Dabo Swinney says Clemson should have Kourtney Kelly available Saturday against Charleston Southern, and he liked what he saw from the receiver over the last two practices.
“I do. I do.
He's had two good days, so we've been encouraged. He's getting himself back into football shape and all that stuff, but he's been able to hold up and do what he needs to do, so I look forward to getting him some action.”
Swinney also said Jay Haynes is in good shape after a full week of work, and Christopher Vizzina has taken another step forward even if he is still not fully back to 100 percent.
“Yeah, Jay's been great. So he's had a good week, and it's been good to see him be able to get a whole week and get all the work.
And CV is still not 100 percent, but this has been the best week he's had since before he got hurt.”
On Vizzina specifically, Swinney said Clemson didn’t expect the injury to linger this long. He said the quarterback was completely unavailable the next game, then sat out North Carolina and Cal before becoming an option only in an emergency. Swinney added that this week marks the first time Vizzina has been out of the brace and is now working with just a sleeve and pad.
“We thought it would be close, and he was completely out.
And then whatever, what was the game after that? Cal, I think.
Was it Cal? So he was out of North Carolina, then Cal, he was available, but really only if we had to have him.
It would have been like we would have had to get through Trent and probably even through Brock before we got to him.
So he was just still really, really sore.
Obviously on game day, he's got a little medicine to help with the pain, but we would have only played him if we had to. He was available if needed.
He's just gotten better and better. I mean, it's just a-we thought it would bounce back a little bit quicker.
It's just been hard for him, but he's gotten better. He's had a really good week.
And it's just one of those things that's been day-to-day.
Like I said, this is the first week he's been out of the brace. He's just got a sleeve and a pad now, as opposed to that big brace. He's still getting his full range of motion back.”
Swinney also pushed back on the idea that Clemson’s roster spending explains the results on the field. Asked about estimates from The Athletic that compared team budgets, he said Clemson uses everything it has and needs to get more out of its play and coaching.
“We spend what we got. I mean, can't spend more than you got.
So we try to make every penny that we have, use it to our very best. That's what we do. It ain't like we holding anything back.
We spend everything we got. We maximize our resources, but, I mean, that ain't got nothing to...
We got to play better. We got to coach better.
We got to do a lot better. We've had plenty of opportunities, and we just got to continue to put in the work and get better and better each and every game, and hopefully we'll have some more opportunities down the road to play better.”
When asked whether Clemson can increase those resources in future seasons, Swinney said that conversation belongs with the athletic department. He added that the program has improved its available revenue-sharing resources little by little.
“You would have to talk to the athletic department about all that stuff.
I mean, we got what we got, and we use every bit of it, and we got a team that's getting better, and we're going to continue to get better.
But we've got to be able to certainly compete and retain and acquire, all those things. It's all part of it.
And we've gotten a little bit better each year as far as what we've had available from a revenue-sharing standpoint and all that, and that will hopefully continue.”
Swinney said Charleston Southern is the kind of opponent that demands focus, especially after Clemson’s 2023 game against the Buccaneers. He recalled that Charleston Southern jumped ahead 10-7 in the first quarter and said the broader lesson is about Clemson’s own standard, not the name on the other sideline.
“Yeah, you got to show up ready to play. I mean, I think we had, I guess it was a pick-six or fumble or whatever it was early in that game.
But, I mean, again, it's not about-I say it all the time-it's not who you play, it's how you play.
So let's focus on how we play, and that's why you play to a standard, prepare to a standard, so that you can create consistency in your performance and not up and down based on who you're playing.”
He closed by saying there’s no hidden agenda with the offensive line this week beyond playing clean football and getting a win.
“Just want to play well. I mean, I don't have any agenda other than let's go win this game.
Win the game. Let's play well. Let's execute at a high level.
Let's do some of the routine stuff better than we've done. That's really the main agenda here. Win the game.”
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