The "Beamer Ball" Edition

With another opening in Blacksburg, South Carolina's Shane Beamer has to be on the list.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Each time for Clipson Sports Talk with Lawton Schwan.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
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(00:51):
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(01:13):
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(01:34):
seven one oh eight. That's METS Plumbing two two six
seven one oh eight. All right, So, a couple of
years ago, I may or may not have been wrong
in my assessment about Shane Beemer and the job at
Virginia Tech. But who would have thought that Brent pry

(01:54):
in that job would part ways and come open again
just three years later. And I know Gamecock fans don't
want to walk down this aisle with me, but we're
gonna walk down that aisle. We're gonna go all nature
boy Rick Flair on this thing. WHOA, And just for
a moment, I want to present another hypothetical, because this

(02:19):
is a great job in my opinion at Virginia Tech.
So we're gonna talk about that momentarily coming up Chad Morris,
former Clemson Tiger offensive coordinator. Heck, maybe maybe he would
be in line to take that job or to try
to get back into the mix as a head coach
or an offensive coordinator at a school like Virginia Tech.

(02:40):
Chad Morris joins the program in just a little bit.
Longtime legendary Clemson Hall of Famer sid Tim Bray gonna
be here as well. But I want to talk to
our fine feathered friends, the South Carolina Gamecock fans who
hang out with us each and every day, so you could.

Speaker 3 (02:57):
Continue to peek over the fence at the best radio
showing the nation.

Speaker 2 (03:01):
And thank you all for being a part of what
we do. But I think now more than the last
time this Virginia Tech job came open, Shane Beemer has
to be high on their list. A couple of reasons why,
And I think this job is more desirable now for Beamer.

(03:25):
And again, we have a long way to go this season,
but we know the expectations in Columbia are through the roof.
But this past weekend against Vanderbilt maybe gave you the
glimpse that my projection of five to six wins this
year might be more in line with where South Carolina

(03:45):
ends up in a season where fans maybe we're.

Speaker 4 (03:47):
Thinking nine, ten or more.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
And Beamer, as a head coach, as every head coach does,
is always the optimistic person. They're certainly thinking, we're gonna
go out and find a way to win all these games.
Nobody coaches to lose. And so if South Carolina, after
being just outside the College Football playoff a year ago,

(04:15):
comes up way short this season and that job in
Blacksburg is sitting open, doesn't he have to entertain it
game cognation, Because I'll ask you this, and I think
you'll admit it Isn't the path to the playoffs easier
through Blacksburg wouldn't you agree. I mean, I constantly have

(04:40):
to defend this idea against what Clemson is in your
mind all the time. The path to the playoff for
Clemson is easier. I've never denied that at all. It's
not oh yeah, no doubt. And certainly if Miami or
Florida State of Rigila Tech were better, it absolutely changes

(05:02):
that dynamic. But if Beiember in this year where the
expectations are extremely high for South Carolina comes up well short,
and that job in Blacksburg, not to mention, he's a
former player, you know, his father's legacy, The fans there
and the pressure from the administration to bring him in
has to be immense, has to be immense because they

(05:25):
see what he's doing in Columbia. And so is it
not fair to guess or say that maybe, just maybe
Virginia Tech might be more interested in Beemer this time around,
and Beemer, if he has a bad year in Colombia,
might he not be more interested in that job at
Virginia Tech? Because ultimately, you want to win and go

(05:49):
to the College Football Playoff, and in this era and
this system that we currently reside in, he can take
players with him that want to go. It's not like
he has to leave Columbia and go to bare bones
in Blacksburg. Players that want to be a part of
Shane Beemer can go to Blacksburg and be a part

(06:10):
of Shane Beemer. I'm just saying, this is a different
landscape than it was three years ago, with the way
players can now move, and I can't really give you
a reason why that wouldn't be a better job with
a with a more ideal scenario to get to the
College Football Playoff than it is to try to do

(06:31):
it in Columbia. Winning the Southeastern Conference incredibly difficult in Colombia,
Winning the Atlantic Coast Conference in Blackberg much easier. Finishing
in a spot in your league where you can qualify
for the College Football Playoff by having a good record
against your competition easier in Blacksburg, much harder in Columbia.

(06:53):
And maybe, heck, maybe he's here the rest of his life,
and that's fine with me. I don't care what Shane
Beemer does, but I find it hard to believe that
he could look at it and not think logically that
now would be a great time to return to Blacksburg
and put Beamer ball back where it belongs. Let me
know what you think in the comments if you're watching

(07:14):
on TikTok. I mean, is that so far out of
bounds to think that on a year where everybody thought
South Carolina was almost certainly going to get into the
College Football playoff and if things don't go well, which

(07:37):
I mean right now, I think the fact that South
Carolina not only lost to Vanderbilt, but the way they
lost to Vanderbilt may have been a pretty big smack
in the face for South Carolina fans last weekend. And
there's certainly an argument to be made about the fat

(08:01):
that Leonora Sellers got hurt.

Speaker 4 (08:05):
But do you believe.

Speaker 2 (08:09):
That you're thirty one to seven bad compared to Vanderbilt
without him? Because that's what we all watched, like, that's
what we all absorbed last week. And now you go
out to a top twenty five ranked Missouri, who is undefeated,

(08:29):
who is favored.

Speaker 4 (08:30):
By nine and a half.

