
The "new guy" has to hit the ground running |
Clemson’s new defensive coordinator, whoever that turns out to be, won’t have a lot of time to walk around getting acquainted with his new home. There is work to do.
Head coach Dabo Swinney has been working on finding his guy, the right guy, in what might be the most important hire since he brought in Brent Venables following the 2011 season. The new guy has a short amount of time to make a big impression on recruits, and the amount of time the window is open all depends on where a hire is officially made. There won’t be a lot of time to unpack and look for houses and try out the local restaurants. It will be time to get to work. The Tigers’ 2025 recruiting class is in the books, but it's never too early to work on 2026. The 2025 class ranked 27th overall and composite on 247Sports. The class is smaller (15) and has been bolstered by the three transfers. The recruiting calendar says we are currently in a contact period that runs from Jan. 6th- Feb. 1st. A contact period is that period of time when it is permissible for authorized athletics department staff members to make in-person, off-campus recruiting contacts and evaluations. There are two exceptions – Sunday was a quiet period (a quiet period is that period of time when it is permissible to make in-person recruiting contacts only on the member institution’s campus. No in-person, off-campus recruiting contacts or evaluations may be made during the quiet period). Starting today, there is a three-day dead period that runs through Wednesday (a dead period is that period of time when it is not permissible to make in-person recruiting contacts or evaluations on or off the member institution’s campus or to permit official or unofficial visits by prospective student-athletes to the institution’s campus). Feb. 2nd is designated as a quiet period and then there is a dead period through March 2nd. A quiet period runs March 3rd-April 14th and there is a contact period from April 15th-May 24th. In the lyrics of an old Johnny Cash song, time’s a wastin’ if the new guy wants to get out on the road and see potential prospects. Yes, Clemson has issues with scheme and gap integrity and there were times when players looked lost. The new guy has to address all of that. But there were times when you looked out on the field and didn’t see the Jimmys and Joes needed to play at a championship level. The fact that the coaches moved Peter Woods out to defensive end (Woods is incredibly athletic but he’s too big for the edge) showed just how much the talent level had fallen off at certain spots. I remember walking on the field in the old Georgia Dome prior to the game against Alabama in 2008, and I looked at the Clemson players and the Alabama players and thought, one of these doesn’t look like the other. Starting in 2011, Clemson began to look like those championship teams, and on the field in Phoenix before the first title game, an Alabama coach told me, “Only one other team we play looks like us. That’s LSU. But add Clemson to that list.” Look back at that 2018 team and the sheer amount of talent is almost mind-boggling. Clelin Ferrell. Christian Wilkins. Isaiah Simmons. Dexter Lawrence. Austin Bryant. Baylon Spector. Trayvon Mullen. Kendall Joseph. Nolan Turner. James Skalski. Dudes. There are still some dudes out there, but more are needed, and the hope is that the new guy is great with scheme and development. But it starts with recruiting, and he’s gotta hit the ground running.

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