By Will Vandervort.

So exactly where are the Clemson Tigers heading into the summer months?

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney is finishing up his week-long interviews with his players as he tells each one what he wants to see them get accomplished over the next three months before fall camp begins in August.

“It was a good finish to the spring and now we have to get finished up academically and get ready for a great summer,” Swinney said.

Clemson will use this week and next to get ready for finals and then the players will be allowed to go home for a week or two before returning to Clemson in May to begin summer workouts.

“These next two weeks are going to be very busy for all these players,” quarterback Deshaun Watson said. “We have finals and people going home. We are going to get together next week and talk about the summer and once we get to school we will go from there.”

No doubt Watson is the leader of this year’s team. He is expected to be cleared by the training staff when the team gets back together for summer workouts in May. And from there, the sophomore will lead them in workouts, seven-on-seven drills and things of that nature.

While nursing his ACL during spring drills, he watched every practice next to Swinney so he could get the plays, do his checks, call the line calls and see what the quarterbacks were seeing.

“If I can’t be out there physically, I’m going to be out there mentally and take every rep every other quarterback takes,” Watson said. “I’m making sure I’m staying prepared, too.”

Swinney says he would like to see his players improve on everything this summer, citing they can improve on size, strength, speed, quickness, flexibility and knowledge.

“It’s across the board,” he said. “This is the time when we are in our ‘get ready phase.’ We break the year down in four segments. We’ve been getting ready in off-season mat drills, spring ball and now we have to transform.

“We take all that stuff this summer and transform in all of those areas. That’s part of what our meetings are about. Everyone has different things they need to work on. There are a lot of things they get better on this summer.”

This summer is also about getting better from a leadership standpoint, too. The Tigers had 15 true freshmen on campus this spring and 11 others will be here in the summer, including five on the defensive line.

“The continued development of some guys that have not been starters that are in that one or two deep there have to have a great summer and get in and do a great job of watching themselves from the spring video and cut ups and things of that nature. We will see as we go,” defensive coordinator Brent Venables said.