Speaker 2 (08:34):
I'll go ahead and say this. If South Carolina loses
to Missouri, and I know Clemson is sitting on two
losses already, game cocks, Okay, I get I know where
Clemson sits right now, But if South Carolina loses to Missouri.
They're not going to the college football playoff this year. Okay,
they're just they're not going to the college football playoff

(08:57):
if they lose this game, if they've all h to
two in the SEC.

Speaker 4 (09:02):
Two and two.

Speaker 2 (09:02):
Overall, ESPN's matchup predictor has Missouri winning this game eighty
point two percent of the time eighty point two percent
to nineteen point eight. If you don't win this game,

(09:24):
how confident are you when you face LSU in Oklahoma
and Alabama and Old Miss at Texas A and M
It almost sadly at this point, and it is early,
just like Clemson season, it is early. It almost looks
as if South Carolina what happened a year ago may

(09:48):
have been more about kind of Sellers being this unknown commodity,
an incredibly talented unknown commodity, versus what people have now
prepared for. Because when Mike Eyova was on with us,
the thing he kept talking about was Sellers has to

(10:10):
be better passing the ball.

Speaker 4 (10:12):
That people knew that they were.

Speaker 2 (10:14):
Going to have to contain him, and thirty one to
seven without him, and again he went out early. But
it doesn't make you feel like there are complimentary pieces
around and I think the bigger red flag, and I
may have said this earlier this week, I know I

(10:35):
said it to a buddy of mine we were talking
about South Carolina. I think the bigger red flag is
that air Nolan is not ready. That air Nolan is
not trusted to be the backup like that is a
shocking development to me, given air Nolan's profile coming out
of high school when he committed to play at Ohio State, like,

(10:59):
I think I would of banked on him being a
starter there at this point, quite frankly, but certainly being
more capable than Luke Dody to run the South Carolina offense.
But if this thing continues down the path of a
loss this weekend, and look, let's remember the Virginia Tech

(11:25):
team that we're talking about.

Speaker 4 (11:28):
That game.

Speaker 2 (11:30):
Was ten to eight at the half, and that's a
Virginia Tech team that last week trailed Old Dominion thirty
one to nothing. Whether you think the wheels fell off
in Blacksburg because of what Vandy did to him in

(11:51):
the second half in that forty four to twenty win
or because Old Dominion just swamped him, doesn't really give
a good indication on how you should feel about South
Carolina only mustering twenty four points offensively, not to mention
the struggles to game Cocks had offensively against SC State.

Speaker 4 (12:16):
So there's a lot of.

Speaker 2 (12:18):
Like what's the right word here, there's just a lot
of uncertainty I think right now about the South Carolina
offense and how good it can be or how good
it might actually be. And if you're a Virginia Tech
and you've already fired your coach, I can't tell you

(12:41):
why Shane Beemer wouldn't be the top guy for that job.
I can't give you a reason. I mean, he's already
put South Carolina in a position where the fans believed
coming into the season that they were going to compete
for a college football playoff. And they may very well

(13:02):
still compete for a college football playoff, but at this point,
given what we've seen and looking ahead at the schedule,
I mean, if you don't win this weekend, I just
don't see how you do it. I don't see how
you turn the momentum. I really don't, because none of

(13:22):
the schedule is not getting easier. As a matter of fact,
you might argue with South Carolina schedule, it's not quite
if you were ranking it in terms of difficulty. But
if you said, hey, give me the three easiest teams

(13:44):
South Carolina's going to face in conference play this year,
I think most people in the world would look at
their schedule and give you Vandy, Missouri, and Kentucky in
some order. That's the first three, and the last five
would be the toughest LSU, Oklahoma, Alabama, I'm at Old
miss in Texas, A and m Those are all top
fifteen teams. So if you start zero to two face

(14:10):
and you're facing the easiest teams on your schedule in
conference play, how do you expect to get to where
you wanted to go? I don't see it, And it
almost would feel like, in that moment, if I'm Shane
Biemer and I'm looking at it, and I see the
job at my alma mater come open a second time,

(14:31):
and I've had success in Columbia, but I see the
wall of power programs in front of me, And then
I'm looking at what Brent Key's doing at Georgia Tech,
and I'm looking at how quickly Florida State has returned
to the top ten, and I'm looking at Miami. I mean,

(14:51):
I would think if I'm Shane Biemer, I'm looking at going,
Why am I bashing my head against the wall to
try to bust through in the Southeastern Conference when it
wouldn't take me but a season or two to make
Virginia Tech competitive with Florida State, Miami, Clemson.

Speaker 4 (15:10):
Why not?

Speaker 2 (15:12):
They are in my mind the fourth biggest brand in
the Atlantic Coast Conference in terms of football historically speaking,
behind Miami, Clemson and Florida State. And you could argue
that prior to Dabos Wheny's run, that order would have
certainly been Miami, Florida State, and Clemson. Now, I think

(15:36):
you could make an argument, depending especially on how this
season continues to play out, and given obviously the concerns
that people have about Clemson and where they are and
Dabos Winny's attitude about the Tigers and YadA, YadA, YadA,
that it's at least a conversation point between Bobby Balden's
time at Florida State and Dabos Winny's time at Clemson,

(15:58):
because Dabo's had success in less time. I mean, Dabbo
has the same amount of national championships as Bobby Bowden did.
And Clemson again a program that I believe will continue
to compete for that college football playoff spot in their
conference by winning the conference. And how many seasons out

(16:23):
of the next ten to twenty years will South Carolina
be one of the top teams in the Southeastern Conference
with a chance to win the league. This might have
been a year where maybe people thought they could slip
up and do it, but slip up is probably the

(16:44):
word in Virginia Tech. You can go snatch that championship
in the Atlantic Coast Conference. I am verifying what you
believe about the league. You're right, it's not a steep
of a mountain, and I'm not blaming the anybody that
feels like, especially when you have the ties that Shane
Biemer has to Virginia Tech.

