In the summer of 2019, a seventh-grade Amare Adams attended Dabo Swinney’s football camp for the first time. Standing at 6’3, 200+ pounds at twelve years old, one can imagine Adams left an impression on many of the coaches working the camp. More notable is the impression Clemson left on him; “When I came to the camp – I think it was my seventh-grade year – when I came to the camp, I just fell in love with it more. I was grinding, just trying to get the offer to come here.”
For the next six years Adams worked relentlessly to earn the opportunity to run down the hill as a Clemson Tiger. He continued to grow both physically (he came in at 6’5, 260lbs at last week’s weigh-in’s) and mentally as a player, becoming a five-star recruit and top 25 overall prospect. Despite growing up in a family of Carolina fans, and receiving offers from some of the most prestigious schools in the nation, Amare remained loyal to the program he’d admired since he was a kid: “some other schools in the state, they were trying to get me to come, But honestly, I felt like I wouldn’t have probably been as happy. How family-oriented [Clemson is], it probably wouldn’t have been like that at any other school.”
On Wednesday, Dabo was asked about Amare’s potential role this season. The question sparked a nearly four minute lecture; covering this season’s recruiting class, the concept of player development, and the legacy of past Clemson athletes. The sermon began with an array of praise pointed towards Amare- “He’s special-special talent, special player, special motor, special leader.
Dabo then went on to discuss the flawed nature of the media’s outlook on recruits, and the expectations they create for others. He drew parallels to Cade Klubnik and Trevor Lawrence, comparing the contrast in their development. Lawrence came in as a freshman, went 15-0, won a national championship, and became the greatest quarterback in the history of the program before he could legally consume alcohol. Klubnik went on a much more typical career arc for a college quarterback, and saw unfair criticism due to skewed expectations set by Lawrence and other quarterbacks in the past. Dabo explains how these outliers can distort our perception of incoming freshmen; “A guy like Trevor shows up, creates problems for a guy like Klubnik. A player like Klubnik can get to the point Trevor was at, but all of a sudden you think that’s normal. That’s not normal. Sammy Watkins wasn’t normal. CJ Spiller was not normal. Blake Miller was not normal, where you just show up and start day one. Christian Wilkins is not normal. Unfortunately those guys can create criticisms and things like that.”
At this point in the speech, it appears that Coach Swinney is explaining that we should not have our hopes set too high for Amare Adams early into the season. His lecture on patience for prospects is insightful, but feels like a polite way of saying that Amare might not be ready on day one. Dabo subverts our expectations, and directly compares the five star to the legendary players listed before; “Amare’s in that group. He’s just not a normal freshman.”
Swinney is completely right about our skewed perception of incoming players. In the last fifteen years, Clemson fans have seen a surplus of impactful day-one starters. It’s human nature to feel entitled to something after being offered it for so long, which had led to a rather impatient attitude from the Clemson fandom. Expecting instant greatness out of these eighteen year olds isn’t fully delusional, but it’s inherently unreasonable.
However, if this past week of practice has convinced you that Amare Adams will carry on the legacy of Clemson icons such as Christain Wilkins, CJ Spiller, and Sammy Watkins — you won’t get any argument from Dabo Swinney.
