Clemson Tigers – Page 124 – Syndication Server

WATCH: Clemson Tigers Key Facts, Stats For 2021 College Football Season

The Clemson Tigers are in the preseason AP Top 10. How realistic of a shot does Clemson have for the national title? Here’s context.

The Clemson Tigers have reached the College Football Playoff for six consecutive years, winning national championships in the 2016 and 2018 seasons. Can the Tigers get back to the top this year? Here are some facts to consider. Go to Tipico Sportsbook for the most updated odds:

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Herbstreit discusses scenario that would give Clemson fans ‘anxiousness’ about UGA game

Kirk Herbstreit, during a media conference call via Zoom to preview this Saturday’s matchup between No. 3 Clemson and No. 5 Georgia in the Duke’s Mayo Classic (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC), discussed a potential scenario that he believes makes it a must-win …

There are some who think that regardless of the outcome, both Clemson and Georgia could end up making the College Football Playoff. However, Herbstreit doesn’t necessarily see it that way.

“For people that look at this game and think, ‘Well, it’s early in the year, you can lose this game and recover’ – all true,” Herbstreit said. “The only thing I would throw out there is a reminder that both these teams have a pretty good chance, no matter what the result is, of winning a lot of games. Potentially, a lot of people are predicting both these teams to get into the top four or be right around the top four. And especially I say this for Clemson, because they don’t have a lot of top-five opponents coming up after they play Georgia – they’ve got maybe one or two, but not a lot – you lose this game, if you’re Clemson, and then you win out and you win the ACC, and let’s just say for argument’s sake, Georgia wins the (SEC) East and they go to Atlanta and they lose a close one to Alabama.

“Now we’re starting to look at the (College Football Playoff) committee, and one of the words that they use is ‘cluster.’ They look at a cluster of teams. How do they separate clusters within this committee? They either look at conference champion, they look at head-to-head, things like that, and strength of schedule. But head-to-head would apply to the Clemson-Georgia matchup. So if you’re Clemson, and you lose this game, it puts you on the backburner in my view based on what the committee’s done in recent years, and I think that would give Clemson fans a little bit of anxiousness about this game.”

That’s why Herbstreit believes it’s critical for Clemson to leave Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte with a W on Saturday night.

“They need to win this game,” he said. “Even though it’s Week 1, you do not want to get caught up in a cluster against Georgia and have the committee say, ‘Well, they lost to these guys early in the year, so we’re going to give Georgia the advantage.’ They don’t always do that, but more often than not, that’s what they fall back on.”

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Swinney on WRU: ‘This is going to be a special group’

Dabo Swinney voiced a lot of excitement Tuesday surrounding WRU this fall in his first weekly press conference of the 2021 season. The 14-year Clemson head coach echoed offensive coordinator Tony Elliot’s sentiments for this year’s wide receiver …

Dabo Swinney voiced a lot of excitement Tuesday surrounding WRU this fall in his first weekly press conference of the 2021 season.

The 14-year Clemson head coach echoed offensive coordinator Tony Elliot’s sentiments for this year’s wide receiver group, one he says could go down as one of the most talented groups Clemson has ever seen.

“As I’ve said many times, this is as talented a group as we’ve probably had,” Swinney said. “I told (receivers coach Tyler) Grisham that on picture day, I said, ‘You need to take a picture of this group and pull it out in about six years.’ This is going to be a special group when it’s all said and done. You’ll look back six or seven years from now and think, ‘Wow, all these guys were in the same room.’”

With the likes of Justyn Ross, E.J. Williams, Ajou Ajou, Frank Ladson Jr. and Joseph Ngata along with a few new faces in Beaux Collins, Dacari Collins and Troy Stellato, the Tigers have a lot of talent at their disposal this fall. Despite their depth of talent, though, Swinney recognizes that Ross is simply in a league of his own.

“Justyn is kind of in a league of his own just simply because of where he is developmentally. This guy has played a lot of football,” Swinney said. “He came in here elite and mentally where he is, he’s just in a great place technically, fundamentally, knowledge, system. I mean, you name it, he just gets it.”

The experience behind Ross in this year’s wide receiver room continues to be elite. For Swinney, having guys with game experience like Ladson and Ngata is huge, but the real test will be if they can remain healthy for the season in its entirety.

“Frank and Ngata are elite guys, they just got to be available. It’s really that simple,” Swinney said. “They had just had good freshman years and then last year they just weren’t available, and that’s just the way it is. High level guys, I’ve seen it. I mean, Ngata, this kid is as talented as some of the big guys that have come through here, but consistently doing it on game day just hasn’t happened yet.”

