Clemson’s fall camp has produced one clear message from Dabo Swinney: nobody has locked down anything yet.
As the Tigers work through August and toward a Week 1 trip to Baton Rouge, La., to face LSU, Swinney is keeping the depth chart wide open. After Clemson’s 7-6 finish last season, the head coach said he still has not settled on starters and isn’t ready to hand out praise to anyone just yet.
“I don’t have any starters,” he said during the first week of fall camp. “I’m just going to tell you there ain’t nobody starting. Somebody’s going to run out there today because you got to go practice.”
That uncertainty fits a roster that has changed in a big way since last season. Clemson brought in a record number of transfers last year, most of them on defense, and now the Tigers are sorting through the fallout from players who transferred, graduated or headed to the NFL. The offense has its own reshuffling to do, with second-string players moving up and a group of freshmen getting chances to compete for jobs along the offensive line and at wide receiver.
Still, Swinney said Tuesday he doesn’t have anyone he’s willing to label a standout from the first two weeks of camp.
“Everybody’s just working there. A bunch of nobodies,” Swinney said. “We’ll see if anybody becomes somebody as we play some games.”
Clemson will get two scrimmages before facing another opponent, giving the staff a chance to evaluate the roster in game-like settings. That matters even more with LSU looming in the opener, where the Tigers will be dealing with all the usual Week 1 uncertainty.
One thing that has been discussed is LSU’s own lack of familiarity with Clemson’s personnel. The other Tigers, now led by Lane Kiffin in his first season in the Bayou, won’t have much of a read on Clemson’s matchups before kickoff in about three weeks.
For Swinney, though, the focus is simple: keep competing, keep evaluating, and let the depth chart sort itself out on the field.
“We’re going to evaluate them every day, and if you run out there first tomorrow, then that’s because you earned it today, not because we just think you’re supposed to be the best one,” he said.
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