{"id":763172,"date":"2026-07-14T22:13:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T22:13:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/763172\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T22:13:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T22:13:20","slug":"tuesday-clemson-football-media-day-update-iv-dabo-swinney-speaks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/763172\/","title":{"rendered":"Tuesday Clemson Football Media Day Update IV: Dabo Swinney speaks"},"content":{"rendered":"

CLEMSON \u2014 Dabo Swinney<\/a> just wrapped up his press conference to close Clemson\u2019s annual summer on-campus preseason media day.<\/p>\n

A few of the more notable\u00a0items:<\/p>\n

\u2014 Tait Reynolds<\/a> is full go as a runner after they limited him some during the spring to protect his hamstring.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s done everything,\u201d Swinney said. \u201cHe\u2019s full go. He\u2019s run every hill, every sprint, every 40.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chad Morris<\/a> believes heavily in his quarterback being a run threat, and Swinney said that element will be very much in play with Reynolds and Christopher Vizzina<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cCade<\/a> (Klubnik<\/a>) can run, now. He was a fast dude,\u201d Swinney said. \u201cBut Tait is different, and CV is different with their size in being able to run.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2014 He said secondary coaches Thomas Allen<\/a>, Corico Wright<\/a> and Nolan Turner<\/a> have done a great job improving the communication on the back end.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe gave up a lot of big plays, and they weren\u2019t necessarily competitive plays.\u201d<\/p>\n

ALSO SEE:\u00a0Tuesday Clemson Football Insider<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Tuesday Clemson Football Media Day Update II<\/a> | Tuesday Clemson Football Media Day Update III<\/a><\/p>\n

He pointed out that this is Year 2 under Tom Allen and they should be better from the knowledge base and experience alone there.<\/p>\n

\u2014 He said it\u2019s been \u201ca hard summer\u201d under new strength coach Dennis Love, an observation also shared with us by other coaches.<\/p>\n

He said the players \u201clove D-Love.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also said he really likes what Love has incorporated in the area of speed work.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re\u00a0a fast team \u2014 we\u2019re a faster team, let me say it that way,\u00a0than\u00a0we were last year at every position.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Swinney said Chris Denson<\/a> tweaked a hamstring recently.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully he won\u2019t be too limited.\u201d<\/p>\n

Swinney said they\u2019re still figuring out where Denson will end up position-wise. He\u2019s been moving around among quarterback, receiver\u00a0and running back thus far.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll figure it out,\u201d Swinney said. \u201cHe\u2019s open to figuring it out. We haven\u2019t been able to be on the field with him to give him any type of evaluation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Swinney was asked what his biggest objective is this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cGet the arrow pointed back where it needs to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said they might not make it to the very top, but his job is to get the arrow pointed back in that direction.<\/p>\n

\"\"Swinney will be in Charlotte, North Carolina later this week for the annual ACC (Media) Football Kickoff. \u2013 Tigerillustrated.com<\/p>\n

He also wants to see a tougher team.<\/p>\n

\u2014 I asked Swinney how much of an unknown defensive tackle is right now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d say it\u2019s a big unknown. A huge unknown,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose guys have a lot to prove. Every one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Amare Adams<\/a> is \u201cas talented as any guy we\u2019ve ever signed.\u201d But he didn\u2019t play a lot last year, is coming off surgery, and \u201chas got to go prove it.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then there are some guys, it\u2019s now or never. He didn\u2019t mention Vic Burley<\/a> and Champ Thompson<\/a>, but he didn\u2019t have to.<\/p>\n

He said he can\u2019t wait to see Andy Burburija<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t seen him yet. I think he\u2019s going to be a guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Markus Strong<\/a>, same thing. Very hopeful about him.<\/p>\n

He recently visited with Todd Bates<\/a> and Marion Hobby<\/a> at Austin Bryant\u2019s<\/a> wedding Sunday night in Nashville, and they talked about Strong.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s eager,\u201d Swinney said. \u201cI really like him. But the whole group\u2019s got a lot to prove.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 He\u2019s happy for Tristan Smith<\/a> getting his eligibility back.<\/p>\n

He said Smith would\u2019ve stuck around regardless because he was going to be a graduate student coach.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were going to develop him,\u201d Swinney said. \u201cBut this\u00a0is just a game-changer for him to be able to put some good play on tape. Really happy for him.\u00a0It certainly doesn\u2019t hurt the receiver room. That\u2019s for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 As we shared earlier on the message board<\/a>, Swinney indicated Kourtney Kelly<\/a> could return this season. Kelly suffered a torn ACL during spring practice.<\/p>\n

Swinney said Kelly \u201cis headed in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 He expects Vizzina and Reynolds to have mastered a lot of the operational stuff by the time the team begins camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what the summer is for. Your eyes, and not being distracted by all the operational stuff. Now that\u2019s something you have to get through, but we have to get beyond it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Funny take on Rich Bisaccia when Swinney was asked about the presence of former head coaches on this staff:<\/p>\n

\u201cBisaccia likes to say he\u2019s in a state of rage at all times.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 He said Chris Johnson Jr<\/a>. \u201chas been awesome\u201d and his current weight is in a good spot.<\/p>\n

Also, Swinney has seen him smile on occasion.<\/p>\n

SMU<\/a> coach Rhett Lashlee<\/a> told Swinney that Johnson never smiles.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told CJ: \u2018You come to Clemson, I\u2019m going to get some smiles out of you.\u201d<\/p>\n

DISCUSSION: Join Tigerillustrated.com subscribers on The West Zone Forum<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 One more thing from Love that Swinney really liked hearing:<\/p>\n

\u201cHe told me all he\u2019s seen is a bunch of multipliers and he hasn\u2019t seen any dividers.\u201d<\/p>\n

DISCUSSION: Join Tigerillustrated.com subscribers on our off-topics forum<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 The team reports for camp on Aug. 4 and then goes through a couple\u00a0days of orientation, weigh-in, etc. They\u2019re on the field officially for the first time on Aug. 6.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re allowed 25 days of practice but Swinney said they\u2019ll use 21.<\/p>\n

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Tigerillustrated.com, established in 1999, is the No. 1 Authority On Clemson Football & Recruiting. A subscription is a must-have for hardcore Clemson Football fans. You won\u2019t find more exclusive, detailed, info on Clemson football and recruiting anywhere else. We guarantee it!\u00a0CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT OUR SPECIAL SUBSCRIPTION PROMO!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEMSON \u2014 Dabo Swinney just wrapped up his press conference to close Clemson\u2019s annual summer on-campus preseason media…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":763173,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[121561,399,398,396,397,99],"class_list":["post-763172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-dabo-swinney-90-pelham","tag-football","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=763172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/763173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=763172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=763172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=763172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}