“I’m really excited about what I’ve seen. I thought he had a great spring and he’s had a really good last 10 days or so, but we’ve got to see it on game day. It’s the same thing with Frank. We’ve seen splashes and good moments but (not) consistently being there.”

It is clear that consistency will be key for the Tigers’ wideouts this season, and Swinney is hopeful that his guys will take advantage of each and every opportunity thrown at them and rise to the occasion.

“It’s a really good room, and you’ll see a bunch of guys have opportunities,” Swinney said. “But hopefully those veteran guys will be able to be who we know they are week in and week out for us.”

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Podcast: ‘Everything builds to this for us’

The Clemson-Georgia game is just three days away. Levon Kirkland and myself have interviews with Clemson head coach and Dabo Swinney and defensive coordinator Brent Venables, as they preview this Saturday’s mega contest in Charlotte. We also …

We also breakdown the comments from Swinney and Venables and discuss what Georgia head coach Kirby Smart had to say about the Tigers.

You can listen to today’s podcast here (LINK), or listen to it and download it where you listen to all of your podcasts at either Apple Podcasts, Stitcher or Spotify.

ESPN analysts give their biggest questions for Clemson, UGA entering matchup

On ESPN’s College Football Live, a couple of ESPN analysts discussed the biggest questions they have concerning Clemson and Georgia heading into the top-five matchup between the third-ranked Tigers and No. 5 Bulldogs on Saturday in the Duke’s Mayo …

Here’s what ESPN analysts Tom Luginbill and Harry Lyles Jr. had to say about their biggest questions for Clemson and Georgia entering the Week 1 showdown:

Luginbill: “How will they hold up in the offensive line versus arguably one of the top one, two or three defensive front sevens in all of college football with the University of Georgia? I think as you watched Clemson unfold throughout the year a year ago, you started to realize they weren’t overly talented in the offensive line. I think Dabo’s had 69 players drafted during his tenure. Very few of those, I believe less than five, have actually been in the offensive line. They lose Jackson Carman. Your right tackle that’s slated to start for you is only about 6-foot-2. So, not only do you have to replace a Travis Etienne and his production, Amari Rodgers and his production — you’re getting Justyn Ross back — you’re replacing Trevor Lawrence. Can you hold up on offense up front so that you can give your quarterback time to gel, you can get some semblance of a run game going? I think the offensive line’s going to be the focal point of Clemson’s success or failures in this game.”

Lyles Jr.: “My big question here is was that Georgia offense that we saw the last four games of 2020 what they’re going to look like in 2021, or was that just some sort of a hot streak? Like, JT Daniels came in, and all year we knew that Georgia had weapons. They had the unfortunate optout of Jamie Newman right before the season started. They had Stetson Bennett. They now have JT Daniels, who when he came in threw for over 1,200 yards and completed about 68 percent of his passes, I think threw for 10 touchdowns and had two picks. So, if he’s able to have that kind of production this year, then this could potentially be one of those years where Georgia does live up to their expectations. I would like to see if hey, is that going to be the sort of hot streak that we saw … A lot of fans here in the state of Georgia like to compare the Bulldogs’ pain with the Falcons’ pain, right, where the Falcons got hot in 2016, made the Super Bowl, and I heard that they blew some sort of lead. So, is it going to be that kind of a hot streak, or is this Georgia team actually legit? Because they do have the weapons and it does appear that they have the quarterback now to get that done.”

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Phommachanh knew he was going to be back

Taisun Phommachanh felt like he had been kicked in the leg. Clemson’s redshirt sophomore quarterback had just completed a pass to Davis Allen during the team’s spring game. It was the game-winning drive. Phommachanh pushed off his left foot to go to …

Taisun Phommachanh felt like he had been kicked in the leg.

Clemson’s redshirt sophomore quarterback had just completed a pass to Davis Allen during the team’s spring game. It was the game-winning drive. Phommachanh pushed off his left foot to go to the next play, and his Achilles tendon just popped. The play was done. He was literally running to get to the next play.

“It was a freak accident,” he told reporters during Tuesday’s media availability.

Phommachanh realized throughout the process that he was ahead of schedule. He just knew he was going to be back.

Phommachanh was officially given the all-clear on Aug. 23, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. Just a mere four months after suffering the initial blow.

“As soon as I got injured, my mindset was, ‘This ain’t nothing but a sprained ankle,’” he said. “That was my mindset, and that’s kind of how I treated it, how I went about it. I knew I was going to be back. I knew it was going to take a tough mindset, lots of prayer. I knew it was going to be rough.”

The initial timeframe he was given was about a year. Doctors assumed that Phommachanh’s ruptured Achillies would sideline him for close to a year, likely missing the entire 2021 campaign.

