Dabo Swinney shares goals for Clemson spring practice

Clemson is looking to get back to being an elite program in 2024. This spring will go a long way towards determining if that does indeed happen.

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney recently shared his goals for the Tigers program for this spring. For Swinney, it’s important to get back to the basics.

“We’ve got 15 days, and the goal this spring is to install what you want to get installed from a schematic standpoint,” Dabo Swinney said. “But, you know, it’s more how you do it and why you do it as opposed to what we’re doing. I mean that’s the big part of spring ball. This is a time to experiment.”

Clemson has gone three straight years without reaching the College Football Playoff, after making the CFP every season from 2015-20.

The issues last year were simple ones — turnovers and too many careless mistakes.

The Tigers did end the year strong, going 5-0 in their final five games, but that came after a 4-4 start.

“When you look at our breakdowns from last year, it’s fundamental stuff,” Swinney said. “I mean it’s back to the basic. It’s fundamentals. It’s your eyes, it’s technique. So we’ll spend a lot of time this spring trying to really, really reinforce the details of what we do.”

If Clemson can get back to the basics and play more clean football in 2024, the Tigers could get right back in the College Football Playoff conversation, particularly with it set to expand to 12 teams.

Clemson has momentum with the way it ended last season. Even though Swinney is a big believer in each team starting over, he does hope that the momentum from five straight wins to close out 2023 will carry over into this year.

“I think that’s created a lot of confidence with this group,” Swinney said. “They see what they’re capable of doing. There’s certainly some wind in their sails and an opportunity to build on it. And I think they’ve used it that way.”

Clemson returns plenty of talent on both sides of the ball, including quarterback Cade Klubnik, running back Phil Mafah and defensive linemen Peter Woods and TJ Parker.

If Klubnik in particular can limit mistakes and be more consistent, the Tigers have a real chance to make some noise this fall.

Clemson begins the 2024 season on Saturday, Aug. 31 against Georgia. The game will be played at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.