Dabo Swinney is back in mid-July mode, and Clemson fans know the drill: when he steps to the microphone, the season suddenly feels a whole lot closer.
Tuesday’s preseason media outing doubled as a milestone moment for the Tigers’ coach, who is entering his 37th college football season, his 24th at Clemson and his 18th as the head coach, full time. Swinney leaned into the moment with the kind of energy and appreciation that have long defined his run in Tigertown.
"This is always a fun time of year," Swinney said. "For me it's I was thinking about this morning since my 37th college football season... my 24th at Clemson and my 18th as the head coach, full time.
So, man, time flies. That's all I can say.
Time flies when when you love what you do, you love where you do it, and you love who you do it with."
That kind of message lands with a fan base that treats loyalty like a badge of honor.
Swinney also laid out Clemson’s immediate path to camp, and there’s nothing casual about it. The staff begins its all-in meetings Wednesday, with roughly five days of preparation before players report August 4. After a couple days of orientation and administrative work, the Tigers hit the field on the sixth.
"We start our all-in meetings tomorrow as a staff. That's between now next week.
That's about about five days," Swinney explained. "August 4, our guys will come in.
We'll have a couple days of orientation, administrative type of stuff, and then we'll be on the field on the sixth. So, lot to do, and you know, ready to ready to go do it."
He said summer school has gone well, with players taking care of business in the classroom, and he described this stretch as the third quarter of a four-quarter grind. In Swinney’s view, Clemson is heading into the “prime time phase,” the part of the year when the real work starts to sharpen championship teams.
"Summer school has been good. You know, from an academic standpoint, guys are in the summer too now," Swinney concluded. "So just everybody's just kind of you know ready to get back out of the field and kick off this new season... all we're focused on is just doing the work."
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The fit matters even more because Florida State is counting on Chaplin to be a central piece of an offensive line that has to replace all five starters from last season. There is still some uncertainty around which version of Chaplin the Seminoles are getting after an average stretch at Auburn compared with his earlier high-end work at Virginia Tech, but the upside is obvious enough that his arrival has already changed the conversation around the line. [Read more 🡒]