Wes Goodwin isn’t Brent Venables, but he doesn’t need to be.
Clemson just needs its new co-defensive coordinator/linebackers coach to be himself.
Goodwin has the football acumen and knowledge to run a defense, just ask anyone who’s ever been in a room with him. The question that surrounds his hiring, though, is his ability to recruit.
Goodwin, who met with reporters for the first time on Saturday, was asked about his comfortability level in hitting the recruiting trail.
“I’m very, very comfortable with that,” he said. “Obviously, I haven’t spent much time out on the road, but just being able to paint a vision for this is what it’s going to look like and recruiting is just about relationships. At the end of the day, building that relationship, building the credibility and the word with the players and that sort of deal. You do that every day.
“Recruiting takes time, a lot of investment. Nobody’s gonna outwork me is kind of the mentality that I have. So, just continuing to develop those relationships and pouring into young people.”
Goodwin was able to secure his first recruit in Jesuit (Tampa, Fla.) three-star linebacker Wade Woodaz.
While it was Venables, who sealed his verbal commitment, Woodaz felt comfortable enough with Goodwin as his position coach to put pen to paper on Wednesday, the first day of the early signing period for class of 2022 football recruits.
“I’m fired up about Wade,” Goodwin said. “He’s definitely a Clemson kid. He’s exactly what we want from a program standpoint. Just an unbelievable family, hard-worker, smart, tough, savvy, physical, intelligent, plays fast and violent, he’s long. He’s gonna fit right in with the linebacker group.”
While Woodaz entrusted Goodwin with his future, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney also has a great deal of confidence in how his new DC will perform on the trail.
“He’ll do great,” Swinney said during his Tuesday evening press conference. “Just be who he is. He’s gonna do just fine. He’s been a part of recruiting for however many years — other than the few he was in the NFL — so, he’s been a part of it on the inside. He’s been on phones. He’s had conversations. He’s had meetings. He’s been a part of all of it. It’s just relationships, just like anything else.”
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