CLEMSON — It is football season.

Do you want to know how I know? Well, you know it is football season when at least one head coach shuts off access to practice to those who do not wear “media” passes, as well.

Of course, that coach this year is Clemson’s Dabo Swinney, who has publicly admitted he is limiting access to many of us who are not officially a part of the program. And, again, I am not talking about the media.

As always, my colleagues and I are very appreciative of the access Swinney and Clemson offers us during the course of the season. I can speak about the fact; Clemson is one of the best when it comes to helping the media and providing access. The athletic communications staff at Clemson is second to none when it comes to media access for a major athletic department.

And do not get me wrong, I understand where Swinney is coming from. He is doing all he can to keep everything close to the vest.

There is a quarterback competition going on. He has a new offensive coordinator and there are new players all over the place. The more information he can keep inside the practice lines, the better for him and the Tigers as they prepare for Lane Kiffin and the Bengal Tigers from Baton Rouge on Sept. 5.

This is a big game for Clemson. This is a big season for Swinney.

I get the “Let’s keep everything in house” mentality.

What don’t I get is why so many Clemson fans and former team managers are so upset about it?

Swinney wants to keep everything behind closed doors. What’s the big deal?

So, it makes my job a little harder. No big deal. I’ll get over it.

However, I find it funny, or ironic, that those people Swinney is keeping out of practice, including Saturday’s scrimmage at Memorial Stadium, are the very ones telling the media all about Swinney’s ban.

Maybe that is why he does not want them at practice? The first thing they did when he told them “Only former players” are allowed at Saturday’s scrimmage, they ran to the media.

Have you ever seen that meme of Dave Chappelle as he perfectly delivers the punch line on a joke about dating and how some men use sports cars to bait women into dating them. At the end of the joke he says, “Gotcha___!” I’ll let you fill in the blank because I know most of you know what meme I am talking about.

If you read the State Newspaper’s article today called Clemson football scrimmage decision causing some hurt feelingsthen you know what Dabo Swinney might be thinking if he read the story.

Chapel Fowler, like any good reporter, protects his sources and uses them correctly to get the information he needs for his article. He obtained the emails and all the things needed to verify what he is being told.

The irony of it all – the people he is getting his information from are the people Swinney has cast out of his scrimmages and practices. Maybe there is a good reason for Swinney’s decision (insert thinking emoji here).

I can just imagine Swinney reading this article and laughing, “Gotcha__!”