Speaker 4 (17:06):
How could you blame him if he wanted to go.

Speaker 2 (17:10):
I mean, I can't give you a great reason that
it's not the move to make if you're Beamer in
this era. Let me throw this in the Google machine.
And I know you guys are like Swani, You're just
trying to speak this thing to truth. I don't really
care what he does. I don't He could stay in
Columbia and coach for the rest of my life, and

(17:30):
that's fine. With me, But I know this. If he
wants to be in the college football playoff more often,
he could do it at Virginia Tech more often. Based
off of what I've seen from what he's done in Columbia,
I don't have a reason to believe he can't build
something similar in Blacksburg and be more successful because he's

(17:51):
got a slightly easier path.

Speaker 5 (17:55):
I know.

Speaker 2 (17:55):
I don't know about you, guys, but that's the way
I see it now. I'm gonna throw this into Google, though.
Who are the top candidates not for the pope that
was the first suggestion for the Virginia Tech job, And
maybe there's somebody else out there, but Beamer, to me,

(18:18):
makes the most sense of anybody. Saturday Down South put
out an article a couple of days ago saying Shane
Beemer the Virginia Tech question mark note but these candidates
and a wildcard with the sec ties makes sense. But
even in this article they say it'd be stunning if
Beemer's name wasn't at the top of Virginia Tech's list.

(18:41):
What Beemer has done in five years at South Carolina
has been impressive, and in a place that built his
data statue, there's no denying that the Beamer name still
carries plenty of weight in Blacksburg. And that's that's my thing. Like,
it's not this is not a Oh, South Carolina, You're

(19:01):
such a bum job. This is You've got a guy
who's had success, who's alma mater, has had more success
than your program historically, and is on hard times and
his dad is the legendary coach. I just I can't
even imagine that it's not the thing that Virginia Tech's

(19:27):
most willing to pursue in this era where they have
been nonexistent really in the college football landscape for so
many years.

Speaker 4 (19:36):
I just I don't care what he does.

Speaker 2 (19:40):
But I'm telling you, if you're a Gamecock fan, more
so than three years ago when that job was open,
I think this is the time to be going. Oh man,
would this be a job Beamer would take? Because he's
proven himself in Columbia and it's easier to win in Blacksburg.
Text me and let me know what you think. Eight
O three four or five H zero zero eighty six.
I'm back to Clympson's Sports, Salt, Law and swan on

(20:02):
a Thursday, Chad Morris joining the program. Former Clympson offensive
coordinator Chad Morris, head coach at SMU and Arkansas joining
us again here. Coach, welcome in Hope. You had a
great week, and I know Chandler and Virginia did work
over William and Mary. Had to take on both William
and Mary fifty five to sixteen this weekend. But he

(20:22):
had a pretty good performance in limited action. And I
know you guys had a good time traveling to see him,
and they got a big game this week taking on Stanford.
So I'm sure you're getting ready to come right back
across the country.

Speaker 5 (20:32):
Yeah, you know, I appreciate it, appreciate you mentioning him
played really well again, and it's just three weeks in
a row. He's really playing at a high level. And
and I know it was you know, William and Mary
was you know, you schedule teams like that to hope
you can do what Virginia did and get in and
get a commanding lead and try to get you guys out.
And I think Chandler got out right before halftime and

(20:55):
let the young guys come in and get some reps.

Speaker 4 (20:58):
But it was good.

Speaker 5 (20:59):
It was good to see him X huge oil and
I got Stanford coming in this week, and so it'll
be uh, you know, start conference play, so we'll we'll
we'll see how that goes. And then they turn around
next Friday night and play Florida State. So we're Paula
and I are actually flying out Friday and we're we're
going to stay there for the week and be around,

(21:19):
be able to go to practice. So uh, excited about
it and excited to be able to watch.

Speaker 2 (21:25):
Yeah, four of their four of their first five games
are at home, meaning that after that Florida State game,
they just have a handful of game what three more
I guess at home. It's weird. Tony Elliott benefiting from
a what I would call a favorable schedule in terms of,
you know, getting to play up there in Charlottesville.

Speaker 5 (21:46):
Well, I think when you look at the schedule even
coming into the year, I definitely think this schedule is
set up for for Virginia and uh, I've got a
really favorable schedule as you as you mentioned, and so yeah,
you know, they played these home games early, kind of
get a little bit of momentum and you know, do

(22:06):
what you're supposed to do, take care of us.

Speaker 6 (22:08):
And now one of the things we'll travel.

Speaker 4 (22:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (22:14):
Now, one of the things that obviously Clemson certainly dealing
with right now is an offensive rhythm. Some of that
calls by the fact that the defense has not been
creating as many turnovers maybe as daboswheny would have liked
putting the ball in k Klubnick's hands. Being a guy
that's coached quarterbacks and being around a son who's a quarterback,
I mean, how significant are just snaps in the early

(22:36):
part of the season in your opinion, to kind of
get a little rhythm, a little momentum, if you will.

