Dabo Swinney had some fun with the media during his weekly press conference on Tuesday.

Coming into the season, one of the biggest questions surrounding the Tigers focused on who would be doing the punting.

Jack Smith, Robert Gunn and Will McCune all battled it out during camp, and while Swinney never named a winner of the competition, it was Smith getting the nod when Clemson opened the season at home against LSU.

“Jack has done a really nice job. He had a lot of pressure on him,” Swinney said on Tuesday from the Smart Family Media Center. “Y’all couldn’t wait for him to shank one.”

Throughout the offseason and into fall camp, many were criticizing the head coach for not bringing in a punter through the transfer portal. However, Swinney never wavered in his belief that he already had what he needed on his roster.

“I know y’all had all the headlines ready, saying Swinney’s stupid and he should have gone to the portal. Whatever,” the head coach said, smiling. “Y’all had them ready. Y’all keep them. There might come a day when y’all can use them. But not today. Today’s not the day.”

“There could come a day. I know y’all got them written.”

Coming out of high school, Smith was considered one of the top punters in his class, and while it’s taken some time for him to develop the consistency needed to perform at this level, the redshirt junior has been exactly what the Tigers have needed here in the early parts of the season.

The first two games have shown why Swinney was so confident. Smith has averaged right at 45 yards per punt. Two of his six punts have gone for more than 50 yards, and one was downed inside the 20-yard line.

“Sometimes we just think because we don’t name a guy, that they are all terrible,” Swinney said. “That’s just not the case. We have three good punters.”

Photo by Bart Boatwright