By Ed McGranahan.

By Ed McGranahan

Talent should not be an issue on defense.

Unless you totally discredit the evaluations by the top programs in the country and the most respected recruiting services, Clemson has enough to grow a respectable defense, perhaps a great one if properly cultivated.

Much has been made of Clemson’s recruiting proficiency under Dabo Swinney, and the results offensively are evident.

A quick, very unscientific survey of the defensive players signed the last four years revealed that there’s at least comparable talent on the other side of the ball.

Just look at lists of schools these young men considered. They mirror the polls and include many of the game’s top programs:

Alabama, LSU, Southern Cal, Notre Dame, Florida State, South Carolina, Florida, Auburn, Stanford , Michigan appear frequently.

Now count the stars assigned by the services. Use ESPN or Scout, for example. At least two players were fives. No fewer than 15 players are fours. The rest are threes. The only two was a career quarterback with, as a former defensive coach described, a high football IQ.

Defensive players who visited with reporters Monday accepted the blame. Obviously they were parroting their coaches when saying, “We’ve only played four games … there’s a whole season ahead.”

Dabo Swinney warned in July before practice began that this would be a “work in progress” for four or five weeks. Unclear at the time was that he may have been talking about the defense rather than the offensive line.

Yet there are issues after allowing nearly 700 yards to Florida State. What are they? That’s not easily explained.

Corner Bashaud Breeland said that at no time did he leave the field feeling they had stopped Florida State — and remember, Clemson led 21-14 at halftime and 28-14 in the third quarter.

End Malliciah Goodman used the stock explanation that it was an accumulation of missed opportunities and missed assignments.

The absence of a playmaker – one guy who commands respect of an offense – is evident to him, too. Brent Venables said in August he didn’t know if there was one on the roster.

“I don’t think we have that one guy yet,” Goodman said. Should it be him? “I should be that guy. I haven’t been satisfied with how I have been playing.”

As bad as it was, and there haven’t been many worse at Clemson, Goodman said it did not have the same feel as the Orange Bowl despite the fact Florida State finished with more yardage than West Virginia.

Probably because the tsunami came later rather than earlier.