Spring practices have started for the Clemson Tigers. The first session took place Friday, February 28th. This will be an important five-week stretch as Dabo Swinney prepares his team for a season with championship expectations. After a 2024 season that saw the Tigers get back to the college football playoff for the first time since 2020, the program feels re-energized.
With many of the top players from last season returning, Swinney went all in this offseason to improve his team. There were major changes to the defensive staff, and transfer players brought in who should be impactful immediately. The first steps towards winning a championship are being taken now. As Swinney mentioned in his opening press conference, though, it is a process.
Bringing the Team Together
One of the first things Swinney talked about in his opening statements to his first press conference of the Spring was the importance of building the team aspect for the Tigers through the Spring. Part of bringing the team together is getting growth in leadership from players during this time. There will be new faces who are expected to be important to the immediate success of the program. So, forming a sense of togetherness will be key.
A new defensive coordinator was hired. Along with him, enter two highly talented and experienced transfers on the same side of the ball. This Spring is the time they will need to integrate themselves fully into the team. The best thing is all but three members of the 2025 Clemson roster will be around for Spring practices. This will be an important piece in bringing this team together. Having almost everyone on campus and being able to get familiar with each other over the next month will help build the camaraderie needed to get through a college football season.
Getting Cade Klubnik to the Next Level
When Swinney was asked how he felt when Cade Klubnik officially announced he is returning, Swinney no sold his reaction, saying he expected him back. Regardless of how expected it was, the news of Klubnik’s return to Clemson was huge for the program. Klubnik enters 2025 considered to be one of the country’s best quarterbacks. He was also an early favorite to be a Heisman finalist.
Klubnik earned this reputation after throwing for 3,639 yards and 36 touchdowns with just six interceptions in 2024. Klubnik showed the consistency he lacked to go with the spurts of talent he showed in his sophomore season. Now, the rising senior will have to show he can take his game to another level.
If Klubnik can improve his deep ball accuracy and speed up his decision-making, it will make the Clemson offense tough to stop. At the end of 2023, there were many who did not think Klubnik could be the guy to lead Clemson back to winning championships. At the beginning of 2025, he is the main reason many believe the Tigers are national championship contenders again.
Acclimating the New Guys
Another burning question that reporters had at Swinney’s first press conference was about how well the transfer players are coming along. Swinney said they are doing well so far and went on to explain how Will Heldt and Jeremiah Alexander are great fits for Clemson. This is why he was happy to bring them in.
This has always been Swinney’s approach to not just the transfer portal but also high school recruiting. It is part of what he believes makes the Tigers’ program special. So far, it has worked, with Clemson having won eight conference championships since 2011. Bringing in the right guys for your program and getting them acclimated early on will always be a benefit. The faster Alexander and Heldt get familiar with the program, their teammates, coaches, and the playbook, the faster their impacts will be felt.
Bringing Back Dominant Clemson Defense
If you are a wall in Clemson, South Carolina, you better watch out for the Clemson linebacker group after a Tom Allen meeting. Following the first practice session of the Spring, both Sammy Brown and Wade Woodaz talked about what it is like having Allen leading the defense now. Both star linebackers expressed the way Allen makes them feel by explaining the ways they want to damage walls after one of his meetings.
Brown said about Allen, “The things he says, he’s a motivator. We get out of a segment meeting with him, I’m like, golly I want to run through a brick wall right now!” Woodaz, when asked about having Allen around, answered, “I love it. The intensity is like what I’ve dreamed of.” Woodaz then said the barking from Allen gets him so fired up that he wants to go punch a wall.
All of that is to say simply that the Tigers’ defense is energized by the arrival of Allen. This is great to hear from a defense as talented as Clemson’s. The unit’s performance, especially against the run, was disappointing last season. It’s something we mentioned that could cut their playoff run short, which it did. Woodaz says the Clemson defense has heard the criticisms, though. The senior linebacker also said the defense is hungry to prove themselves, feeling that they’ve had a fire lit under them.
It’s obvious even within the building there was frustration over the poor run defense. Woodaz went on to mention that Allen made his expectations known in the first meeting. That they will play with great effort and stop the run. If the Tigers’ defense does those two things in 2025, it will be an exciting season in Death Valley.
