How Far We've Come

Jul 16, 2016, 1:26 AM

I, unlike many of you, wasn’t born into Clemson. I’m from Massachusetts, and grew up absolutely adoring college football in an area which doesn’t really care about non-professional sports (just look at the attendance of BC games). I didn’t have a particular team which I followed, I just loved the sport…though if I’m being honest, before I went to Clemson I was always partial to the Georgia Bulldogs and Florida State Seminoles (sorry!). I guess I was attracted to the South because I knew you guys cared about college football as much as I did. I arrived on campus in the fall of 2004, and the football team had a nice preseason ranking (#15) and was considered a “program on the rise” under Tommy Bowden. The next four years, as you definitely know, were a roller coaster. We had incredible games, we had heartbreaking games. We lost to Duke on a 53 yard field goal, and Tommy somehow didn’t put Reggie Merriweather back in the game in 2006, despite 83,000 fans screaming for him from the top of their lungs. But we did manage to destroy Georgia Tech when we hosted College Gameday, and we beat South Carolina 3 out of 4 years.

I may have adopted Clemson, but since that first game I watched against Wake Forest, I loved the football program with all of my heart and have dreamt of it being the perennial power we deserve it to be. As a student, my friends hated Clemson because whenever I was home for vacation/summer, all I would do was talk Clemson football. But eventually they succumbed to Clemson’s draw. This past year, I was receiving nonstop text messages “this is amazing” “they’re incredible” “what a game!” “we’re going to win it all!”. When Tommy was let go in 2008, I knew it was the right move, but I was totally against permanently hiring the assistant coach known as Dabo. What a stupid name, right? How the hell is he going to bring us to the next level? We should be going after the big names like Gary Patterson & Will Muschamp! (dodged a bullet there, right?) I’m not sure I’ve ever been more happy to be wrong about something in my entire life. Dabo has done a magnificent job turning the Tigers from talented disappointments to a force to be reckoned with. Back when CJ Spiller shocked the world in 2006, we couldn’t fathom such an incredible talent deciding to come to us over a school like Florida. Now we expect to be in the running for players like him, and if we’re not it’s often because our staff has chosen not to pursue the player. Right now the consensus #1 recruit of 2018 has us in his final two, and the fact that we’ve come to this level of a program—regardless of whether he chooses us or not—is amazing.

In as short of a point I can make, I think the difference Dabo has made involves pride. Tommy was always standing in the shadow of his father’s gigantic legacy and he was scared to disappoint expectations…I think he coached that way & as a result his players played that way. Due to Dabo’s adversity-laced background, he’s happy as hell to be here, and is proud of his accomplishments…he coaches that way & as a result, his players play that way.

My drunken ramblings have a point: enjoy this. I’m an extremely critical person, and I critique our program nonstop (out of love), but we’re in an extremely enviable position at the moment and we need to enjoy it while it lasts. The job isn’t over until we hoist the national championship trophy (multiple preferred), but nothing is guaranteed, and while our goal is to win a natty, we can certainly enjoy the journey along the way. For so long, we’ve wanted a place at the big boys table, and now we’re there. Enjoy these years…want more, but enjoy what we’ve done. I can’t wait for the season to finally kick off.

Go Tigers!

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I know you didn't get to experience the 1981 UGA game (can't describe it, it was AWESOME) or other games in that time.

But, I'm loving what we have now. I'm nowhere near campus anymore, but I made GT, ACC championship, and national championship game last year. And they were all awesome, just we had had more time in national championship game.

Dabo has brought back the level of responsibility and play we all want and expect. And isn't that what it is all about? Be responsible for what you can control. I played a sport at a high level for a few years and the biggest thing I remember a coach saying is "the more we are all focused on the team, the less we all have to be focused on ourselves". Basically, he was saying if you play as a team it becomes so much easier. If you play as individuals, you will not have success. I've watched Dabo, he may not be some X's and O's genius, but that man knows how to make a group of individuals come together as a team.

GO TIGERS!

How Far We've Come

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I feel more confident that you are not a coot. I have had my

Re: I feel more confident that you are not a coot. I have had my

Re: I feel more confident that you are not a coot. I have had my

Re: I feel more confident that you are not a coot. I have had my

Glad you came around, but as someone who went to ...

Re: Glad you came around, but as someone who went to ...

No worries, it's all good ...

As a follow up, Clemson offensive line!

Why is the narrative on Dabo that he doesn't

In the immortal words of Aerosmith:

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Exactly what I was thinking

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Well said. My personal opinion is that

Re: Well said. My personal opinion is that

Re: Well said. My personal opinion is that

Great post. We should have had the #1 last year too***

For a drunken rambling,

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Very well put

The good old days are NOW!***

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