What we learned from Dabo Swinney as he previewed fall camp

CLEMSON — Dabo Swinney met with the media on Friday ahead of the start of fall camp and provided plenty of updates on his football team.

The most notable announcement from Swinney was that star wideout Justyn Ross has been cleared to play football this fall. Ross is currently in COVID-19 protocol, but he is expected to be cleared from that on Friday and can then begin participating fully in practice.

Here is more of what we learned from Dabo Swinney:

Clemson injury updates

Swinney provided updates on several other players who are dealing with injuries.

Offensive lineman Tayquon Johnson has a torn right pectoral muscle. Swinney said: “That’ll be a long-term injury there.”

Backup quarterback Taisun Phommachanh is recovering well from his torn Achilles suffered in the spring game. Swinney expects Phommachanh back “sooner than later.” He participated in some portions of practice on Friday. “He is another, just miracle, to be honest with you. It’s amazing how he’s responded to the treatment.”

Defensive lineman DeMonte Capehart “had a little scope, but everything was good,” according to Swinney. “He’s on the fast track to get back going, but he’ll be out in the immediate from a practice standpoint. But he is on a fast track to be back sooner than later.”

Receiver Brannon Spector will miss fall camp as he is still dealing with COVID-19 issues from the spring. “He’s a lot better, too, from where y’all may or may not remember from the spring, we had to kind of hold him and limit him,” Swinney said. “But he is a lot better than he was, but he’s still kinda in the COVID protocol, if you will, and not fully cleared. So he probably will not participate in camp. But when they tell us he’s good to go full speed we’ll be glad to get him back.”

Practice adjustments

The NCAA announced rule changes this offseason in terms of the way practices are conducted during the preseason. There are now less practices with pads allowed; teams can only have 75 minutes of contact per practice. Teams can’t have more than two-straight days of full-contact practices and straight-line drills, such as Clemson’s PAW drill, are now banned.

Swinney said the only real adjustment for his program is no longer being able to do the PAW drill.

“To me [that] is the safest drill that we do. We don’t ever get anybody hurt in PAW drill,” Swinney said. “We get guys hurt in shorts. But that’s the rule that was put forth. So you’ve gotta do 11-on-11 type stuff to get what you need. You can’t get 3-on-3.”

Vaccination update

Swinney said that approximately 83 or 84 percent of Clemson’s team is currently vaccinated. If the team reaches 85 percent, the entire team will only have to be tested once per week. Swinney expects Clemson to reach that number soon.

“We’re right there at that 85%. I wanna say we’re 83, 84 percent. We’ve got a couple more guys that I think are planning to get vaccinated this weekend,” Swinney said. “So we’re in a really good spot. So I’m proud of our guys, I’m proud of our team and how they’ve responded.”

Other notes

• Swinney believes the battle at defensive line will probably be the best on the team as Clemson has seven players back who have started.
• Xavier Thomas is one of those. Thomas is down to 264 pounds now after weighing as much as 294 this offseason. “He’s been incredibly focused since January,” Swinney said. Clemson’s head coach had a talk with Thomas after last season explaining what he wanted from Thomas “and he’s exceeded all of those things.”
• Swinney mentioned running back, wide receiver, linebacker and secondary as other position groups where there will be a lot of competition.
• The biggest area Swinney wanted to see improvement was at tight end behind Davis Allen and Braden Galloway. He feels good about where the tight end room is now.
• Will Shipley has already established himself as a leader on the team. “He’s not like a typical freshman, I mean it’s easy to see… Just how he carries himself, 4.0 guy. He’s just locked in all the time. Everything. He’s going to win every sprint and if you can’t run with him, too bad. That’s just his mindset. He showed up here as a leader and he’s one of the most respected guys on this team already.”

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