"Elaborate" is the word of the day, Swinney says program is in great shape

Swinney says his program is in great shape.

David Hood - Senior Writer - Tuesday, December 28 2021

ORLANDO – “Elaborate” is the word of the day in Orlando, according to Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney, who says his program is in as good of a shape as it’s ever been.

Clemson and Iowa State play Wednesday in the Cheez-It Bowl. The contest is slated for a 5:45 p.m. kickoff on ESPN in Orlando’s Camping World Stadium. At 9-3, No. 19 Clemson will enter the Cheez-It Bowl in search of its 11th consecutive 10-win season. A victory would tie Clemson Head Coach Dabo Swinney (10-7 career bowl record) with Bobby Bowden for the most bowl victories in conference history, as 11 of Bowden’s 21 career bowl wins came during Florida State’s membership in the ACC.

Swinney was asked by a reporter during Tuesday’s head coaches press conference what he would tell Clemson fans who have questions about the state of the program.

“Good as it's ever been,” Swinney replied with a sly smile.

The reporter asked Swinney for elaboration and the Tigers’ head coach responded with the reasons he thinks the program is in good shape.

“Well, we've got a great young nucleus of players. Got just about everybody back. Not a single lineman that's going to play that's not back,” Swinney said. “All the running backs are back. Eventually, we'll get all of these receivers back. We have got an unbelievable tight end room. We have got a great young quarterback that's gotten better and better through the year. We've got a great recruiting class coming in, nine mid-years.

“Got a pretty good defensive line. Every one of them, I don't think – well, we might lose one, but they could all be back. Everybody inside's back. We may lose a corner. Definitely going to lose one. We're going to lose one safety, a couple of linebackers, but we have got all these great young guys that have gained a lot of experience. We have our kicker back. He's pretty good.”

Swinney went on to list the reasons, including long-snappers and another Swinney (Drew) who will be the holder on field goals and extra points.

“We've got a couple pretty good, young snappers that nobody knows about that can zip that sucker back there. We've still got another Swinney to hold the ball,” he said. “We've got a great coaching staff. We still are in Clemson, South Carolina. We've got the best game day experience environment in the country.

“I mean, I don't know what else I could say. We just won nine football games, and you know, we're a couple plays away from being in the Playoff as well. We lost to a good Georgia team on a pick-six, they are pretty good. We lost to a pretty good NC State team at their place in double overtime and lost to the ACC champion Pitt that just made a couple more plays than we did.”

Swinney said that the program is certainly in better shape than it was 10 years ago.

“But our team completed every snap, all year and never made any excuses. And they are all here,” Swinney said. “So, I mean, (if) you can't get excited about that, I don't know what else there is to be excited about. Again, we've got a great group of people. We've won with people and we've still got a great group of people, so we're in a lot better shape today than we were ten years ago, I can tell you that.

"That elaboration enough? (Laughter) okay. All right. 'Elaborate.' That's the word of the day.”