Where We Stand

So what constitutes a winning football program? I'm going to take a quick stab at it and say its like this:

• 1/3 Recruiting
• 1/3 Player Development
• 1/3 Gameday Planning/Schemes

I'm sure we could add more or flesh out these categories but I think this gives us three frames of reference to measure our team.

Recruiting

Right now we have done a good job in recruiting. Well let me re-phrase that, we currently have more star power and talent than at perhaps any other time in our recent history. This was supposed to be the year when you think about it. Our stellar Junior class is finally of age to compliment a strong senior class of talent. The cracks come from a weak sophomore class and the desire to give too many walk-ons scholarships. We don't over-recruit like most top programs who factor in kids transferring and not panning out. Every year I think we should be taking 3-5 more decent players than we are. If you want to see why we are suffering at WR--look at NC who snatched up players like Boyd, Little, and Jones.

Anyway, the point is that we have the talent to be successful. LB is the only place where we have consistently been out-recruited. This year we are in the running for about 4-5 top LBs and one by one they have put us down further on their lists. Now we have two 2*recruits committed. Steele and the staff need to make it a priority. This years class can still be good but we need to right the ship and have a respectable record to remain competitive. If Bowers and others stick around we will have the talent still but after next year the program will be depleted in this area.

Player Development

When I first heard Jamie Harper say that he and Ellington just decided between each other who should be out there I cringed. I was going to write about it but stupidly rationalized to myself that they could act like interchangeable parts and it would work out. But I also thought--isn't that the whole reason for a position coach?? Sure players can pull themselves out of games but isn't leaving it completely up to players a lack of coaching? No--its the absence of coaching...

Our players have not developed over 4 years like they should. No LB's have stepped up (although we are seeing some baby steps), WR's spend 4 years learning new ways to drop balls, we don't bother to develop enough TE's, and our CB's and secondary take a step back despite a second year in the program. We can't find a decent kicker and we have no return game. This area is a total drag on the program. Unfortunately, I think this is where Dabo is lost on how to manage an entire team. Powell should never have been allowed to 'coach' like that and the buck ultimately stops with Dabo to oversee his coaching staff.

Schemes and Things

Our schemes currently just aren't working out. On offense we have no identity. We can run the ball this year but chose to go away from it. We do throw, we have a QB with a canon but lacks some accuracy and WR's who can't catch. On a fourth down everyone in the stadium knows the play call--its not really a bad one but its to the short side of the field and comes up just short despite a good effort. Thats our offense right now. Napier isn't bad he just is young and often slow to react, predictable, and can't stay ahead. Plus Dabo undoubtedly makes boneheaded 'adjustments' and playcalls.

Defense keeps missing assignments. Those cost you points and its frustrating. I think Steele isn't a bad gameday coach and makes some needed adjustments but getting beat by Yates?? Its just not acceptable.

Right now we are at like 60/40 and propped up by our talent. That equates to a 7-5 season and a wasted season in my opinion. If we have a losing season I would like to see Napier become the QB/RB coach and take back recruiting duties (or play a heavy role there) and hire an experienced OC. Powell gone and both Scott's on the thinnest of ice depending on their units play down the stretch. Defense I'm not ready to make any changes yet but its coming...

Schedule notes: FSU looked real good and we need them to trip up against BC but its looking like we need NC State or NC to beat them and we need to win out. I think a loss to Maryland and we effectively end our ACC season. Can you believe this team was one pass through the fingers away from beating Auburn??

Lets move from All In to All Win...(see I'm qualified to be a coach Terry Don!)

Swinney and Special Teams

Time to give credit to the coaching staff where credit is due. The season's only three games old so I might regret writing this in a few weeks, but there's one area of the team that has clearly improved in performance relative to the last few years: special teams. Its not just Spiller and Ford and a bunch of guys throwing bodies around in front of them this year, the execution looks a lot better on both returns and coverage. Special teams has been so good that it has turned into both an offensive and defensive weapon for Clemson this season by giving us a large measure of control over field position (even with Zimmerman shanking a thirty yard punt every three times or so). Not that the defense particularly needs any help, but without the fine special teams play and the accompanying excellent starting field position on Saturday, the score would have been a lot closer. As it was, though, Clemson typically only needed to grab a first down or two to get into Richard Jackson's range.

Andre' Powell gets a lot of credit. 2009 builds on his 2008 campaign (the year he was officially designated "special teams coordinator"), which was a marked improvement over the special teams disaster that was 2007 (keeping in mind it had to be difficult not to improve over a unit that doomed the entire team on multiple occasions). But Dabo Swinney deserves credit, as well. They couldn't have improved this much without practicing more, and at some level practice time is ultimately allotted with Swinney's approval.

I think the real interesting angle here is the reasoning behind improving the play of special teams. When Swinney looked over the past year's performance way back in January, he must have seen a waste of two outstanding talents in the return game. It's also an area that isn't emphasized by a lot of other programs in the ACC (excepting, of course, VT), witness BC's perfectly adequate but uninspiring performance on Saturday. So here we have the coaching staff targeting a part of the game undervalued by other teams which they know will result in outperforming the competition with relatively little cost (in this case, the cost of practice time). This is the kind of decision that smart coaches and programs make, it results in maximizing the odds for any game with a minimal amount of effort--think of special teams at VT, the discipline instilled by the coaching staff at Wake Forest, or, to jump sports for a moment, the emphasis Coach Purnell puts on defense.

Its just one facet of the game, its just one break from their predecessors, but its encouraging to think Coach Swinney & Co. are thinking through the strengths and weaknesses of the team. I don't expect this level of play to continue--there are too many factors in a given special teams play outside of the control of the team and too few plays thus far to accept this as the true level of talent for Clemson. It's also likely this is a short-term advantage for the Tigers, it's unclear where special teams will go without Spiller or Ford. But so far special teams play has at least partially masked some of our offensive deficiencies, and paid noticeable dividends on the field. If it wasn't responsible for the victory last week, it sure made things more comfortable.

The real question for me is whether this is the kind of thinking that will become a hallmark of the Swinney years, or if it's just an anomaly. The answer to that question could very well determine the length of the Swinney tenure as we struggle with a less-than-fully formed offensive philosophy and a possible emerging talent-gap with some of the rapidly-improving teams in the ACC.