Anonymous ACC coaches question Clemson 'family,' new offense impact

One ACC coach surveyed by Athlon questioned if the Clemson offense has playmakers outside of Will Shipley.

by TigerNet Staff - Wed Aug 02 10:15:17 GMT-04:00 2023

Athlon Sports released its annual anonymous report from ACC coaches on its website recently, and there's a little more negative speech on the Tigers than in recent years.

Out of the gates, the family atmosphere was questioned after Clemson coach Dabo Swinney fired alum Brandon Streeter in favor of Broyles Award winner Garrett Riley at offensive coordinator in January.

"When you recruit against these guys, all you hear about is ‘family, family, family,’ and him going outside of his group and making the change at offensive coordinator [to former TCU OC Garrett Riley] isn’t about family," said Athlon. "That’s accepting the reality you’re just another football program, and you have to do things like Alabama and Ohio State to stay relevant with those guys."

Another coach seemed to question if Riley will get to call the offense as he wants.

"Offensively, let’s see how much of the TCU stuff goes in and how much he’s calling it," said an ACC coach to Athlon. "The QB [Cade Klubnik] might be the next thing there, but the only skill guy you can count on is [Will] Shipley. That’s a lot more unknowns than they’re used to," added another league coach.

This upcoming season was tagged as "the biggest year for Dabo Swinney since he became a national title winner" by one coach.

Florida State was the clear runner-up pick for the league last week at the ACC Football Kickoff, and there are some common themes to what coaches see in the Seminoles.

"You always get asked, ‘Are they back?’ Yeah, they might be. They’re not one of those top six or so teams nationally, but they can win this league. That would be a huge step up for them," said one ACC coach. "They’ve upgraded at every position at the 1s and 2s compared to when Mike [Norvell] got there," said another.

“This program is really, really talented. As a roster, they might be at their best since Jimbo Fisher’s title."

Another ACC coach said Labor Day road opener opponent Duke now has the league's attention.

"Mike [Elko] has a tremendous reputation in the industry, but I don’t think anyone assumed they’d come in and look this solid right away. When you win nine games at Duke in your first season, you’ve got a target on your back," said one coach.

North Carolina is another team projected as a Top 25 team in 2023, and there's not a lot of optimism about the Tar Heels.

“Maybe the team with the most questions in the entire league," said one coach. "Defensively, they lost basically their entire secondary, and overall they’re missing some real dudes."

"I think this is a less-talented roster overall, especially on defense, and they weren’t really threatening on that side of the ball last season."