Imagine the explosion on Twitter if a football coach looked at the roster and conceded his team didn’t have a chance against the schedule with a freshman left tackle, no kicker and tissue paper thin depth on defense.

That’s why every preseason coaches insist the objective is to win every game and hopefully earn one of the four spots in the College Football Playoff lottery and beat (you pick) Alabama, Florida State, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon for the national championship.

Cruel honesty isn’t common trait among coaches on the first day of practice, so it’s critical to know how to read between the lines.

When Dabo Swinney speaks he drops nuggets to mark the trail, so there’s a germ of truth in everything thing he says. And if you understand the makeup of this Clemson it’s hard not to like the potential of his seventh Clemson team.

It starts with the potential all-star at quarterback and a vein of offensive skill as golden as any California mother lode.

Minutes before the first practice of 2015, Swinney alluded to the helium that seems to have lifted the program on his watch, returning it to national prominence.

“I think our team is in a good spot mentally and physically,” Swinney said Tuesday. “We’re a healthy team.

“We’re not ready to play, but we’re ready to go to work.”

With the ACC Championship game 124 days away, he said the goal was “to try to make this a great and memorable season for all of us.”

“A lot of opportunity out there just like for every other team across the country. A lot of potential, but we’ve got to go pay the price,” he said. “We’ve got 12 games guaranteed.

“Everything else we’ve got to go earn.”

Asked if the ultimate goal was the College Football Playoff, Swinney pointed to the five goals that have been the standard since his first season.

“We’ve never hit all our goals in the same season,” he said, “But they’re set up to allow us compete at the highest level.”

Anticipation continued to percolate around a program that’s won at least 10 games each of the last four seasons and logged bowl victories over LSU, Ohio State and Oklahoma , programs where the baseline expectation is a national championship. Clemson announced this week that more than 55,000 season tickets have been requested with all are gone for several homes games.

“There have been a lot of tickets sold, and people talked a lot about that, but there are only 12 in print,” Swinney said. “We’d love for them to have to print 15 tickets in 2015. That would be just great.

“And if we hit those goals, (there’s) probably a good chance that happens.”

A relatively young team trotted onto the practice field in temperatures flirting with triple digits, one dominated by freshmen, redshirt freshmen and sophomores including preseason ACC player of the year Deshaun Watson, who shoulders much of the hope for this season.

After three significant injuries his freshman year including a torn ACL in the Georgia Tech game that required surgery in December, he looked surprisingly crisp and comfortable with a knee brace Swinney said will be part of his wardrobe all season.

Watson said the brace does not restrict him, and though he doesn’t know whether he’s at full strength, “It’s there for protection.” Watson said he was cleared physically about a week ago but the full range of skills was there in the spring.

Watson said he doesn’t feel weight of fans’ expectations.

“Just want him to be Deshaun Watson,” Swinney said, dismissing the preseason chatter, “to execute the play call, nothing more or nothing less.”

“Don’t get caught up in what other people say or what other people think … good or bad,” he said, “irrelevant.”

Swinney said there were no particular concerns entering practice. Even with the concept of starting with a first-year player at offensive left tackle or the absence of depth on a defense that was one of the best last season or a kicking game in flux didn’t rattle him.

“I’d say maybe challenges,” Swinney said. “Defensively our inexperience depth is a challenge.

“The other challenge is our kicking game, he added. “We’ve got some questions we’ve got to get resolved there.

“I’d be concerned if we didn’t have talent.”

When players were weighed Monday, offensive lineman Jay Guillermo was the heaviest at 324 pounds. Guillermo left school last spring to deal with several personal issues and his weight had ballooned to nearly 370. Swinney said Guillermo could stand to lose another 10.

The first two weeks will be total immersion until classes begin Aug. 19. Sprinkled into the routine string of meetings and practices will be a number of motivation and information sessions beyond schemes and technique.

Former Baylor basketball player Isaiah Austin spoke to the team this week about dealing with adversity. Austin ’s plan for an NBA career was scuttled when he was diagnosed with Marfan syndrome.

And this will be the first year scholarship athletes will receive cost of attendance money beyond traditional scholarship grants. Financial advisors are scheduled to counsel them on managing money.

First, though, it was out to the field.

“Now,” said Swinney, “it’s about getting down with football and evaluating our team.”