His initial reaction? He was shocked.

But for Phommachanh, there was “no way” it was going to be a year, he said. So he put his head down and went to work. Physically, he was drained.

According to Phommachanh, it took a lot of strength work, a lot of treatment and a lot of rehab.

“It was a rough schedule,” Phommachanh said. “Wake up, try to do some treatment before I go to treatment.”

And so on and so forth.

He kept a “top-tier” mindset and at the end of the day, it was all worth it, he said.

Phommachanh is a different quarterback than he was before the injury and certainly, a different one compared to last season. On and off the field, it’s been a turbulent year for Phommachanh.

As he battled adversity, he never wavered. Phommachanh is grateful for everything he’s been through.

“I think it’s going to be real fun,” Phommachanh said of Clemson’s marquee matchup against Georgia. “All the tragedies I done had in the past couple of months, I think going out and just being able to do what I love, play football. I think it’s going to be a good time, just to go out there with my brothers, my teammates and just enjoy the moment. I’m ready for that.”

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‘It just makes sense’: Swinney wants to see Clemson, UGA play more often

Dabo Swinney certainly understands the significance and importance of the Clemson-Georgia rivalry and what it means to the respective fan bases. In fact, he clearly remembers hearing about it more than a decade ago when he became the Tigers’ head …

Dabo Swinney certainly understands the significance and importance of the Clemson-Georgia rivalry and what it means to the respective fan bases.

In fact, he clearly remembers hearing about it more than a decade ago when he became the Tigers’ head coach.

“I can remember when I got the job in ’08, ’09, people were talking about playing Georgia in 2013,” Swinney recalled during his press conference on Tuesday. “I remember that, vividly. It was like, I don’t even know if I’m going to be the head coach or alive in (2013), I’m just trying to survive ’09, and people are asking me about playing Georgia in 2013. So, it’s a big deal. It means a lot.”

This Saturday’s top-five matchup between the third-ranked Tigers and No. 5 Bulldogs in the Duke’s Mayo Kickoff Classic at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte will mark the first meeting between the two schools, located 70 miles apart from each other, since 2014.

Swinney said Tuesday he would love to see Clemson and Georgia play more frequently because of the tradition and history of the series and proximity between the two schools.

“It just makes sense,” he said. “You’re right down the road from each other. We’ve played big opponents for 12 years since I’ve been the head coach here. That’s kind of what we’ve done. We’ve gone all the way out to A&M, we’ve gone to Auburn, we’ve done a couple of Kickoff Classic-type things now. So, it brings a lot of excitement to it. Certainly the fans love it, anytime you play a quality opponent like we’ve played over the years.”

From 1977-87 no rivalry in the country was more intense or competitive than the Clemson-Georgia Series. In those 11 years, the two teams battled to a 5-5-1 record, which started with a one-point Clemson victory in 1977 in Athens and ended with a one-point Clemson victory in 1987 in Clemson.

“Clemson-Georgia is not just a quality game and quality opponent – there’s a tradition there and a history that I think both sides have a lot of respect for,” Swinney said. “There’s been a lot of unbelievable moments in the Clemson-Georgia game over the years.”

Swinney added that games like the highly anticipated affair between the Tigers and Bulldogs on Saturday — the first time in the history of the rivalry that both teams come in ranked in the top 5 — are what makes college football special.

“Proximity, fan bases living on top of each other in most states, Clemson people, Georgia people … So, I think that just adds to the excitement,” Swinney said. “It’s what makes college football fun is rivalries like this.”

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Elliott provides returns on freshmen wideouts, which guys are standing out beyond Ross

It’s game week and Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliot spent his Monday afternoon fielding questions for reporters as his offense prepares for Saturday’s marquee matchup against Georgia. Elliott was asked about Clemson’s freshman wide …

It’s game week and Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliot spent his Monday afternoon fielding questions for reporters as his offense prepares for Saturday’s marquee matchup against Georgia.

Elliott was asked about Clemson’s freshman wide receivers, now that he’s been able to watch them throughout the duration of fall camp and into this week of practice.

He provided returns on Troy Stellato, Beaux Collins and Dacari Collins.

Elliot was asked first about Stellato, who is a bit behind the eight ball. He arrived this summer and is clearly still picking up the playbook.

“Starting with Troy, (he) came in during the summer and was behind the Collins’ boys,” Elliott said. “Very talented. The biggest thing for him is picking up the offense. The first time through, he’s still swimming. Things are moving around. [I’m] very pleased with his ability, we just got to get him to the point where he can function on his own as opposed to

As opposed to Beaux and Dacari, who have been on Clemson’s campus since the spring.

