Energetic, hoarse Tom Allen identifies last season's issues: 'The film doesn't lie'

Allen speaks to the media after Wednesday's practice (Photo by Merrell Mann).

David Hood - Senior Writer - Thursday, March 06 2025

CLEMSON – Tom Allen walked out of practice and into the interview room Wednesday evening with a smile and a hoarse-sounding voice. Neither one of those things wavered during a 43-minute session in which the message was clear: The film doesn’t lie.

Allen was brought in to fix a Clemson defense that finished 85th nationally against the run last season, giving up an average of 4.71 yards per carry (99th nationally) and an average of 160 yards per game. The Tigers last ranked out of the top 20 in rush defense in 2016, when the defense finished 24th.

“I’m here to fix this defense. It hasn’t been up to the standard. It was really good for a long time, and last year it wasn’t,” Allen said. “I know that. The players know that.”

Allen has watched all of last season's games and feels that players were too often in the wrong position.

“It was an issue. The numbers don't lie. You watch the film, the film doesn't lie,” Allen said. “And so it became a reoccurring theme each week and we go through the cutups that are made up by plays and by calls and then you also organize them by explosive plays that you give up. And when we had all those explosive runs, just the misfits in the run game and not being gap-sound for whatever reason.

“We had four different categories and say, okay, why did we feel this play was the result that it was in a negative way? And then identify those, and group them that way, and then go back and try to make sure that we're doing a great job drill wise of getting those things corrected. Obviously it's a different scheme, but you also have a lot of the same players, so you want to just make sure that a lot of the things I felt like were just guys out of position.”

Allen continued on about being gap-sound, something the Tigers struggled with last season.

“It's not about pointing fingers on that, it's just trying to say, okay, this is why this play occurred and we got to make sure that we get these fixed,” Allen said. “Because obviously some of 'em are just fundamentally, you got so many gaps, every defense has gaps you have to defend. And so you have to be very, very gap-sound and you have to be very physical at the point of attack. But the biggest thing is is just making sure you get your cleats in the ground, you're set, you're ready to play and you have great knowledge of what you're supposed to do.

“So if you're not quite sure what you're doing, you'll be out of position. And then against elite athletes, you have no chance to tackle 'em in space. So, it's kind of all the above kind of thing, but I think the glaring thing was the gap fits. They were not consistent and that's something even again today with all the drills that we do from individual to group to team, have to align with that.”

It was obvious, especially late in the season, that the Tigers were not gap-sound on the edge, as teams exploited runs to the outside.

“I think just structurally, I think you can see that when you watch film, not having an edge many times cost us last season and gave up several of those explosive plays. So that to me is you go back and say, okay, was it a schematic issue? Was it a talent issue? Was it a technique issue? Was it a poor effort? But the bottom line is we have to structurally address that,” Allen said. “And so that's a big part is on every one of our calls, somebody's the edge of our defense and we have to make sure we're doing a great job of playing with technique and doing our job. And so even today when we did it the right way, we got the great result. If you don't, you get a negative result defensively. So I think that's about being disciplined. It's about being physical as well.

“But it also goes back to saying when you know exactly what you're doing, that confidence is high in your knowledge of your scheme and where you're supposed to be and how you're supposed to take on that block, it's going to allow you to do a better job of setting an edge. Because when I do my job and set an edge, then the guys come from the inside with great effort and great angles are going to get to the ball. And so we're really, really emphasizing that as well.”