers battling for the position, Robert Gunn III and Nolan Hauser, a true-freshman. Swinney described the battle as very back and forth throughout the offseason, but Hauser seems to have the edge on the second-year kicker.
“They continue to do some good things. Hauser is right now just a little ahead statistically. They’re kind of battling… Whoever’s up after the day goes out there first. They’re both competing really well.”
Dabo Swinney
RB Room appears to be one of the strongest assets offensively
While we all know Clemson’s starting running back, Phil Mafah, is poised for a great season, there’s been a lot of talk surrounding the depth of the RB room.
Swinney spoke a lot about the guys behind Mafah, crediting them for their play and the strides that they’ve taken up until this point.
“They’re all doing their thing. Jarvis [Green] is still out right now, he’s gonna kind of on that day-to-day mode. Keith [Adams Jr.] had a big, huge touchdown today, broke a tackle in the open-field. He kinda does what he does, he’s a big, strong, physical kid. He just kinda different than all those other guys. Then Jay [Haynes] and Eazy-E [David Eziomume], they’ve made big strides so it’s a lot of fun. It’s a fun group, it’s a good situation. Hopefully, if the good lord will bless us and we keep Mafah healthy, we have a good situation to be able to really develop those guys into what we think they can be. They’ll add a lot to us, it’s a group.”
Dabo Swinney
Clemson Football and Dabo Swinney plan to have their second and final scrimmage of fall camp next Thursday on August 17.