Speaker 5 (22:40):
Well, I think it's imperative.

Speaker 6 (22:41):
You have to have that.

Speaker 5 (22:43):
You've got to you got to try to get some
type of routine, some type of rhythm on identity, you know,
who are you? And a lot of times it just takes.
It takes snaps, it takes it takes reps to really
figure out, Okay, hey we thought we were this, but
really we're going to be this. So I think it's imperative.
And you know, I know that, you know, it's just

(23:05):
the ability to play off of each other. The complimentary football,
so to speak of. You know, defense creates a turnover,
offense gets the ball or or you know, you get
a big special teams play everything. Playing into sync is
it's vital and I think, you know, I think everybody
would agree. The more reps you can get, the more
opportunities to snap the ball and get the reads that

(23:27):
you want, the better you're going to get in the
long run.

Speaker 2 (23:31):
Chad Moore is hanging out with us here on the
program today. So when when most people have kind of
watched Clemson, you know a lot of it in the
minds eye of the fan falls back on the quarterback
because everybody's watching the quarterback and they're watching the ball
when you watch it. And I don't know how much
of the Clempson Georgia Tech game you got to see,
But where do you think Clempson is still struggling because

(23:52):
clearly this team has more than enough talent to go
out there and score twenty one points in the ball
game against the Yellow Jackets.

Speaker 5 (24:00):
Yeah, you know, when when you look at it and
and you know, as I as I shared with Chandler
back when he chose he wanted to play quarterback, you know,
there's a lot of there's a lot of really good
that comes with that position. You get you get.

Speaker 6 (24:13):
More more praise than you deserve.

Speaker 5 (24:16):
And uh, when when it doesn't go good, you you
you you get a little bit more of of of
the negativity and more so than you probably don't deserve also,
But that just comes with comes with the fact that
this is just just what it is. And I think
that you know, having watched Clemson and and and obviously

(24:37):
is embedded into that program, and uh, as much I
care about that program, you know, I think just it
just seems to me just the lack of rhythm, the
lack of getting in any type of routine, and when
when when something would go good, you know, it would
be like, you know, two steps forward, three steps back,
it's like, okay, well here we go again with this. Yeah,

(25:01):
and it just it just seems like they haven't played
off of each other in the moments that they needed
to the most. And that's offense playing off of the defense,
defense playing off the offense, special team being involved. It
just hasn't It hasn't came into to sink just yet.
Doesn't mean it's not going to because it is. You know,
you're going through some tough times right now, and you

(25:22):
know the thing you have to do, and I know
coach Wweny's I've been in those meetings with him and
is you know, it's look, it's it's got to be
it's got to be us against the world mentality. We've
got to we've got to put our head down. We
can't worry about all the preseason talk and what's you know,
projections of this projection that all that's out the window.
Let's just go play and we got to get s

(25:43):
getting better and if we get better and better, then
we'll see how things unfold.

Speaker 2 (25:48):
You were around k two years ago when you were
on the staff at Clemson helping out as an offensive analyst.
You know, I'm just a casual observer, but I feel
like he plays better when there's tempo. And I know
you like tempo, but I do. I feel like he's
kind of on his toes. He's got a little more bounce,
you know. I feel like when things slow down for
Cade offensively, just you know, not necessarily the Clemson is huddling,

(26:11):
but you know, kind of slow play in their hand
a little bit that he's not quite as good or
maybe as confident. Do you see that from him as
well when you watch him play that he just looks
a little more in rhythm when he's playing a little
bit quicker, and did he play that way maybe a
fair querson is did he play that way in high
school as well?

Speaker 5 (26:30):
Right right, yeah, you know that, And there's some mayor
to that.

Speaker 4 (26:33):
There really is.

Speaker 5 (26:33):
And I always felt like when you when you're have
the ability to play fast and play with tempo, it
takes a lot of the thinking out of it. And
I've always said when when guys have to think, there's
a couple of different types of players. Those that are
going to think about it and those are going to react.

Speaker 2 (26:51):
That's former Clempson offensive coordinator Chad Moore is hanging out
with us here on the program. Coach, We're gonna put
y'all hole, we'll come back. We'll get some more thoughts
on that up tempo aspect of the game and how
Coach Morris and other guys really you know, maybe you
have taken advantage of that over the years. As we
keep it rolling here on a Thursday afternoon, again, don't

(27:12):
forget about our friends at Alumni Hall on the corner
of campus on College Avenue of downtown Clemson shop where
I shop at Alumni Hall. Don't forget about all of
the incredible Clemson gear, including those Nike dry Fit polos
that we love so much again, go check them out
today online at alumni haul dot com or right there
downtown Clemson. We'll come back with more with Chad Morris

(27:32):
right after this stay with us. Lawton Swan, Clemson Sports Thought,
the Show, The SHAKESA Salthall and Chad Morris hanging out
with us here today. Coach, you're talking about that up
tempo aspect of the game and how that can help guys.
Give us a little more insight into that.

Speaker 5 (27:45):
In your opinion, a lot of times tempo tempo simplifies
a lot of things because you can only do so much,
and it forces your guys just go play, just go
react and play and take all the guests work out
of it. And so I do think there's there's a
there's a lot of that. I think that's also just
from a from an outfensive standpoint, because I've been there.

