By Will Vandervort.

By Will Vandervort

Dabo Swinney showed off his new car Friday afternoon in Clemson. Well, it wasn’t his actual car, but nonetheless the Tigers head coach compared Clemson’s new indoor practice facility to one when it came to the “Wow Factor” when recruits and others visit Clemson University from here on out.

Hundreds of Clemson fans, boosters and employees were wowed after fighting through the ice and the cold temperatures to journey to Clemson as the university held an open house to debut its brand new indoor practice facility.

“When you walk into this facility, you go ‘Wow!’” Swinney said. “It’s like when you go buy a car. You can jump in and some of them you can say, ‘This is going to work and this is going to get me where I need to go and that’s fine.’ Some of them you get in and you go, ‘Wow!’

“That’s what this is. This has a wow factor to it and when recruits come on your campus you have that factor. But, it further demonstrates this university’s commitment to competing to be the best. If our competition is providing these resources and we are not, well, you are not on a level playing field. We are still not quite there, but we are closing the gap and this facility is a big step in the right direction.”

Clemson kicker Chandler Catanzaro, who kicked a 37-yard game-winning field goal to beat LSU in the Chick-fil-A Bowl last month, said when they first used the facility during bowl preparations last month, he could hardly believe what he was seeing.

“I was kind of surreal,” he said. “It really doesn’t look real when you walk in it the first time. It’s incredible. What a big step this is for our program. I’m excited about our future.”

The new indoor practice facility is equipped with a turf field similar to that of what the Atlanta Falcons play on in the Georgia Dome. Both end zones have Clemson pained in them, while a huge Tiger Paw logo is located at midfield. There is a 30-foot wide video board located in one end zone and a smaller standard scoreboard located in the other.

There is a loft above the field that will allow visitors to watch practice as well as an NFL player’s lounge. There is a weight room area for hurt players to work out while practice is going on as well as a training room and storage area in the back.

“When young people come to visit your campus, and I have three of them at my house, it is all about what they see, what they smell and what they hear,” Swinney said.

And there is little doubt that they will all be wowed when they see it.