Re: TNET: Swinney says transfer portal didn't lose the Duke game for Clemson

Tiger Spirit [9779]

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Sep 7, 2023, 11:31 AM

Fix the culture by winning … sounds so easy. It’s not. Long response to follow, so thanks in advance for bearing with me.

HS players coming to Clemson have the utmost confidence that our coaches will work to coach them up to become good enough to earn snaps. This, along with expectations at Clemson that the FB players will also be good citizens who do their schoolwork and strive to get their degree, is what creates a sincere family culture. The smart recruits understand this, even the HS players who know that they will be dominant players regardless of where they go. (B.Carter, P.Woods, and S.Brown attest to their belief that our ‘family culture’ philosophy isn’t just a shallow catch-phrase.)

We all need to face reality. Even if we don’t like that reality. Clemson simply doesn’t have the same favorable notoriety as a big time CFB program as the big time SEC & B1G programs, USC, TX, and Notre Dame. We are only at ~ par with schools like OR, OK, and aTm. Each one of these schools has larger monetary resources than us. Our NIL program is carefully budgeted instead of a profligate spending extravaganza. Nevertheless, our recruiting has kept us within the same ballpark as those far wealthier, big spending programs. How do we do this? The Clemson culture. Family (really, not just a cheap slogan). Committing to those players who commit to us.

If we start undercutting players who came to us in good faith by importing portal players to take their spot, then guess what the big NIL spenders will tell prospects when thet are competing with us on the recruiting trail? ‘Clemson uses the portal just like everyone else. Their family culture is no better than ours.’ We then face competing with other schools that will outbid us in the NIL world, and we will no longer have a ‘true family culture’ as a unique counter argument.

(*). Therefore, Clemson’s use of the portal must be extremely limited so as to not undercut developing prospects who are already on our team.

(*). Remember when we went after portal star Center Olesegun Olutawami (from UVA) after the 2021 season? We did this because there was no experienced upper class Center on our roster. Olutawmi chose MI over us (and presumably several other interested teams; he was first team All American at MI last season. We got lucky when Will Putnam volunteered to give up his starter job at RG to train at Center (where he had a fine season in 2022). Also, Oluwatimi was an outstanding student: His CFB started at Air Force Academy, then he transferred to academically reputable UVA, only to leave after Coach Mendenhall surprisingly resigned from UVA. Clemson’s culture includes limiting our recruiting to only high character kids.

Again, we do pursue portal players, but only on an extremely selective basis. Dabo will quit before he goes the Coach Prime Time route.

As for what jacka_ _es like Big Dave say about us … why does anyone let that get under our skin? We aren’t a bunch of 13 year old girls.

Mistakes: Our coaches make mistakes; so do our players. This happens on all teams. Are our coaches learning? Are our players learning? I think so, but we’ll see.

Sidebar on Klubnik’s premature Q4 slide: It is distinctly possible that CK2 had not been coached about the recent changed nuance about where the ball gets marked when the slide move begins. If all of our QBs were not specifically coached about when to start their slide, then this is entirely on our O-Coordinator and QB coach … G.Riley. If G.Riley did coach this, then the premature slide was entirely CK2’s fault. Riley and the QBs had a lot of big new stuff to accomplish during Spring and pre-season practices. If this premature slide on 4th down -or- our QB doesn’t keep track of the remaining TO’s in context with time remaining on the clock when deciding to run the ball (re end of Q2 during TN game), then our coaches have a problem at QB.

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I love our coach and am I proud of what our Tigers have accomplished. However, I do wish he would temper his comments a bit. As anti-portal as Dabo is, I think it is very likely that at some point in time his stance may change and then the strong words used in the media come back to bite.

He has stated his case about the portal. However, he has yet to prove anyone wrong about the portal. Our Tigers have now lost 3 out of 4 games for the first time in a LONG LONG time. 2 of those losses to inferior teams. Love the Clemson culture, but we are losing games. If players want Dabo to stay out of the portal they NEED TO PERFORM ON THE FIELD.

College football has changed a lot in the last few years. What was at one time cheating is now the accepted norm and a lot of teams, especially ones we play each year, are using every available avenue to improve their rosters.

I will always be a proud Tiger fan, but it was very disappointing to watch the Duke game. At times it looked like Streeter was till calling plays, and it does not appear our passing game has improved one bit. If our receivers are wide open they generally catch the pass, but if they are even the least bit covered it the DBs win a way more than their fair share of battles.

Cannot understand the continued average to below-average O-line play. Our former 5 star Leigh was absolutely assaulted on the Mafah fumble. How can our O-line not get better when they practice against great D-linemen?

Hopefully the Duke loss will light the fire needed !

TNET: Swinney says transfer portal didn't lose the Duke game for Clemson

We are going to keep on keeping on.

Re: We are going to keep on keeping on.

Re: We are going to keep on keeping on.

Re: We are going to keep on keeping on.

Re: We are going to keep on keeping on.

Re: We are going to keep on keeping on.

Re: We are going to keep on keeping on.

He's right about that

Re: He's right about that