Wes Goodwin pleased with defense, but knows tackling needs to improve

Clemson ranks seventh in total defense at midseason.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Thu Oct 12 07:00:06 GMT-04:00 2023

CLEMSON – The Clemson defense is seventh nationally in total defense, giving up just 261.8 yards per game. Defensive coordinator Wes Goodwin wants to get even better by the end of the season.

The Tigers sit at 12th nationally in rushing defense and 18th nationally in pass defense, a marked improvement over last season when the Tigers finished 76th in pass defense.

Goodwin spoke with the media earlier this week and said he’s been pleased with the progression of his group.

“I think every week we've gotten better and better, and that's the goal,” Goodwin said. “Game six is better than game five, so forth and so on. So just really, really cool to see the progression being made. I feel like guys are playing with a lot of physicality upfront and really controlling the line of scrimmage, and guys are playing relentless with great effort, flying around. You can just feel the confidence and belief and just see it out there on Saturdays.”

The Tigers have also improved in red zone defense – last season the defense allowed a score 81 percent of the time, and that number has dropped to 72 percent this season, a number that sits in 17th nationally. Goodwin was asked where he wanted to make the most improvement heading into the season, and it was pass defense and red zone defense.

“We’ve really made a lot of strides in those two areas. And rush defense has been pretty consistent the past two years,” Goodwin said. “But really, the pass defense, limiting explosive plays down the field, and then just in the red zone. Wake Forest scored touchdowns on one of five opportunities this past weekend, which was huge, along with no points off at turnovers.”

What has led to the improved pass defense?

“Just a lot more experience this year. Guys have played a lot of ball,” Goodwin said. “Just their overall football knowledge of coverages, alignments, techniques, applying those in the different situations, just a lot of confidence as well and belief. You can just feel it on the sideline. I can see it in their eyes. They're a lot more confident in what they're doing and in the moments. And in the moments, all the back seven guys playing with a lot of confidence right now.”

However, Goodwin knows there is still room for improvement.

“Yeah, I still think we can do better tackling. At times, we're still missing a few tackles that we need to get cleaned up and then continue to iron out details in the red zone, get better there,” Goodwin said. “There's some improvement even from the last game in that area, but just continue to build consistency and momentum. The challenge for the bye week is to get refreshed, get healthy, get back focused, and take what we learned the first part of the season and apply it in the second half.”