Swinney is asked about staff changes, says defensive issues were many

Clemson's defense surrendered too many big plays (Photo by Merrell Mann).

David Hood - Senior Writer - Saturday, December 21 2024

AUSTIN – Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney told the media Saturday night that he isn’t going to talk about possible changes to his staff. Not yet.

No. 5 Texas held on to beat No. 12 Clemson 38-24 in the first round of the College Football Playoff in a game that saw the Longhorns run up and down the field on the Clemson defense. The lack of run defense was a trend for much of the season, and Swinney was asked if, considering the struggles, he sees any changes ahead.

“We're not worried about any of that stuff. We had a great year, won the championship. Got to improve in all areas. Got an excellent staff,” Swinney said. “All those guys work really hard and well together, but we've got to improve everywhere. If we want to get to the top. Good enough to get the playoff, good enough to win the league, not good enough to win it all.”

Swinney was asked what he saw defensively.

“Just getting off some blocks, leveraging the ball. Coming underneath instead of going over the top. Just some base stuff. They're good. They're a good football team. If you misfit just a little bit -- missed a couple tackles. They're really good. They can make you pay for those things. This is a good football team. That's really it,” he said. “We didn't have any busts or things like that. We just came down to fundamentals. Again, getting off blocks. Playing in our gap. Leveraging the ball at corner. A couple tackles that were right there to make that we don't make. Eyes on a couple things, touchdown to the tight end. That was a mistake.

“Just a couple of missed assignment things. They settled in and did a helluva job in the second half. We stopped. We turned them over. We got stops on downs. There was a lot of good things after the half that gave us a chance. One terrible play was obviously the 80-yard play, the opening drive.”

Defensive coordinator Wes Goodwin was asked his thoughts on how the defense played this season.

“Those guys fought their asses off all year, really showed a lot of character, fight, grit. Wasn't perfect at times, but they kept battling all the way up until the end,” Goodwin said. “Credit to these guys, their leadership, the character that they displayed and kept guys pulling in the right direction. Got a lot of young guys coming back as well who see that it's all about little things, details, that sort of thing that always hinder you in the end. Great learning experience for the guys coming back.

“Super proud of the leadership – Barrett (Carter), Payton (Page), R.J. (Mickens) -- those guys displayed thought the year and just the leadership and grit, toughness and the fight all the way till the end.”

Goodwin said the defensive coaches need to take the next month and look at the entirety of the season.

“In January, we'll do our end of the year self-scout review and look at all the issues and problems and how teams attacked us throughout the year, and you can just see kind of the trends and stuff, and so forth and so on. That's kind of the next step,” Goodwin said. “Obviously no recruiting up until the middle of January before we can get out. So just assess all of that with the staff, cut-ups by coverages, fronts, personnel groupings, so forth and so on, and just give a thorough evaluation.

“Then lay out the plan for February and just how we get better and attack that plan.”

Goodwin said there were tough days but he still had fun with his defensive players.

“Every year is a life of its own. Each team is different. Just an unbelievable experience with these guys each and every day, and just showing up,” Goodwin said. “It was a lot of fun, a lot of tough days, but just an unbelievable experience and learned a ton. And super proud of these guys.”