Swinney Addresses Kicking Situation, Clemson’s Options
By: Gavin Oliver September 6, 2023

During his radio call-in show Tuesday night, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney addressed the kicking situation after field-goal kicking proved to be problematic in Monday night’s 28-7 loss at Duke.

Swinney said the Tigers gave backup placekicker Quinn Castner “a try” Tuesday night at practice. Starting kicker Robert Gunn III, a redshirt freshman, went 0-for-2 on field-goal attempts in the season opener, with the Blue Devils blocking both tries that Swinney said were low kicks.

Along with Castner, a redshirt junior walk-on, Swinney mentioned walk-on Hogan Morton, a redshirt sophomore, and starting punter Aidan Swanson, a graduate senior, as other options for the Tigers at kicker, if they do choose to switch things up at that position.

“We just gave him (Castner) a try tonight,” Swinney said. “So, we’ve got him and Hogan Morton, and then also Aidan Swanson is actually a pretty doggone good field goal kicker too. He’s our next kickoff guy. He’s got a really strong leg.”

Swinney added that Gunn — who was ranked by 247Sports as the nation’s third-best kicker in the 2022 recruiting class — is “incredibly gifted and incredibly talented,” and Swinney hopes to see him bounce back from Monday’s struggles.

If he doesn’t, Swinney said, then the Tigers will turn to their other options.

“Just disappointing, because Robert, he had a great camp – I mean, just an amazing camp,” Swinney said. “But sometimes these guys, those lights come on and sometimes they can kind of get in a funk and you just gotta work your way out of it. And hopefully he will, because he is incredibly gifted and incredibly talented. …

“It’s a process that you go through for sure, and unfortunately, he didn’t take it to the game the other night, and it was costly. But hopefully he’ll respond. If not, you’ve got to put somebody else in there, and it’ll be Quinn and Hogan and Aidan that will get the next opportunity.”

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