CLEMSON — It did not matter who you were on Saturday. Whether you were a freshman wide receiver or a quarterback, a transfer cornerback, a potential All-American linebacker, an offensive guard or a kicker, no one got away with any mistakes in Clemson’s Orange & White Spring Game at Memorial Stadium.
Clemson’s head coach made sure of it.
In case you were not there, and most of you were not, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney had a microphone in his hand and he held every player accountable in the Orange Team’s 23-3 victory.
“A little instant accountability, right there,” Swinney said afterwards. “Sometimes, you don’t know what you are looking at, and you think you do, but most of the time it is not what you think. You think that (defensive) tackle got a sack, when in reality, we forgot to motion and block a guy, or somebody made a wrong read or the quarterback threw it into the ground when the receiver converted when he should not have converted, or whatever it might be.”
No one was safe.
Swinney started off the game by calling out freshman receiver Naeem Burroughs on a bust that led to an incomplete pass from quarterback Christopher Vizzina. Later he jumped on transfer cornerback Elliott Washington II for jumping the rout wrong and missing what would have been a pick-six. Instead, it turned out to be a long gain for receiver JuJu Preston.
On the same drive, Sammy Brown was called for a late hit out of bounds, which Swinney pointed out to the 25,000 fans in attendance.
He did not stop there. He called out offensive lineman Ronan O’Connell for a holding call on the Orange’s next possession and then ripped placekicker Nolan Hauser for missing a couple of kicks.
“It’s just to create some pressure,” Swinney said. “Again, we do not have any preseason games. I wish we had all of that, but we do not. So, I am trying to create some pressure on some of these guys with some call outs.
“Braden Wilmes might have had his best rep when I told him, ‘Alright, 79. We are all watching you on this play.’ It might have been his best rep of the day. That is trying to see how guys respond, creating a little pressure.”
Why is Swinney putting so much pressure on his players?
“We are not opening with Eastaboga Community College,” Swinney said. “We do not get to stick our toe in the water. We got to jump into the deep end quick.”
Clemson opens the 2026 season at LSU on Sept. 5 in Baton Rouge, La.