(28:07):
Is you're searching for a rhythm, You're you're searching like, Okay, well,
what can we do because the worst thing you want
to do when you play with tempo is go three
and out and burn forty five seconds off the clock.
But that's gonna happen, and you have to understand that.
And and it happened when I was I was at Clemson.
There were several times you go three and out and

(28:29):
and you know, forty five seconds off the clock. Well,
you can't just scrap that's okay, Well we had one
three and out. That's not who we are anymore. No,
that's who you are. And let's go play and let's
play through it. And I you know, I do I
sense that there's a little bit of that. I think
there's a lot of there's a lot of overprocessing, and
you can kind of see some of that. It's just

(28:50):
he's just trying so hard to do it instead of
just just go play, just react, just just go play.
Forget all the other outside stuff.

Speaker 4 (29:00):
Let's go play again.

Speaker 2 (29:01):
Chad Morris with us here on the program, talking about
k cleb again, this Clemson offense. The other thing that
a lot of people have brought up to me, not
necessarily about the offense coach, but the defensive line, and
that these guys are going to be so disruptive this year.
And really a lot of the conversations right now are
pointing towards TJ. Parker at defensive end. I don't see

(29:25):
what I thought I would see from him. And I
know they're commanding a lot of attention from the opposition
when you've had a chance to watch Clemson play because
fran Brown, Fran Brown said, Man, those dudes. I can't
say what he said. He said a word that you
can't say on the radio when he talked about how
good they were. But I mean, do coaches see these
guys different than I'm seeing them because they're not popping

(29:47):
off the screen or they're not popping off of the
field when I'm there in Atlanta last weekend.

Speaker 5 (29:52):
Well, you know, it's a combination of a lot of
things when something like that happens, and you know, you
just you know what they're capable of as a coach,
and you know, again you feel like maybe maybe not
the not just them, maybe the whole group is just
not playing at the level they need to play at.

(30:12):
And they play off of you know, again, playing off
each other, you know, and and you know, I know Tom,
you know, coach Allen. I'm sure he's he's like, you know,
we we I'm sure he's at a point where it's
just like, guys, we got to have somebody, somebody's going
to step in and say, hey, look, this is this
is the way this is gonna go, and we're gonna
play off of our strengths. And so, you know, I

(30:34):
think I think that I think the guys.

Speaker 7 (30:36):
Are gonna, you know, with with with the and I
think Owen he's mentioned it, there's there's just been there's frustration,
you know that it hasn't been the year that they
start that they wanted.

Speaker 5 (30:47):
It to be and as it started. But it's it's
definitely not over. It's far from over. But I do
feel like that, you know, with that defensive front. You know, again,
Clemson has been known for the defensive front and and
I know those guys in there and those coaches are
you know, this is this is a program that we're
not gonna This isn't gonna be the first group that's

(31:09):
gonna let let Clemson down. I mean, it's this defensive
front is very talented and they'll continue to get better.
And again, I think it's just understanding, stepping back, blocking
out the noise and let's just.

Speaker 4 (31:19):
Go play now.

Speaker 2 (31:21):
Dabo Sweeney was a wide receivers coach. He played wide
receiver at Alabama. UH even heck, spent some time under
Tommy Ballden, who was his position coach at one point
as well. But when you think about him as an
offensive minded coach or you know, you got these guys
that are defensive minded like Brentvinnables.

Speaker 4 (31:40):
You know, where where does.

Speaker 2 (31:42):
Dabo Sweeney kind of fall in that spectrum for you?
We talked a little bit about the play calling aspect
a week ago where people would say he's meddling, and
you said, no, that's not the case. But where does
he kind of fall because he never was that that coordinator?
How do you kind of see him as a coach?
I mean, obviously he's a great Look what the accomplishments,
you know, seventy nine and seven from twenty fifteen to

(32:04):
twenty twenty and all the national championship games and two victories,
But how do you kind of see him as a
football minded coach? If you don't mind sharing that with us?

Speaker 5 (32:14):
Yeah, you know, well, by heart, I mean you if
you cut coach open, and I mean he's a wide
receiver guy. He loves wide receiver play. And I mean
I and I love it because I was sitting there
and listening to him step in and coach those wide
receivers or step in and make corrections and the next thing,

(32:36):
you know, his sweat, his his shirts full of sweat
because he I mean, he's sat passionate about he loves
loves wide receiver play. There's no doubt about it. But
he's got such a great mind of you know, because
he and he's forced himself to do this over the
times being a head coach is diving into that defense
and knowing that, okay, this is what causes us problems

(33:00):
on offense. And he's really good about sharing that with
the defensive side of the ball and just saying, listen,
I know what y'all are trying to do, but let
me just tell you what causes offensive issues. And so
I think that's a great perspective that he brings to
the defensive side, uh of of of of the game.
As far as just from a from a play calling standpoint, again,

(33:24):
it's about it is I shared with you last week.
It's about get into a flow and and I remember
many of times coach would say, hey man, hey coach,
you know, what do you think about a shot here?
Or hey coach, what do you think about a screen
or a nacket or Hey, let's let's let's run the ball. Well,
whatever it may, it's it's those things. What do you think?
And uh, but I you know, I think coach deep down.
I mean, he is a he's a wide receiver guy,

(33:46):
and he loves wide receiver play and he knows it
inside out and and and man, I just I love
that about him.

