Dabo Swinney updates injuries, play of freshmen, run defense at VT

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney says the defense put up its best performance of the season.

Grayson Mann - Staff Writer - Sunday, November 10 2024

Clemson is still chasing their best effort. For Dabo Swinney, however, the response was a strong start.

The Tigers put together a second-half surge Saturday night, and their leading man has had time to digest the road victory.

On Sunday evening, Swinney updated his thoughts on injuries, the play of the freshmen, and the run defense.

Here’s what we learned.

On the Tigers' response

It takes a village. Or in this case, it takes an entire program.

Swinney started his opening comments by praising the entire team's response to the disappointing result against Louisville.

He felt it sparked the team’s best effort of the season, especially in a hostile environment in Blacksburg.

“First of all, I am just proud of everybody in our organization here and how they responded this week. I got a lot of appreciation for how hard it's to win at Virginia Tech,” Swinney said. “It's a great place, it's a great venue, and again, I just thought we did the best job we've done all year. We handled the adversity within the game. It's good to see that, and there are plenty of good things that we can do; anytime you watch the tape, there's always stuff we have to do better. The name of the game is winning the game, and we did a great job of that. So I'm just proud of how they battled and competed for four quarters and again, overcame some adversity, a little bit of disappointment in the course of the game to find a way to win.”

On Elyjah Thurmon, injuries

When Tristan Leigh went down with an ankle injury, the freshman Thurmon was charged with a battle against one of the best pass rush units in the country.

In Swinney’s eyes, Thurmon played well in his relief efforts, adding he’s come a long way from being the fifth tackle on the depth chart.

“I'm really proud of Elyjah, man. I can't say enough about him coming into the season. He was our fifth tackle. You got Tristan and Blake (Miller). Our third tackle is Marcus Tate now all of a sudden. And (Collin) Sadler was fourth. Those were our four main tackles: Sadler's out, Tate's not available to play, and Tristan goes out. So man, to be able to get to your fifth tackle and to see this, and he was a true freshman, and to see this kid get in there and compete the way he did, it was awesome. He played every snap of punt team, field goal, and most of the game had left tackle, so I'm really proud of him and how he stepped up for us.”

Thurmon’s added reps came with Leigh going down, who Swinney says is day-to-day.

Both Tate and Leigh are “day-to-day.” Swinney also added that Sadler will be out for the rest of the season. DeMonte Capehart and Shelton Lewis’ statuses were not updated, and Woods is still “day-to-day.”

On Virginia Tech’s rushing attack

After Louisville pushed Clemson on the ground, seeing only 40 yards from a top-20 Virginia Tech rushing attack was a noticeable improvement.

Something that pops out was the Hokies’ usage of their tailbacks, with only four rushing attempts being designated to that position as Drones led the way with 11 carries.

Swinney praised Virginia Tech’s physcialty upfront, but had no comment on the lack of usage from the Hokie backfield.

“I'm not going to gauge how they do their stuff there, just regardless of who's running it, we got to stop them,” Swinney said. “So I'll let them evaluate themselves on who runs it. But I was just proud of our guys and how they did. They did an awesome job. They were physical up front. We had some plays where we did some things that I was really encouraged to see—a couple of things that we hadn't been doing. Again, you don't have Capepart, and you don't have Peter Woods. So, those guys just had a great overall performance. Now we've just got to build the consistency from it.”

On Sammy Brown

Sammy Brown got the starting nod on Saturday and certainly made the most of his opportunity. Brown led the team in tackles and sacks, adding to a stifling Tiger defensive performance in Blacksburg.

Swinney believes the freshman linebacker's game is truly slowing down, which only means his young defender is getting quicker on the field.

“It was fun to see him (Brown) get a chance to get his first start, and man, the game has, the game has slowed down, and as it has, he's gotten faster,” Swinney said. “He missed one sack, but he's just productive, and finds the ball. He's a relentless competitor. I think he's going to be one of the best leaders that come through here. He's a guy as a young guy that people pay attention to. So just proud of it. It's got a bright future and got to continue to find ways to get him on the field, that's for sure.”

One thing is also for sure: the path back into the ACC title race needs a win in Pittsburgh first before any potential tiebreakers.

The Tigers head to Pitt, where they're currently a 10.5-point favorite after capturing a 24-14 win at Virginia Tech. The game is set for a noon start on ESPN Saturday.

After starting 7-0, the Panthers have dropped two in a row, falling at SMU (48-25) previously and at home to Virginia Saturday (24-19).

Clemson seeks its first win at Pitt in its second try, after a 27-17 loss in the teams' last meeting in 2021.