Nate Wiggins

Lespaw79 · 2023-11-30T02:17:19.109Z

We have watched this young man grow up and become an NFL worthy DB! Nothing but best wishes and success to you, Nate!!

DougKingsmoreCrusade

Rival Killer [2862]

TigerPulse: 100%

Posts: 1336

Joined: 2023

Re: Clemson is undefeated if he didn't get knocked out at the end of the FSU game

Nov 29, 2023, 11:34 PM

Agreed, but I mean currently. I like Dabo and Wes (for reasons that should be obvious), and I'm willing to give Riley the benefit of the doubt after a single year. As was just discussed, our DB coaching has been excellent, so no complaints there. Our talented linebackers have been alarmingly hit-or-miss at times, but overall they were very impactful, so I'm fine with that too.

That's about where the good news ends. Our wide receiver and offensive line play has been inexcusably bad for multiple years now. Like, some of the worst in all of the power 5, and even the FBS in some cases. As many have been saying for some time now, there's just no way to explain the lack of production from the WR's when you look at the recruiting compared to the results. It's incredibly unlikely that all of our recruits were simply overrated. This clearly points to poor coaching and lack of development. When Tyler Brown is immediately far better than Collins, Randal, and the like, that's a problem. Especially when players like Beaux Collins actually seem to get worse the longer they stay at Clemson. And even if the coaches did miss on all the WR recruits, that's still their responsibility to begin with. The wide receiver coaches have to go, there's just no way to justify play that's this poor over this many years at a place that was once known as one of the best WR hotbeds in the country.

The o-line might be even worse than the receivers are. The only real difference is that the OL coaches can't even recruit talented players at all, regardless of if they end up being overrated or not. Again, the recruiting and the performance has been consistently horrendous over multiple seasons now, this year especially. It is high time for the OL coaches to be replaced.

Similar arguments can be made for defensive line. Many of the older veterans, as beloved as they are, have failed to create enough push and get to the quarterback in recent years. Again, it's been rather surprising to see the freshmen this year, most notably TJ Parker, come in and frequently look better than the starters. The talent is clearly there, so this again points to poor coaching and lack of development. I don't know if I would call for a definite replacement of the DL coaches, but they should be on a short leash.

The running backs have been inconsistent. I liked Shipley a lot in '21 and '22, and liked Mafah a lot in '22. I also was pleased with the recruits CJ brought in for the '24 and '25 classes. But this year was a major disappointment for the RB's. Both Ship and Mafah were very disappointing this year, particularly when you consider how good they had looked in previous years and how much we thought they were going to improve this year. Although in fairness, part of that expectation was because we thought the rest of the offense would be better, which it wasn't. But I don't think anyone would've expected them to actually be worse this year than they were last year, which is what ended up happening. I'll give Spiller some slack for one bad year, but his coaching certainly looks questionable right now.

QB's haven't been good either. I know it isn't fair to blame them for everything, but while it might not be their fault, they certainly haven't been consistently good, either. A lot of times you look for the QB to be a difference maker, someone who can make everyone else around them better. Neither DJ nor Cade have done that. There's just not much improvement or signs of promise, and rarely ever a moment where you feel the QB is going to elevate the team or go capture a win. Instead of making dynamic or decisive plays, our QB's simply play not to lose. QB coaches should be hanging on by a thread; if it isn't time for them to go already, it ought to be getting very close to it. And it really might be best to allow Riley to bring in his own assistants anyways.

TE's can be put in basically the same boat as WR's, but I might be willing to cut their coaches a bit more slack. Special teams is also kind of iffy. BT Potter was great, and Swanson has improved nicely. But Gunn obviously didn't perform as expected this year, and Clemson's kicking coaching has always been subpar. We have also lacked dynamic return players for years now as well, though this may be linked to an overall lack of skill talent more so than anything else. So special teams coaches I would also be willing to extend, but not for long, as they have also been shaky at best for a while now. And as many have pointed out already, strength and conditioning coaches could also probably use an overhaul.

So all in all, as far as current position coaches are concerned, we have a few who have done nicely, but most of them are at best subpar and inconsistent and at worst just inexplicably bad over multiple years now. It is high time for Dabo to make some changes, which it seems we're hearing he will this offseason.

flag link

military_tech

thumb_down

thumb_up

Nate Wiggins

Best DB at Clemson since preCovid***

Clemson is undefeated if he didn't get knocked out at the end of the FSU game

Re: Clemson is undefeated if he didn't get knocked out at the end of the FSU game

Re: Clemson is undefeated if he didn't get knocked out at the end of the FSU game

Re: Clemson is undefeated if he didn't get knocked out at the end of the FSU game

Re: Clemson is undefeated if he didn't get knocked out at the end of the FSU game

Re: Clemson is undefeated if he didn't get knocked out at the end of the FSU game

Re: Nate Wiggins

TigerBoard POTD