Pollack details what Swinney needs to say to his players heading into the 2024 season

Pollack on what Swinney should say to the Tigers.

As we all know, Dabo Swinney and the Clemson football program have a huge 2024 season ahead of them.

The 2024 season is the first year of the expanded, 12-team playoff. With the expansion comes more opportunities for powerhouse programs like Clemson, which has struggled to achieve its goals over the past few seasons. 

College football analyst and former Georgia All-American David Pollack appeared on a recent installment of OutKick’s Hot Mic. He discussed Swinney and the Tigers and shared what he would say to the Tigers if he were in Dabo Swinney’s shoes.

“Clemson, man, I’m so interested to watch Clemson,” Pollack said. “If I’m Dabo Swinney right now, by the way — I can give you the best Dabo Swinney speech known to man, if you want me to right now. I’m just telling y’all, like I’ve been waiting to say this to somebody that will actually listen. If I’m Dabo Swinney, like I’m literally walking in this locker room at Clemson and I’m going to be like this to all of my guys.

“I’m going to close the doors and be like, ‘Guys, here’s what I want you to keep in mind. People keep talking I need to change, like I need to do things different. I’m one of three active coaches with a national championship, and I’ve got two national championships, and I’m not going to change the way I do things. And here’s another thing, guys — they’re telling me I need to go in the transfer portal to replace you. That’s what they’re saying. They’re saying you aren’t good enough. They’re saying I need to continue to go in because I’m not recruiting at a great level. Guys, we’re getting top-10 recruiting classes, and they want to get more people to replace you. Are you going to step up? Like, that’s on y’all.’ And I think Dabo’s going to use that and I think he’s going to talk to his kids and he’s going to motivate them.”

Something that flies under the radar is how exciting Clemson remains as a program. The possibilities with this team are truly great, and there is a wide range of them. I’d love to sit here and tell you they’re going to be great, and they could be outstanding, but there’s a chance they won’t.

The possible outcomes make this team so exciting heading into the season. Especially considering former starting quarterback DJ Uiagalelei is back in the conference and starting for the Tigers’ top competition.

“I’m just fascinated to watch them and Florida State,” Pollack said. “They play late in the year, and guess what, one believes fully in the transfer portal and one doesn’t. Your old quarterback, who left in the transfer portal with DJU, is now coming to play you. I think it’s going to be fascinating. But I think Clemson’s going to be a fascinating story, and just everybody telling Dabo he needs to do it different when he has as many national titles as anyone else. He’s tied with Kirby, so he has the right to do it his way and he has the right to tell his players, like, ‘They’re talking about you. They want you to be replaced.’”

It’s going to be an interesting year.