Wednesday Night Insider: Swinney details what makes freshman class special

Tyler Brown is one of several leaders in the Clemson freshman class.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Wed Nov 15 19:25:40 GMT-04:00 2023

Clemson’s freshman class has shown out in recent weeks, especially the secondary, but head coach Dabo Swinney isn’t ready to call it his best.

Swinney met with the media for a brief session following Wednesday’s practice – the Tigers play host to North Carolina Saturday at 3:30 – and he was asked how this freshman class compares to a few others he’s had.

“I know our 2011 freshman class was pretty good. Sammy Watkins, that was a pretty good group. Adam Humphries, Martavis (Bryant), Charone (Peake), Stephone Anthony, I think that might have been Grady Jarrett. That was a pretty good freshman group, if I recall,” Swinney said. “DeShawn Williams. We've had a bunch of great freshman classes around here. I'd have to really sit down and lay it all out and declare a winner. But these guys certainly have done a lot of good things. I think they put themselves in a position to do some great things in the years to come.”

Swinney then said he loves the physicality of the entire freshman class.

“I think really all these freshmen, offensive and defensive, that's one attribute that I do love about this class. It's a physical group. It's a naturally physical group, all of them, both sides of the ball,” Swinney said. “Tyler Brown, Ronan (Hanafin), that's a tough physical dude. Noble (Johnson) is the same way. Noble, he's a physical kid. Olsen (Patt-Henry), Markus Dixon, Harris (Sewell), Flapjack (Zack Owens), Ian (Reed), I mean, they're all physical kids. Jarvis (Green), Jay Haynes. It's a really good group all across the board.

“And obviously, you've seen some guys over on the defensive side, like Dee Crayton and Jamal Anderson, we're super excited about what they bring. All those DBs that you've mentioned. You haven't really seen Robert Billings and Kylen Webb, but these are two physical kids, two good athletes. Hopefully, they can maybe get a little bit of special teams time down the stretch here now that they're not in danger of losing their redshirt. But all those D-llinemen, (Vic) Burley, Stephilyan (Green) and Peter (Woods) TJ (Parker), it's a really good group of physical guys. So we're excited about what we have. Obviously, you've seen some of them, but some of them you haven't. The other thing that I love about this group is they're competitive.”

On how LB Barrett Carter is recovering

“Good. He's been day to day and getting a little better each day.”

On the objective of the OL over last two games

“Just keep it going. They've settled in. They've done a nice job. Just keep it going. I mean, let's just keep building some momentum. Do your job. I think they, like I said, have really taken ownership and taken a lot of pride in what they're doing. It's been a lot of opportunity for Trent (Howard). I think he's handled it well. Harris, same thing. Then I think Mitchell (Mayes) has settled in, and he's doing a good job for us. Collin Sadler, getting him back is huge for us. You'll see all those guys play. Just continuing to build confidence and momentum within that group as we finish.”