Wednesday Night Notes: Swinney says it's "great to be the coach at Clemson"

Swinney spoke with the media after Wednesday's practice.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Wed Sep 15 19:07:18 GMT-04:00 2021

CLEMSON – Two stellar recruiting classes in a row have head coach Dabo Swinney saying it’s great to be the head coach at Clemson.

Swinney and No. 6 Clemson practiced for 2 1/2 hours Wednesday evening. Clemson hosts Georgia Tech Saturday at 3:30 pm (ABC). Saturday's game will be a rematch of Clemson's 73-7 win at Georgia Tech in 2020, when Clemson's 66-point victory margin was the largest in conference play in ACC history.

In addition to celebrating Family Weekend, Clemson will celebrate Football Reunion Day on Saturday. After last year's Football Reunion Day was postponed during the COVID-19 pandemic, Clemson will celebrate multiple anniversary teams on Saturday, including squads celebrating anniversaries of five years, 10 years, 25 years, and 50 years in 2020 or 2021. In line with those anniversaries, Clemson will welcome back members of the 1970, 1971, 1995, 1996, 2010, 2011, 2015 and 2016 squads for the game.

Here are the takeaways from Swinney’s post-practice availability, including his comments on the two freshman classes.

*Linebacker Jake Venables (hamstring) will be a gametime decision.

*On the horizontal threat, like Amari Rodgers in recent years, Swinney said this is as good a group of receivers as they’ve had. Didn’t get into rhythm the first week and did whatever they wanted to do last week (but didn’t last week). They just need to be consistent.

*On defensive tackle Tré William, he is getting better. Not quite where Ruke Orhorhoro and Tyler Davis and Bryan Bresee are from an execution standpoint, but he is getting better each week. All of these guys love ball and they care and this is a very coachable team. All of these guys love to prepare and they are getting better because they learn through experience.

*This past offseason, the Clemson coaches didn’t go visit any other schools but they had virtual meetings and had other schools come in. Swinney said, “Nowadays, you don’t have to go anywhere to be somewhere.”

*There is no question that the offense has steady improvement. He is pleased with how they have worked and was just telling the team that after practice. Great teams get better. That is what Clemson is doing and they will learn through experience. Much more of a veteran group defensively, but the offense held its own against the defense Wednesday and that will continue to grow their confidence. The energy has been incredibly consistent. There have been years that Swinney has had to crank it up but these guys have been incredibly self-motivated.

*Execution – cleaning up mistakes – has been where he has seen the most improvement. He wishes they could be the best version of themselves today but that isn’t how it works. Lot of young guys on offense starting for the first time, a lot of new pieces on the offensive side. They have a willingness to do that every day.

*On Will Shipley as a zone runner, Swinney says Shipley is “exceptional.” He says Shipley has a great feel for everything and will get better and better.

*This freshman class is very mature. Swinney says it’s great to be a coach at Clemson. Last year’s freshman class and this year’s class are all very special. This is an incredibly mature group of guys. They all have a level of maturity that is rare for 18-year olds. Those two classes combined are going to be special as they go through their careers.