Swinney Camp Insider: New coaches and plenty of talent on hand

Donovan Murph was among the young receiver standouts.

David Hood - Senior Writer - Tuesday, June 04 2024

CLEMSON – New coaches and a lot of talent.

Dabo Swinney’s annual high school camp kicked off Tuesday morning with over 500 campers in attendance. Swinney said 22 states were represented today, he expects 30 states and Canada to be represented tomorrow and 35 or more states by the weekend.

Swinney began the camp by telling the players that this wasn’t a combine or a tryout. He told them not to worry about 40 times or bench press reps—if players concentrate on that, they get exposed sooner or later. He wants them to focus on the fundamentals and receive next-level coaching.

Speaking of coaching – Clemson wide receiver TJ Moore is on campus and was helping Adam Randall and Tyler Grisham with the wide receivers. Moore certainly looks the part, but like we already know, he’s quiet and simply goes about his business.

Also, we wrote last week that the Football Bowl Subdivision Oversight Committee put forth a proposal this spring to remove the cap on how many of a program’s staffers can do on-field football coaching, while still limiting off-campus recruiting activities to 10 assistants (or 12 in the FCS) plus the head coach. This would mean hundreds of analysts and quality control coaches around the country could finally coach in practice, something that Swinney would embrace.

Currently, schools have been limited to 10 on-field coaches.

With the new rule expected to pass very shortly, Swinney has already hired Lorenzo Ward, and Ward was working with the linebackers at camp this morning. Coach John Grass, who was the head coach at Jacksonville State, is already on staff and helping out with the offense.

Former NFL and college assistant John Scott was coaching in camp.

This morning, I went over to watch the defensive linemen and noticed a familiar face, at least to me, in John Scott. Scott was most recently with the Detroit Lions after three seasons at Penn St. Prior to his stint at Penn St., the Greer native was with South Carolina for a year, and before that was with the Jets. A dynamic coach – all you have to do is watch him for a few minutes – he’s also a fantastic recruiter. It doesn’t take a genius to decode that Scott – who knows the area – is probably part of Swinney’s plan to add coaches. Scott, Nick Eason, and Chris Rumph? Will Lorenzo Ward help out with the linebackers? Swinney knows what he’s doing.

*While I was standing with the defensive linemen, a mother came over to watch her son. I asked her which one she was watching, and she pointed to the biggest one at the back of the line. Her son stands 6-7 and weighs in at 330 pounds, and I asked her if he was a 2026 or 2027 prospect. Nope. He’s 12 and won’t turn 13 until August. His name is Emari Jones, and he played on the C team for Seneca last season.

*Clemson has started the process of offering Class of 2026 players, but none have gone out to quarterbacks, running backs, or wide receivers. There was a large group of quarterbacks on hand this morning and a large group of wide receivers, and you have to figure offers will start to trickle out now that prospects have made it to campus and worked out in front of the coaches. Swinney, who makes his way around to all of the position group in his golf cart, stopped and stood at midfield with offensive coordinator Garrett Riley when the quarterbacks starting throwing with the wide receivers.

*There were a few standouts in Grisham’s wide receiver group. I will start with Donovan Murph, who was the standout in my eyes. He has strong hands, catches the ball with ease, is in and out of routes with the quick twitch you like to see and has a nice first step.

I was watching the wide receivers when someone asked me if the hat I was wearing was an Ole Miss hat (it’s a throwback old Milwaukee Braves hat). That led to conversations about Mississippi, and it turns out that Ole Miss commit Dillon Alfred was on hand. Alfred is put together, and he was impressive when he started working with the quarterbacks. On a deep route into the endzone, the ball was underthrown, and he turned around and caught the ball between his legs.

Jordon Gidron was the other impressive wide receiver in the main group. He’s fluid, high points the ball, and takes coaching well.

I have to run back out for the afternoon session, but there will be more to come on not only that session but also what we saw this morning.