With such a wide range of heavily media trained players and coaches, it’s incredibly refreshing to find someone as blunt as Coach Rumph. His breakdown on the individual players as well as the position group as a whole was as up-front as it could possibly be.
This was kicked off when asked if there was a “renewed sense of energy” heading into the season. He turned the question back to the reporter, asking “do you feel it?” Coach Rumph was not trying to prove a point, he was genuinely asking. “I should ask you that. Sometimes you look at yourself in the mirror after losing weight, and you don’t see it at all. Then your friend says to you ‘hey, have you lost weight?’ Sometimes you can’t see the progress, so I should ask you that question.” This fully honest and genuine answer, conveying he doesn’t necessarily feel any energy shift but acknowledging it may be there, was what made the interview so special.
“We got some big dudes. I don’t want no midgets, it’s not a circus”
Defensive Ends Coach, Chris Rumph
When breaking down his players, Coach Rumph continued to not hold back. When asked about star EDGE rusher TJ Parker, Rumph highlighted the development path needed for the junior to take the next step: “He has a lot of work to do. Not to only continue to learn his position, but to learn the entire defense and where everything fits, not just the front. Understand linebackers, understanding the secondary, why they’re saying some of the things they are saying (pre snap) so he can see the entire picture.” Understanding one’s role is obviously quintessential to a player’s development, but understanding their place in the unit allows for an entire new degree of knowledge at the position. Later on in the interview, Coach Rumph dropped a bombshell in regards to Parker, when asked about the second group. The reporter mistakenly assumed transfer Will Heldt and TJ Parker to be the starters, Rumph was quick to correct: “Parker’s not a starter yet, you just assume he’s a starter. All of em wanna play, and I’m not scared to say sit down. There’s nobody bigger than the program, including myself. When he’s finished there’s gonna be another guy wearing that number.” TJ started all of last season, racking up eleven sacks and six tackles for loss. Chris Rumph doesn’t care about that. He wants the best players on the field, regardless of status or legacy; “I don’t care if you’re a walk-on, or TJ Parker or Will Helm, everybody’s going to get it. It’s equal opportunity for me.”
Additionally, Coach treats each player the same on the practice field, no matter how they take the criticism: “As a coach, you have to coach them all the same. You have to coach your good players just as hard. As soon as I see (TJ Parker) doing something I’m smacking him. They say you shouldn’t use a hammer to kill a fly, well I do.” The reason I do it is not because of that fly, it’s because of the other flies.”
Coach Rumph went on to discuss the other players on the unit, seriously honing in on the size of the group. The interview was charmed with one-liners such as “We got some big dudes. I don’t want no midgets, it’s not a circus” and “We got some long guys. Like a small basketball team, Brownell better watch out.” Rumph clearly values size, intelligence, and coachability in his room, which is reflective upon the culture Dabo has built at Clemson. With such a strong foundation, it’ll be thrilling to see how Rumph can continue the legacy of the Clemson defensive end unit.
