What My Own Eyes Took in on March 28

Greetings STS! Yours truly had to make a trip to Clemson for some other reasons but I figured since I was there, I might as well take in the 2026 Spring Game and try to get a bit of a read on things for next season. It is a major pivot point in the Dabo Swinney era as we all know, and the pressure to produce is approaching what Swinney was facing the last time Chad Morris was brought in to lead the offense. The program isn’t title or bust, but barely squeaking into a bowl game and looking up at teams like Duke and Virginia in the standings is not going to fly for very long. Clemson and its fans have invested and continue to invest way too much for a 7 to 8 win football program. Everyone knows this, especially Coach Swinney, so let’s get to what happened in the game.

Before I start, the disclaimer is I’m not a football coach by trade though I have coached it in my career and am reasonably knowledgeable about things. Not being able to watch all 22 tape limits what you can really assess from any live action. This is not to proclaim anything as fixed or broken, but we all could see what the big issues were that led to last year’s major disappointments. I’ll comment on those as I go through the post.

2025 Problems: Offensive execution. Clemson’s issues on offense have been widely noted for several years now since Trevor Lawrence departed as the #1 overall draft pick in 2021. My biggest gripes with the system Garrett Riley brought in tied to how often we had to hear about 9 or 10 of the 11 doing their job and 1 or 2 not that led to a play not working. Riley had three springs as OC and I felt the offense was largely a mess in all three of those, especially when Cade Klubnik and the presumed upper end guys were on the field. Some of this can be caused if you go split squad format and mix depth chart guys (especially on the OL). You also know coaches are going to be guarded in what they show when it is on TV (at any point) and can be watched by anyone in person. Still, you can be basic on offense and still evaluate execution. If a play fails, is it more a guy winning or losing a matchup or is it a busted assignment? Clemson had way, way too many busted assignments during the Riley era that simply couldn’t be overcome by the talent available. Riley also mirrored some of what was noted with Wes Goodwin in terms of preparing a lot more for a gameplan than what he ultimately was willing to use and call in the game. My coaching experience tells me that shows an ultimate lack of confidence in your guys being able to execute what you wanted to do. You are either trying to jam square pegs into round holes (so to speak) or your ability (along with staff) to effectively teach and install the plans is flawed. No team runs their entire call sheet for a game typically, but you have to be judicious with the time you apply to game preparation and the more you work on things you ultimately abandon, the less you can devote attention to detail on the things you know you will run. As a contrast, Clemson certainly had busts during the Brent Venables era for the defense, but the amount of those relative to the volume of defense he brought to each game was remarkably low. It also didn’t hurt to have talent who could overcome mistakes and make them not that noticeable to the general viewing public.

Bottom line was, the closest Clemson seemed to get to rolling on offense was the 2024 season but each Riley season began with an extremely messy and underwhelming performance and a loss. Very little in any of his spring games seemed easy with the primary personnel involved. That ultimately translated to how his offenses opened up the season as well.

2026 Spring Game: I felt the 2026 offense operated much more cleanly as a whole with the orange team, which clearly featured the top available depth chart pieces on both sides of the ball this year. It was interesting that the offense used the huddle almost every time (a stark contrast to the first Morris era), but a friend pointed out to me that it was much more important to get a call right than get a play off fast. There were still some issues with not getting a motion called (on Reynolds) or a WR making a route mistake, but the OL seemed to at least be in position to target on run calls and handle the limited blitz/stunt/twist actions they saw. If it is just a Jimmy vs Joe issue, we have to just live with that and hope recruiting can address it. Clemson was not as talented last year as in the glory years, but the talent level was plenty enough to do a lot better than it ultimately did all three seasons under Riley. The attention that Morris and the staff have devoted to demanding better execution appears to be paying off. Even the simple inside zone the team ran on 3rd and 1 that Davidson nearly broke for a TD was a welcome change to some of the short yardage fiascos or having to use special packages. They just moved Davidson over shortly ahead of the snap to change the LB’s eyes and the OL fit up like they were supposed to.

We simply are not going to know how Clemson’s ultimate first team OL lineup is able to handle guys 1 on 1, but it all starts with being where you are supposed to be and being in position to block the right guy. That just wasn’t happening nearly enough last season as Eric McLain so frequently pointed out in his film reviews.

Offensive Positives: Much fewer total busts or procedural penalties. Gideon Davidson and Chris Johnson showed they are clearly the bell cow backs. Chris Vizzina seemed much more comfortable in this setting than either spring before. Tait Reynolds flashed his physical talent and was able to take advantage when he was given chances with the Orange group. He even led the undermanned White team to a score on their first drive. Chad Morris still knows how to get his X WR isolated for 1 on 1 opportunities, which was a staple of the 2011-2020 era offenses. Gordon Sellars showed he could grow into a real weapon out there over time and guys like TJ Moore and Bryant Wesco are going to get their shots to win the way we saw with the WRU studs of the past. Just being able to win that matchup was a big reason the 2012 Tigers were able to beat a more talented LSU defense or the 2013 Ohio State defense the year after.

