Wesley Goodwin was pleased with the operation of his first time running Clemson’s defense, and why wouldn’t he be?
The Tigers are less than a month removed from their 11th straight 10-win season, one capped by a performance Clemson has grown accustomed to on the defensive side of the ball. Clemson allowed just 13 points and 270 yards against one of the Big 12’s best offenses in its Cheez-It Bowl win over Iowa State. The defense also scored the decisive touchdown on Mario Goodrich’s pick-six in the second half and didn’t have any procedural penalties in Goodwin’s inaugural game as Clemson’s defensive coordinator.
“Just the whole operation was above my expectations,” Goodwin said. “No 12 men or 10 men on the field. Always worry about that type of stuff in first-time roles, but, overall, I thought our game operation was unbelievable.”
Still, not everything was perfect in Goodwin’s eyes.
“We gave up 13 points,” Goodwin said. “We were hoping for a shutout or whatever.”
It’s clear the expectations are still high for a unit that’s morphed into one of the nation’s best despite some not-so-insignificant turnover. It started with the architect of it all, Brent Venables, who split for his first head coaching job at Oklahoma before Clemson’s bowl game after a decade as Dabo Swinney’s defensive coordinator.
Despite getting a promotion to assistant head coach along with a raise at Clemson, fellow assistant Todd Bates eventually joined Venables at OU, where Clemson’s former defensive tackles coach and recruiting coordinator will be a co-coordinator. Venables also took Miguel Chavis, an off-field staffer at Clemson, with him to be his defensive ends coach.
There are also some key holes to fill at different levels of a defense that finished this season in the top 10 nationally in yards and points allowed. Veteran linebackers James Skalski and Baylon Spector are on the way out after finishing the season as the Tigers’ top two tacklers. Clemson is losing three starters in the secondary, including the ACC’s best corner tandem in Andrew Booth Jr. and Mario Goodrich.
Goodwin was promoted to replace Venables after spending a couple of different stints as one of Clemson’s top off-field defensive assistants. While Goodwin will add his own wrinkles here and there, the bowl game showed the Tigers aren’t going to deviate much from a defensive system that’s been highly successful in recent years.
As for Bates’ replacement, Swinney brought back one of Clemson’s own in Nick Eason, a longtime player and coach in the NFL who had gotten back in the college game last season at Auburn. There’s also enough personnel returning on the field that it’s not inconceivable for Goodwin’s expectations to be met going forward.
Andrew Mukuba is in line to return at safety following a freshman All-America season, and Trenton Simpson may be the most versatile linebacker in the ACC after recording 78 tackles (third on the team), 12 tackles for loss, six sacks and three pass breakups as a sophomore. Of course, much of the optimism that Clemson can remain among the nation’s elite defensively lies up front.
Barring any transfers, the Tigers are set to return their entire two-deep along what was still one of the nation’s top defensive lines despite not having Bryan Bresee around for most of it. Clemson’s star defensive tackle was limited to four games after tearing his ACL, but he’ll be back for his junior season.
So will defensive end Myles Murphy, who led Clemson with seven sacks and 14 tackles for loss. Defensive tackle Tyler Davis is returning for his senior season, and K.J. Henry gave the unit a boost when he decided to return, too. Clemson found out its entire starting defensive line would remain intact, though, when Xavier Thomas recently announced he would use his COVID-19 year and run it back for a fifth season, which elicited a response from Goodwin on social media.
“Fired up to have you back!” Goodwin tweeted at Thomas. “Huge piece of the best DL in the country! Can’t wait for next season!”
Whether or not the Tigers can remain the same suffocating unit it turned into under Venables remains to be seen, but that is Goodwin’s expectation.