“They’re big guys that are athletic, can run, can play multiple spots for us,” Elliott said. “Great after the catch kind of guys, also can go up and get the high points. I think they fall right in line with the many of the wideouts that we’ve had here.”

Additionally, at the other end of the spectrum, Elliott was asked about Justyn Ross and what the returns have been for Clemson’s No. 1 receiver since he’s returned to the fold after finally being medically cleared.

“You can tell that Ross is working his tail off,” he added. “He looks explosive and also you can tell that he’s putting in work from a knowledge standpoint too. You’re able to jump right in and just go function and he hasn’t practiced in a formal setting in about a year now.”

Outside of Ross, has anyone started to separate themselves in the wide receiver room?

“Frank (Ladson, Jr.) has had a good camp. (Joseph) Ngata is starting to come on, you’re starting to see what we thought we had in Joe,” Elliot said. “And then Ajou, Ajou is a guy we talk about a lot. He’s made tremendous, tremendous strides. Sometimes you put on the tape and you’re like, ‘Wow that was Ajou.” Just the nuances and the details are starting to emerge now that he has a better understanding of the scheme and he can play technically a little more sound.”

Elliot almost forgot E.J. Williams.

“You just kind of take E.J. for granted, but E.J. is very similar to Ross,” Elliott added. “He’s been a guy that’s been a putty guy for us. We’ve moved him around, put him in different spots and he’s handled that well. He’s electric…can make the acrobatic catches and he’s a physical guy too. That’s what I like about E.J., is that he might not be the biggest guy, but he’ll put his nose in there on the perimeter. I think he’s going to be a guy that’s going to be like a given…He’s had a great camp.”

Time to get the latest Clemson apparel to show your Tiger pride. Order your officially licensed Clemson gear right here!

Podcast: Clemson has to set the tempo in the trenches

It is finally game week as No. 3 Clemson gets set to take on No. 5 Georgia in the Duke’s Mayo Kickoff Classic at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina. Today we have an interview with Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott, as he …

It is finally game week as No. 3 Clemson gets set to take on No. 5 Georgia in the Duke’s Mayo Kickoff Classic at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Today we have an interview with Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott, as he previews the Tigers’ matchup with the Bulldogs and explains how they have to set the tempo in the trenches.

Longtime Clemson Sports Information Director Tim Bourret stops by for a conversation, too, as we dive into the history of the Clemson-Georgia game and discuss why it is such a big rivalry.

You can listen to today’s podcast here (LINK), or listen to it and download it where you listen to all of your podcasts at either Apple Podcasts, Stitcher or Spotify.

Clemson-Georgia ‘huge rivalry’ for the Spector family

Baylon Spector grew up hearing the lore of the Clemson-Georgia rivalry from his father Robbie who played for the Danny Ford in the late 1980s. In those days the Tigers met the Bulldogs on the gridiron more frequently and now the matchups between the …

Baylon Spector grew up hearing the lore of the Clemson-Georgia rivalry from his father Robbie who played for the Danny Ford in the late 1980s.

In those days the Tigers met the Bulldogs on the gridiron more frequently and now the matchups between the regional rivals are few and far between.

But Spector knows the importance of Saturday’s game for fans of both programs.

“Being so close it definitely means something to both states,” Spector said. “He (Robbie) did talk about the intensity every year playing them and is super excited and always looked forward to it. I don’t know why they got away from it but I’m glad it’s back.”

Not only does the game mean more to Spector because of his Clemson ties but it also carries weight because of familial ties to the Bulldogs.

The graduate linebacker’s first cousin, Kris Durham, played wide receiver for Georgia from 2006-10 before he was picked up by the Seahawks in the fourth round of the 2011 NFL Draft.

Durham finished a successful college career in red and black with 64 catches for 1,109 yards and four touchdowns.

“It’s very exciting, I grew up dreaming of these situations and games,” Spector said. “I had family that played for Georgia so I’m super excited that’s all I can say.”

The Calhoun, Georgia native said there has been no family trash talk as of Monday but expects a call or text from Durham before the Tigers take the field against his alma mater on Saturday.

“He hasn’t hit me up about it actually, but I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t this week he probably will,” Spector said.

Spector wishes the two teams played more frequently and recalled conversations with his dad about the 11-year war. For him the game between Clemson and Georgia is definitely a rivalry game.

“He talked about it a good bit and it’s a huge rivalry even though we don’t play each other every year,” he said.

Clemson opens the season with the Bulldogs at 7:30 p.m. at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Football season has finally arrived. Time to represent your Tigers and show your stripes!