Speaker 2 (33:55):
Chad Morris with us here on the program talking about
this Clemson Tiger football team in twenty twenty five. So
let's talk a little bit about you and your background,
you know, as an offensive coordinator, as a quarterback coach
growing up, Like when did that position, in that role
kind of become the thing that you focused on?

Speaker 4 (34:10):
Did you play it in high school?

Speaker 2 (34:12):
And and how did you kind of become this this
guru for quarterback play?

Speaker 5 (34:17):
And you know I did. I played it in high
school and played it all the way just growing up
and and just and and and loved it. I remember
as a kid, I could name every NFL quarterback for
every team, and and even when I was, you know,
five six years old, I just I loved quarterback play.
And then getting in you know, when I started coaching

(34:37):
high school ball and just watching the evolvement of the
way the quarterbacks the game was changing, it was getting
into more of a passing and you know, and watching
the development of guys, that's kind of where I took
my really my liking to it.

Speaker 2 (34:54):
No, and that makes perfect sense. And you've brought with
some great ones. So let's uh, we hit. We got
a break coming out, coach, Let's take that break, and
when we come back, Chad Moore will talk a little
bit more about some of the guys he developed in
high school and much more.

Speaker 4 (35:07):
Stay with us.

Speaker 2 (35:07):
Final segment of our one Clemson Sports tal August Wine
Chad Morris on the guest line, Coach, you're talking about
guys you coached in high school. Some of the names
that you've worked with. Man, it's been kind of wild.

Speaker 5 (35:17):
And I'm coaching some really good ones also in the
high school ranks and so and being able to develop
those guys and watching their career move forward, you know,
from a Jevin snead and you know Cody Spano that
went to Nebraska, and you know, I had several guys
that that that that went on and Garrett Gilbert you know,
played for for for a while, and Michael Brewer went

(35:39):
to Virginia tech. I mean, these guys I had coached.
Baker Mayfield I coached, but Baker was actually my ninth
grade B team quarterback. Now that that tells you something
right there. How about that Baker Mayfield my ninth grade
B team quarterback. And so but yeah, you know, being
able to to to help, you know, And what I

(36:01):
felt like as I got into it was quarterback play.
And even to this day and Chandler and I talk
about it, and obviously got a son that's a Division
one guy. It all starts with your feet, and if
everybody thinks it's to the arm, it's nope, it goes feet,
and then it works to the hips, and then your eyes,

(36:23):
and then your arm, and through the eyes is your
mind and how you process, and then the last thing
is your arm. And that's the way I would always
teach my guys and say, we're gonna start with our feet.
We're gonna work to our hips, our eyes, our mind,
and then the release. And so because if you can't process,
I don't care how far you can throw it or

(36:43):
how hard you can throw it, you can't play quarterback.
You got to be able to process, and you gotta
be able to process in a split moment.

Speaker 2 (36:50):
You know, last week you mentioned the ABC thing with
Deshaun Watson, and I was listening to Jack Smith, Clemson's punter,
and he he almost verbatim, talked about a similar strategy
that he's using. So I don't know if it's something
that's been left behind for when you were there, but
he was like, you know, it's breath, it's the you know,

(37:12):
the placement of the ball. And I was like, holy cow,
the punter. The punter is using Jed Morris's little ABC.
So where did that routine come from? I'm sure you
probably picked that up somewhere along the way.

Speaker 5 (37:24):
Yeah, you know, and like I said, I mean I was.
I was talking to Chandler last week about his ABC's
you know, he was sharing me what his three things were,
and you know, had it on his wristband just like
and he's done it since from forever, you know, since
DeShawn done it. He put it on, started doing it
on his wristband way back in high school, middle school.
And so, you know, because of football, there's so many

(37:49):
it's a mental game, right, but playing quarterback is a
mental game is as much as it is physical. And
so you know, talking to mental performance coaching. And that's
really where I picked it up. I was I was
talking to a mental performance coach by the name of
Brian Kane, and Brian had worked with me for my

(38:09):
time at SMU, and he worked with with uh Chandler
and and and we talked about those things. He goes, well, look,
we gotta narrow things down. You can't you can't get
lost climbing the mountain. You got to worry about taking
one step at a time. And so he said, we
got to focus on three things and then eventually we'll
get to that mountain. And so that's how this whole

(38:31):
thing started. And we literally went ABC and we would
do it daily in practice. Hey, I'd go around the
room and I'd say, Okay, Tash, what's your A, B
C today? Hey did did Shaun? What's your ABC going
out today? And cold stout what is it? And then
they would tell me they would have to tell me
three things, and then we would The next thing we
would talk about is at the end of the day,
hey did we did We hit our three things? And

(38:54):
but because again think about it like this, you know,
there's so many things, the the the emotional level, the momentum, changes.
You gotta have something to bring you back to home
home base. What is home base for us? And we
always talk about home base being our feet? Well okay,

(39:14):
well it's also our ABC's and so yeah, it's interesting
that the poner said something like that, But no, that's
that's still that's still in use today. I use it
for myself ek almost every day. You know, Hey, what's
the three things I gotta get done today?

Speaker 2 (39:29):
Chad Morris with us. One final question. I'm sure you
probably saw or heard Dabo Sweeney's. I call it a
little bit of a rant. You know, he talks about
being in that windshield mentality. But he threw into rear
view to our mind clips and fans this week of
how successful they've been. But one of the things he
did say was he said, look, I'm only fifty five.

