Tigers Today: Clemson vaccination rates 'heading in good direction'

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Clemson vaccination rates ‘heading in good direction’

Just like the rest of college football, Clemson’s season was heavily impacted by the coronavirus last year.

The Tigers were without Trevor Lawrence for two games. They had their game with Florida State called off. Offensive coordinator Tony Elliott missed the Sugar Bowl.

So when Dabo Swinney met with the media for the first time since the Orange vs. White Spring game on Tuesday, the program’s COVID-19 vaccination status and plan came up. Clemson is not 100 percent vaccinated yet, but Swinney said the team is in a good spot and headed in a good direction.

“I think a lot of these kids as it gets closer to the season … they really have not had any fear of missing out of anything, and I think there’s more motivation for all these teams as they kind of get back going in all these sports and certainly that was a very unfortunate situation [with N.C. State baseball],” he said. “I got vaccinated back in March and I’m grateful and thankful for that. I’m thankful that we have that option. This time last year, we didn’t have an option. There was no option. You just had to manage the best you could.

“But we’ve done everything we can to educate and provide great information and encourage these guys to talk to all the doctors and that was the biggest thing for me: I don’t know a single doctor that I trust, that I talk to, that said don’t get it. They all said you need to get it and I trust my doctor. But that’s a decision everybody’s got to make. But we certainly have, I think done a great job trying to educate and make it available and all that kind of stuff and again, I think our team’s in a good spot.”

Swinney acknowledge that the vaccination is available to all players, meaning games will not be rescheduled this season if a full team could not be fielded. The Tigers know this, and it is why the coach expects the team’s vaccination rate to rise as the season approaches.

ACC Kickoff starts Wednesday

ACC Media Days begins Wednesday in Charlotte. The two-day event opens with the commissioner’s forum with Jim Phillips, the conference’s new commissioner. Phillips succeeds John Swofford, who was the head of the ACC since 1997.

The Coastal Division teams will be first up Wednesday. Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, offensive guard Matt Bockhorst, linebacker James Skalski and quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei will all be on the stage Thursday afternoon.

What we learned from Dabo Swinney at Tigers Media Outing

Dabo Swinney spoke with the media Tuesday afternoon at the Clemson Media Outing and Media Olympics. Clemson’s coach previewed the 2021 season for about an hour, discussing injuries, depth chart, player personnel and more.

Justyn Ross’ health is in a good place. Swinney is hoping he will be fully cleared in the next couple of days. Swinney said some things have to be signed off on for him to be full go but he is very optimistic.

READ MORE: What we learned from Dabo Swinney about Justyn Ross, injuries, more at Clemson Media Outing

College GameDay set to broadcast at Duke’s Mayo Classic

The hype surrounding Clemson’s showdown with Georgia continues to grow.

ESPN announced Tuesday that College GameDay will broadcast live from Charlotte, North Carolina, on Sept. 4 for the Duke’s Mayo Classic game between the two rivals. The show is set to go live from Bearden Park in uptown Charlotte, a few minutes away from Bank of America Stadium, where the Tigers will meet the Bulldogs for the Week 1 7:30 p.m. kickoff on ABC.

Counting down

• Clemson vs. Georgia (season opener): 45 days
• Clemson at South Carolina: 129 days