By Will Vandervort.
Swinney says there is no quarterback controversy, Stoudt is the starter
Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney just laughed sarcastically when he was asked what his football team needed to do in Saturday’s home opener—besides win the game—to help build his team’s confidence heading into the Sept. 20th showdown at top-ranked Florida State.
“We don’t have a lack of confidence around here,” he fired back. “I mean, we don’t have any reason not to be confident. Why, because we lost to Georgia at Georgia, who is a great team? I don’t what they are ranked, probably top 10. Why would we not be confident? We are very confident.
“We have to finish. That’s what we have to do. We just have to finish the dang game.”
Swinney said the Tigers, who will host South Carolina State at 12:30 p.m. in Death Valley, are mad if anything after not finishing what they started down in Athens. For three quarters Clemson played toe-to-toe with the eighth-ranked Bulldogs, but three fourth-quarter touchdown runs of 18, 47 and 51 yards put the game away.
The 23rd-ranked Tigers led for most the first half and Ammon Lakip missed a 35-yard field goal with 52 seconds left that could have given them a three-point lead at the break. In the second half, the offense gained only 15 yards and had one first down, while the defense eventually wore down at the end.
“They had 248 yards going into the fourth quarter, we had 310,” Swinney said. “We don’t have any reason not to be confident. We have a lot to be mad or ticked off about, but there isn’t anyone that isn’t confident around here after one ball game.
“I mean come on! We played a great team at their place and got beat. And we deserved to get beat.”
In the second half, Clemson’s offense had 31 missed assignments which led to their futile effort, while the defense had 13 missed tackles in the fourth quarter alone.
“Let’s do the things that we need to do so that we deserve to win,” Swinney said. “What we know is that we are good enough. We do not have a talent problem. We have to be dependable, responsible and accountable. We have to stay focused for four quarters. It is a four-quarter game. They don’t call it after two or three so that is what we need to do — finish the doggone game at the standard we are set to play at. Period! There ain’t no one around here walking around with no confidence. We have no reason to hold our head down.”
In other words, the Tigers are not down, they are mad.
“We could have played East Community College and made the same mistakes and could have been walking around here like we have done something,” Swinney said. “We got our butts handed to us and we deserved it. If we handle it the right way, it can be a positive.”
Stoudt is the starter. When asked to explain why Cole Stoudt is starting over freshman Deshaun Watson, Swinney said it was simple – “he earned it.”
“It’s not that (Watson) needs to be brought along slowly – it’s that the guy in front of him is the starter. He earned it and he played great,” the Clemson coach said. “(Stoudt) played really, really well. What’s funny about that is that you can’t win. That’s why I told everybody up front, he is going to play. I didn’t want to shock anybody.
“Had he played bad, then everybody would be like, ‘Why are you playing that guy. Your starters playing well, why are you putting that guy in?’ Then when he goes in and plays good, and we expect him to play good, then it is, ‘How come he isn’t playing more?’ You just can’t win in that situation.
“Listen, we don’t have a quarterback controversy. We have a clear starter. And again, I’m here every day. He has earned it and he played a really, really good game. He was one of the bright spots for us.”
Priester sent packing: Swinney announced after practice that freshman wide receiver Kyrin Priester is no longer on the team. The Clemson head coach said he was dismissed for conduct detrimental to the team.
“It was poor attitude, basically,” Swinney said. “It was conduct that is not acceptable to our team standard. I hate that. He is a good player. We wish him well.”
Priester was the No. 3 overall prep player and No. 1 wide receiver coming out of Fork Union Military Academy. He enrolled at Clemson last January and had a good spring in which he was listed second on the depth chart heading into the summer. He was also praised by Swinney early in fall camp along with fellow freshmen Artavis Scott and Demarre Kitt.
Priester could be seen arguing and pouting to the coaches on the sidelines during the Georgia game.
Jenkins hurt. Swinney also announced cornerback Martin Jenkins will not play Saturday against S.C. State. The senior cornerback rolled his ankle and will sit out this week to recover.
The team expects him to be back soon. Tight end Sam Cooper, as expected, will also miss the game. Swinney said other than that, the team is in pretty good shape from a health standpoint.