(39:49):
And he said, and if I leave here, I'll go
coach somewhere else. I ain't going to the beach. You're
fifty six, I'm forty eight. We all still feel about
twenty five years old. When you hear that from Dabbo
at this point in his career, what is that message
really that he's given Tiger fans In your opinion, well.

Speaker 6 (40:06):
I think it's exactly.

Speaker 5 (40:07):
You know, that's the one thing I know about Coach Sweeney.
He is he is straightforward with what he says. And
you know, he's got more energy, and he's got more
passion and he's got more drive right now than he's
ever had. And the reason being is because he knows
he can he can impact impact kids' lives and he
can do it in a way through a program that

(40:27):
is the model program across college football and has been
for years. And you know, once that that that fire
burns out, then coach would be the first to tell
you it's time to go. But yeah, you know, and
I feel the same way. I'm fifty six years old
and there's so much more to give to this to
this business and to this profession. And I think that's

(40:48):
exactly what Coach is saying, is Hey, I got so
much more to give and I'm not going away and
he's not. And and I love that about him because
that's that's the fire. And you know what a so
you want your staff and I know Coach is right
there and he wants his staff to sit there and go,
hey man, this guy's got if this guy at fifty

(41:08):
five years old can run circles around a thirty two
year old. Something's wrong and so it's kind of a
pick me up for the whole. Dangs to everybody, the
staff that supports staff, everybody, the administration is like, man,
this guy's got more energy. I better pick my game
up too.

Speaker 4 (41:25):
I love it, Coach.

Speaker 2 (41:26):
Thank you so much Chad Morris again hanging out with
us here on a Thursday afternoon. Can't wait to talk
to you next week. Safe travels to you guys to Charlottesville.
Enjoy the entire week there and go luck to Chandler
and the Wahoo's as they get ready to face off
against Stanford and then next week against Florida State on
Friday night.

Speaker 5 (41:44):
Well, I appreciate it again and again, love my tigers,
Go Tigers and go Wahoos, and it'll be a hopefully
it'll be a great weekend.

Speaker 2 (41:50):
For both, no doubt, thanks a lot. Coach always appreciates you.
Can't wait to get caught back up with Chad Morris
here on the program next week. What wonderful insight into
the mind of a quarterback. How about some of those
guys he coached in high school? Baker Mayfield, good, gracious
b team, what was it B team?

Speaker 4 (42:10):
Whatever?

Speaker 2 (42:11):
Quarterback, that's just insane. All right, quick break will come back.
Longtime Clemson sid Tim Beray joins the program. Keep it
a Lot right here on Fox Sports Radio fourteen hundred
and on the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 1 (42:25):
It's time for Clipson Sports Talk with Lawton Swanny.

Speaker 2 (43:05):
It is our number two. That's drive time right here
on the Show that Shakes the Southland Clemson Sports Saltlawt
and Swan. Hey, you know with you on a Thursday.
Thanking to Chad Morris for joining the program earlier. Tim
Burray coming up around the bend, and don't forget the
Show That Shakes of Southland has brought to you in

(43:27):
part by our good friends over at Mets Plumbing mets
Plumbing dot com. Two two six seven one o eight
that's Mets Plumbing. Go check them out today or online
at mets plumbing dot com. All right, Tim Burray joins
US Clemson one and two.

Speaker 4 (43:44):
Tim.

Speaker 2 (43:45):
A shocking result, a walk off winner by the Georgia
Tech Yellowjackets man. But what a scene it was in
Atlanta as those students poured out onto the field.

Speaker 6 (43:58):
Well, I think I actually said on the broadcasts that
you know, last year Louisville was due to beat US
and this year Georgia Tech was due to beat US.
I mean you're talking when you get up towards double
digit consecutive victories against a team that's that's, you know,
historically a solid program, that's you know, I mean they
I'm not saying they got every every break, but a

(44:20):
lot of things went their way. And you know, there
were a lot of things that that mistakes made by
Clemson and maybe you don't see every day, but yeah,
that was that was you know, certainly seeing them run
on the field and everything, and and it was it
was a great victory for Georgia. Decke and I personally
think they're on their way to a heck of a

(44:41):
year because if you look at their remaining seven conference games,
they're going to be favored at all seven. They are
in every game until they until they played Georgia at
the end of the season.

Speaker 2 (44:50):
There they they've become. For me, I'm much like you
and I look at it. They are the fly and
the ointment for Clemson in a lot of respects. Even
if the Tigers can do everything po possible the rest
of the way, I don't see Georgia Tech losing two
games on their schedule, and that means that the Yellow
Jackets would have Clemson blocked out for a possible for
a possible Atlantic Coast Conference championship game. Birth Now that's

(45:12):
a long way off for sure.

Speaker 6 (45:13):
The other thing, though, that's why when when Florida State
plays Miami, Florida State has to win that game, so
Clemson will have a chance if they're tired of Florida
State to then beat them here. But if we don't
play Miami and Miami wins all their games, right, I
wonder where we're not going to get in.

Speaker 2 (45:32):
Yeah, it's a it's a situation that Clemson fans did
not think they would be in at this point. The
other thing I did have to chuckle about, tim with
the end of that game was watching the Georgia Tech
fans and from the distance, you know, from our vantage
point where you are where I was, they look almost
like ants and they're trying to carry these uprights out
of the press box or out of the stadium. And

(45:52):
I thought to myself, well, thank goodness we're the school
of engineers, because they'll figure it out. And they sure did,
and I think they carry them to the President's house
and threw them in the pool in the backyard.

