Clemson looks to regain championship form after last season’s struggles, early schedule is stacked

CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) — Clemson coach Dabo Swinney told anybody who’d listen to buy stock in his team last fall after the Tigers won five straight games after early struggles.

It won’t take long to see if Swinney’s latest bit of braggadocio has legs. For now, Swinney likes how his team has handled business heading into a season where they hope to once more contend for the Atlantic Coast Conference championship and the College Football Playoff.

Swinney said his guys have shown chemistry, leadership and accountability to understand and not repeat the mistakes that got them off to a 4-4 start and eliminated their title hopes.

“All those things, they all check the boxes,” Swinney said. “Now, we got to get out on the field, got to put the work in, get better and find a way to win some games on the field.”

Clemson’s season will likely again be defined its first few weeks. The 14th-ranked Tigers open in Atlanta against No. 1 Georgia, the national champions in 2021 and 2022. Three weeks later, Clemson hosts No. 24 North Carolina State and two weeks after that the Tigers go to No. 10 Florida State.

Win them all and Swinney looks like a genius chasing another national title. Lose them all and questions about Swinney’s stewardship will continue to grow, like a year ago when a call from “Tyler from Spartanburg” on Swinney’s radio show touched off a loud defense of his program and perhaps sparked the team’s closing rally.

Swinney boiled it all down to poor decisions and turnovers that Clemson reduced during its last five wins. The Tigers were causing the mistakes down the stretch instead of making them and Swinney hopes that’s the way it will go early.

Klubnik’s growth

Quarterback Cade Klubnik was a focal point of miscues and poor choices in his first full season as a starter. Along with 12 interceptions, he had a costly fumble in an overtime loss to Florida State and failed on fourth down — trying to make something happen on his own — in an overtime loss at Miami.

Klubnik thinks his second season as a starter and in offensive coordinator Garrett Riley’s system will play dividends.

“Less interceptions, less sacks, being able to make big-time plays with either my legs or throwing the ball downfield,” he said.

Deep core of receivers

The buzz of the offseason has been about the influx of young receivers or injured players at that position coming back healthy. The result could be the deepest group of wideouts at Clemson since the days of Mike Williams, Tee Higgins and Justyn Ross had the school referred to as “Wide Receiver U.”

Bryant Wesco and T.J. Moore are the newcomers, fast, strong and able to stretch the field. Adam Randall appears healed from a broken hand.

Tyler Brown, a freshman who led the team in catches and receiving yards last year, had nagging injuries of his own through the season. And Antonio Williams, a freshman breakout player two years ago, played only five games due to ankle and foot injuries.

All look healthy and productive.

Defensive stand

The Tigers had one of the country’s top defenses, allowing 288.2 yards a game, ranking eighth in the nation. Expect that to continue this season with Barrett Carter back at linebacker and a stacked line led by ends Peter Woods and T.J. Parker.

Clemson will miss first-round NFL cornerback Nate Wiggins, but have sophomore safety Khalil Barnes leading the secondary.

Kicking game

Last year, Swinney called Jonathan Weitz at the beach to return to school when kicker Robert Gunn struggled. He is hopeful Gunn, who continued kicking off after Weitz returned, has put his field-goal struggles aside. The Tigers have added Nolan Hauser, a freshman considered the nation’s No. 1 kicking prospect.

The schedule

Besides facing three ranked teams in the first six weeks, the Tigers have a home game in October against Virginia and coach Tony Elliott, who was co-offensive coordinator on both of Swinney’s national title teams, a Nov. 2 game against Louisville and the regular-season closer against rival South Carolina at home Nov. 30.

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