Tigers healthy heading into primetime contest at Miami

Swinney speaks to the media Tuesday.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Tue Oct 17 12:42:34 GMT-04:00 2023

CLEMSON – Clemson may be on fall break, but the football team’s thoughts are squarely on Miami.

Clemson (4-2 overall, 2-2 ACC) travels to take on Miami (4-2, 0-2) at Hard Rock Stadium Saturday night at 8 pm on the ACC Network. The Tigers were off last week and the school is on fall break last week, but head coach Dabo Swinney says the Tigers are back into their regular routine.

"Our team had great energy last night, but it was good for them to have a little bit of a break ... sort of renew your spirit a little bit. We had a great week last week as far as things we needed to work on with Clemson,” Swinney said during his Tuesday press conference. "Miami is a very good football team. They're really, really, good. They're loaded on both sides of the ball. Their quarterback can make all the throws. They have three elite backs, an outstanding receiving corps that's very similar to Florida State's. They're really good up front ... big and well-coached.

"Defensively they have a ton of depth and experience. They just added to what they had last year. It's a very deep front, athletic. Top to bottom, just a really good team. They have had two tough games but they can beat anybody in the country, just like we can. We can also lose to anybody. We have to go down and play well to give ourselves a chance to win. It's a great opportunity for us. I'm sure it'll be a great environment and a great matchup."

Swinney said the open date was a chance to get healthy.

"It's huge. Most people don't realize what these guys do. They're human beings. They're not robots. They're not part of a Madden game. They're real people and they're students,” he said. “There is a lot going on. They've been grinding all summer, camp and then the last six weeks. You have performance and then expectations. It's a lot on them. So it's great for them to get a break. I thought they did a great job last week. We have created some momentum these last two weeks. We hope to be able to continue that. We have to go earn it. We were a pretty beat up team in that Wake game. We had Antonio (Williams) out, Sheridan (Jones) out, Nate (Wiggins) was out and we had already lost Cole (Turner) and Walker (Parks). Now, we anticipate having Nate, Antonio and Sheridan back."

Swinney said the injured Tigers were able to use the time off to their advantage.

“They just healed. Nate has been grinding through his rehab,” he said. “He was really close against Wake but just couldn't quite go. Same thing with Antonio. Just time. Our doctors have done a great job. Sheridan's issue was just a weird situation. We got all the tests back and it all checked out."

Miami quarterback Tyler Van Dyke leads an offense that is first in the ACC at 501 yards per game.

"He's healthy and is a more mature, confident, player. Their coordinator has done a great job in using all the pieces. They are a physical team,” Swinney said. “They're averaging nearly 500 yards of offense a game. It starts with the quarterback. He understands their system. He's not a guy you think of that breaks long runs, but he can create. He's athletic enough to extend plays and he can make all the throws. They do a lot of screens. He has a good feel for setting those up. He's a big kid. He's a good player. We have to try to affect him."