Swinney says last year's team overachieved, but it will make for stronger 2022

Swinney says last year's team overachieved.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Fri Apr 08 08:00:06 GMT-04:00 2022

CLEMSON – Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney has never been afraid to state his opinion, and there are times when he comes under fire for his beliefs. But most Clemson fans who watched last season have to agree with his Wednesday sentiments that last year’s 10-win team overachieved.

The Tigers finished the season with a 10-3 record and now have an 11-year streak of 10-win seasons. The program also has the nation’s longest home winning streak (34 games) and the Power Five’s longest active winning streak (six).

However, 2021 was never easy as the Tigers faced a perfect storm of injuries, attrition, adversity and inexperience in key positions. The 10-win-season streak continued despite only four offensive or defensive players starting every game and despite the Tigers ending the season with 30 scholarship players unavailable.

Swinney said there were key indicators that “something bad” happened in 2021.

“Unbelievable. That team overachieved. There’s no question,” Swinney said after Wednesday’s practice. “That team had no business winning 10 games. And not only won ten games but were in every game. But that's the belief. There are a lot of silver linings that come with it, too. If you had told me that Beaux (Collins) and Dacari (Collins) were going to start most of the games last year, or a good portion of the games, I would have said, 'Well, something bad has happened.' And something bad happened.

“If you had told me Will Swinney was going to start three games in the slot, I would have dang sure said something bad had happened. If you would have told me that we would have three different centers and seven offensive linemen? It was crazy, because it was one side of the ball because defensively, we were able to stay in some games.”

It was a year that hasn’t been seen around Clemson in a long time.

“It was an unbelievably challenging year,” Swinney said. “That’s why when it’s all said and done, and you really kind of step back and remove yourself from the fray of it, and when you really evaluate that team and that season, unbelievable.”

One silver lining – with all of the injuries and transfers and inconsistency across the board, especially on offense, the coaches had to adapt on the fly to try and find something that worked.

“We had to get creative,” Swinney said. “It forced the coaching staff to really be creative because we couldn’t just stick with a plan. We had to really create and find ways to get a first down.”

This year’s team will better appreciate what it means to win.

“And then we had to really coach in a way that we hadn't had a chance to coach in a while. And the struggle makes you stronger,” Swinney said. “That is what I love about DJ (Uiagalelei), man. He has got some battle wounds and he's scarred up and he's a stronger, better and more mature version of himself than we have ever seen and that is going to serve us well. We are going to be a team that has a deeper appreciation of what it looks like and what it takes. I think that team last year really set the appreciation of just winning. That locker room in Orlando (at the Cheez-It Bowl) might be the best locker room I've ever been in. “