In a season filled with injuries to offensive personnel, Clemson football head coach Dabo Swinney believes last year’s 10-win season exceeded what the Tigers should have accomplished.
“That team overachieved. There’s no question,” Swinney said on Wednesday. “That team had no business winning 10 games.”
Offensively, the Tigers were decimated by injuries to key players last season, including running back Will Shipley, center Matt Bockhorst and wide receivers Justyn Ross and E.J. Williams.
“It was an unbelievably challenging year,” Swinney said. “That’s why when it’s all said and done, and you really kind of step back and remove yourself from the fray of it, and when you really evaluate that team and that season, unbelievable.”
Clemson’s offense finished with the second-fewest yards per game in the ACC last season. Still, Swinney believes there were a lot of silver linings to take away, including the coaches having to adapt to the available offensive personnel.
“We had to get creative,” Swinney said. “It forced the coaching staff to really be creative because we couldn’t just stick with a plan. We had to really create and find ways to get a first down.”
From rising junior quarterback DJ Uiagalelei to wide receiver Beaux Collins, Swinney is proud of how his team responded to adversity and thinks last year’s hardships will benefit the Tigers in the fall.
“We’re going to be a team that, I think, has a deeper appreciation of what it looks like, what it takes,” Swinney said. “And, I think that team last year really reset the appreciation on just winning.”
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