Swinney jokes he's having to console his coaches as attrition takes a toll

Swinney said that walk-on linebackers played corner in the scrimmage.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Thu Mar 31 08:00:06 GMT-04:00 2022

CLEMSON – If you’re one of those people who thinks they could play college football and have eligibility left, you might want to inquire at the offices of Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney.

Swinney met with the media following Wednesday’s stadium scrimmage, and he held his interview session amid the raucous backdrop of the ClemsonLIFE students interacting with his players and taking part in a few drills.

He was all smiles as he listened to the cheers and laughter going on over his shoulder but turned serious when it came time to discuss the attrition surrounding the football program – he mentioned that right tackle Walker Parks and cornerback Sheridan Jones will likely miss the rest of the spring. Parks has mono and Jones tweaked his groin.

“We’ve got a lot of guys out,” Swinney said. “We’ve got a bunch of guys out, probably 15 or so. We’ve had a couple guys with mono that are going to be out for the rest of spring, so that’s kind of a bummer.”

Swinney compared the carnage to life as a minor league baseball manager – you play the guys that are healthy.

“It’s like minor-league baseball,” he said. “We’re kind of having to console our coaches in a couple of spots, because you’ve got what you’ve got. Because we’ve got a lot of guys that need work, but you’ve got to put 11 out there. So, we’ve got linebackers playing corner, we’ve got a little bit of everything just so we can get the practice in.

“It’s like minor-league baseball — you’ve got to get games, you’ve got to get reps. You’ve got to put a team together so you can play games. So, today was a little bit of that. We are trying to evaluate the guys we need to evaluate and not getting frustrated with a walk-on linebacker playing corner."

The defense controlled the scrimmage with two big interceptions – one a pick-six.

“They got their hands on the ball,” Swinney said. “We have not really intercepted the ball really all spring. We had some takeaways on some turnovers, but today they had two picks and that was really good to see.

“I thought they set the tone early in our first open field. I saw us pick the ball off. I saw us make some great hustle plays, defensively. We have a group of linebackers that standout. They really, really standout. I think we all know what we got up front. Those guys are as advertised.”

I asked Swinney if he was concerned about the offense, which was dominated by the defense last spring and that led to a disappointing season from an offensive standpoint. He said no, and that starter DJ Uiagalelei (who threw the pick-six) rebounded from a rough start on Wednesday.

“DJ has had an excellent spring,” Swinney said. “I think he started a little slow in the first series today and then he kind of picked it up. He was like 12 of 20 or something like that, but he had a couple of balls we should have made. But he manages things well. He really understands.

“He has great ownership of what he is doing. It is well documented on where he is physically and all that stuff. Again, he has had a very good spring. He has had a couple of great, great days.”