Offensive Concerns: The younger WR are not ready yet as a whole. The Orange OL got beat in some matchups facing lower depth chart White team defenders. 50-50 balls were largely not converted beyond the Sellars TD (a great throw/catch). Snaps were inconsistent and a few led to throwing off a play. RPO/Zone read execution still needs work. RB behind the top two is a big drop off. Pearman is the #3 QB but there is a gap behind CV/Reynolds that you could clearly notice even before Dabo said what he said postgame.

2025 Problems: The secondary (especially safety) was a serious mess. Clemson had some talent shortages that got exposed (see Shelton Lewis getting cooked in the Syracuse game or Kylon Griffin not being able to finish a tackle in a red zone situation). That is one thing (as noted with offense), but the egregious busted coverages that led to easy explosive plays just couldn’t be overcome and led to a defensive staff restructure even before the season ended. Tom Allen was worried about the depth even after he had worked to clean up the effort issues that had crept in with Wes Goodwin. Clemson had more than a few money guys on defense and many who will be drafted at the end of April, but those guys felt little to no pressure with their job security for all the wrong reasons. Clemson came out of the 2024 spring with no clear answer at Tiger (nickel), three DEs you could reasonably count on, 2 corners, and one safety. LB was only slightly better with two proven guys and two reasonable depth pieces.

2026 Spring Game: Neither team appeared to have a major bust, though admittedly each side of the ball was running a limited package tied to its base system. Open field tackling was largely good. The offense only converted the one 50-50 ball (but got a PI on another deep shot attempt). There were not a lot of huge hits but also not a lot of missed tackles. They had a quick whistle on some of the plays I’m sure to help prevent injury. It was a major trial by fire for the younger OL who made up the White team as they got dominated by the Orange DL most of the day. Both squads played turnover free (not including failed 4th downs). Washington had the best shot at a turnover but didn’t finish it. Another pick was negated by a “sack” call since the QBs were in purple and couldn’t be tackled.

Defensive Positives: All the transfer defenders flashed at least once. Myrick is very legit IMHO and I watched him closely a few times to see his movement and instincts, which were as good as I’ve seen beyond the best we got out of Khalil Barnes. Definite upgrade. Washington and Hampton gave up next to nothing on their snaps. Starr is thicker than the other guys playing Tiger and showed his wheels when he locked up Tyler Brown on a slot fade attempt. I thought Clemson had, at best, 2 safeties last season with Barnes and Jones but I feel pretty good about 4 going into this season (Myrick, Carter, Hanafin, Anderson) and maybe 5 if Kenan can progress some more. Mayo looked the best I’ve seen him look at any point and he might be ready to make the jump into contributing regularly. Wesley definitely brings a speed rush to the table and blew the doors off Jacobs one time. Haven’t seen that type of thing in a while, maybe Vic Beasley days, but can he be more than a one-trick pony remains to be seen. Overall I am buying the secondary depth being far superior to last year (which isn’t saying a ton, I know). Gipson had a pretty solid day I thought for being a true freshman out there.

Defensive Concerns: I think Clemson is as good as it has been on the outside at corner with Hampton and Washington since probably 2021 when Booth and Goodrich were terrific, but after that it remains to be seen considering Clemson did not have its top 3 WR (not even counting Tristan Smith) to truly test the corners this spring. I think the Tigers need to stay healthy there for sure. They gave Tink Kelly some snaps at corner I noticed. It is really hard to tell how well the defense would have finished plays on the QBs if they had been live. Clemson needs some difference makers up front who really show up in the big moments. There just wasn’t nearly enough of that last year. I do think Clemson will have a true 4 man rotation at DE with Heldt, Lawson, Merritt, and Mayo which is a plus, but the interior DL is going to be a question until we get to see it for real in Baton Rouge. How much Amare Adams and Andy Burburija can deliver when they are in the fold will be a key factor there.

There wasn’t too much to change my feelings about what it will take for 2026 to be markedly better than the last three years. None of those teams were as good as the 2022 team in my opinion, as even though the 2024 team won the ACC, they only beat one legit team all year. I certainly feel this 2026 team will be much more buttoned up in terms of getting lined up and doing their jobs. The team is most likely not going to have a real difference maker at QB. The situation feels a bit like way back in 1989 when the veteran Chris Morocco was the starter with a more physically talented but raw DeChane Cameron as the backup. That team did just fine overall (10-2) because Morocco had a terrific run game to lean on and the defense was elite. CV will be fine if the run game can be there and the X WR can win outside enough. Reynolds could very well be special but you’d rather that progress naturally than his being thrust in a little early. CV keeping it together mentally is going to be a huge factor after seeing both DJU and Cade struggle at times in that department. There are a few guys that Clemson simply cannot afford to lose to injury so fingers crossed for some good fortune that way after more than a few years of the opposite. This team is more equipped than 2021 on offense for certain, but how much better the defense actually proves to be will determine if hitting or passing 10 wins is possible.