Clemson fully loaded for national title run in fall
Greenville (S.C.) News
NEW ORLEANS – When Clemson coach Dabo Swinney’s second team lost to South Florida in the Meineke Car Care Bowl to cap a 6-7 season in 2010, he boldly proclaimed that the next decade would be the best in school history.
Turns out, he was right. Swinney’s teams have gone 111-16 since, including a 69-5 record and four national championship game appearances in the last five years.
Yet even after this year’s latest trip to the title game, which Clemson lost to No. 1 LSU 42-25 in Mercedes-Benz Superdome, the best might be yet to come for the Tigers.
“The good news is this is one of the youngest teams I’ve ever had,” Swinney said. “I think we’ve got a chance to be a better team next year. I really do.”
The numbers back up Swinney’s contention.
Eighty of the 120 players for the Tigers are either freshmen or sophomores, and although the offense likely will lose six starters, Clemson is expected to return seven starters from the nation’s No. 1 scoring defense.
Add to that mix the nation’s top-ranked recruiting class, which includes six five-star players, and Swinney’s optimism is understandable.
“Fifteen mid-years just got there and we’ve got a lot of people back,” Swinney said.
The mid-year enrollees include defensive end Bryan Bresee, the nation’s top-ranked player, and quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei, the USA TODAY offensive player of the year.
Uiagalelei likely will not be rushed into action with quarterback Trevor Lawrence returning for a junior season.
Lawrence, who guided Clemson
to the national championship as a freshman, began his sophomore campaign rather sluggishly and was intercepted eight times in the Tigers’ first seven games. But he finished with a flourish and in Clemson’s last seven games entering the national title game had 22 touchdowns and no interceptions and the nation’s highest quarterback rating during that span.
Junior running back Travis Etienne is likely to enter the NFL draft in April, as is fellow junior and standout wide receiver Tee Higgins, but Justyn Ross and Amari Rodgers will return for a receiving corps that is deep and exceedingly talented.
On defense, All-American linebacker Isaiah Simmons, a versatile junior who can play multiple positions, is expected to be a high first-round pick, but linebacker James Skalski – the team’s second-leading tackler – already has announced his intent to return and defensive linemen Tyler Davis, who started every game this season as a freshman, and sophomore Xavier Thomas are potential stars.
Expectations will be high again, particularly given a 2020 schedule that includes few potential stumbling blocks. The Tigers must travel to Notre Dame for the first time since 1979 and face Florida State on the road but likely will enter next fall as an overwhelming favorite to capture a sixth consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference title and post a school-record 10th straight season with double-digit victories.
Swinney is losing longtime assistant coach Jeff Scott, who already has accepted the head coaching position at South Florida, but the rest of the staff is expected to remain intact, which only adds to Swinney’s enthusiasm for what lies ahead.