Speaker 6 (46:02):
How did they How did they get the goal post
the post off of the How they get the upright
off is what I wanted to know, because they have
the same goal post structure that we do.

Speaker 8 (46:14):
That they lowered them.

Speaker 6 (46:16):
And somehow somebody must have gotten the big screw driver
to get the thing off of there.

Speaker 4 (46:23):
Yeah, I don't know. I know this.

Speaker 2 (46:24):
A buddy of mine is a Georgia Tech graduate. He
was at the game and when he was telling me,
he was like, that's like part of the tradition if
they have a big game, is that they somehow take
the uprights off. So I don't know if it is
like a scheme thing or if they just do it,
but he said, that's kind of the tradition.

Speaker 4 (46:42):
So there you go.

Speaker 2 (46:43):
I guess somebody's got a screwdriver in their pocket with
all those engineers, not just pencils and pins and a
pocket protector, and they took away a victory.

Speaker 4 (46:52):
And I'll tell you Brent Key when.

Speaker 2 (46:54):
He spoke at the ACC kickoff, not this season, but
last year, I kind of got the vibe there was
some trouble bruin in Atlanta. He looks like he has
kind of got a similar story to coach Sweeney's and
how he took over that job. He's a passionate guy.
I thought like you did as well. We kind of
talked about last week that it was a very weird
press conference that he had a week ago. But I

(47:17):
think there's something to kind of his personality in what
Georgia Tech football wants to be that really meshes.

Speaker 4 (47:25):
Well.

Speaker 6 (47:25):
Oh yeah, I couldn't agree with you. Agree with you more.
I think he's a very good, hard nos coach, and
you're right, he didn't have a similar story to Dabbo.
In fact, I think when he took over as an
NIM coach, Eckson called Dabbo for some advice and some
things on I'll handle that transition so we I know, Yeah,
I mean you could tell from the post game where

(47:47):
he can watch that Dabbo was, I mean, certainly disappointed
we lost, but I think he was happy for him
because he knew you know how much that man. I mean,
I think you're going to look back at that as
a real turning point for Tech as we go, as
we go forward winning winning that game.

Speaker 2 (48:05):
Tim Berray again is on Twitter at Tim Berray. You
can follow him over there, and again he's a wealth
of Clemson knowledge, always putting that out on his social
media accounts as well. And so now we kind of
turn our attention to Syracuse. And there is a little
irony in this as well, with fran Brown and the
Orange coming down one year after not quite a year,
but after they helped deliver Clemson not only to the

(48:28):
ACC Championship Game, but ultimately to a college football playoff
berth last season. Fran Brown still very new to the job,
but a guy that was an assistant coach at Georgia
has done a tremendous job throughout his career. And you
can really already see he's kind of putting his fingerprints
all over that Syracuse program. And I think, you know, look,

(48:49):
he might wish to stay there forever, Tim, but I
think he's a guy that's destined for a bigger and
better job at some point down the road. And they'll
be ready to play on Saturday, for sure, we agree
with you.

Speaker 6 (48:59):
However, have you looked at their schedule. It's gonna be
real hard for them to have a winning season this year. Yeah,
And I you know, I think they're the type of
They could be just like they were last year and
be and could be a team that wins ten games.
But they had going to play four teams that were
in the College Football Playoffs last year. They had to

(49:21):
play Tennessee away from home. They played Clemson away from home,
they play SMU away from home, they play Miami away
from home, Georgia Tech away from home, and Notre Dame
away from home. So they got a really tough schedule.
So it's gonna be interesting to see how hot a
candidate he is if they go six and six. But

(49:43):
like I said, I think they're a really good team.
They're certainly capable of beating Clemson to win any of
those other games, it's just gonna be tough for them
to go on to win a lot of these games
in the road that they've gone.

Speaker 2 (49:54):
Yeah, they may have the toughest road schedule in the
Atlantic Coast conferences. It's one of those that is similar
to I guess you'd say kind of what you see
with some of these schools in the Southeastern Conference where
it's just week after week against teams that you go, man,
you don't want to go into that environment. And but
he just to me, I talked with him at the

(50:14):
ACC kickoff. He reminds me a lot of Dabo Sweeney,
to be honest with you, reminds me a lot of
Tony Elliott and how measured he is.

Speaker 4 (50:25):
And I just.

Speaker 2 (50:26):
Think that that players gravitate to coaches like that. There's
a reason he's one of the or was one of
the top recruiters as an assistant coach as well, because
I can see how that guy can come into your
house and convince mom and dad and everybody that that
you should go play for him.

Speaker 6 (50:42):
Yeah. I couldn't, you know, couldn't agree with you more
than The interesting thing about him is now, wasn't he
a defensive coach at Georgia?

Speaker 4 (50:49):
Yeah he was.

Speaker 6 (50:50):
Yeah, and and and his philosophy and offense is just
throw it all over the yard. They lead the country
in passing yardage so far this year. They had forty
seven hundred passing yard as last year, which was one
thousand more than the previous Syracuse record. And they're certainly
thrown it all over the yard with Steven and Jelliot

(51:12):
quarterback I'm real familiar with, So it's interesting how he
has this wide open offensive philosophy when he was his
defensive coach in his resume.

Speaker 2 (51:25):
You know, and he played football at Western Carolina and
coach Brent Pride that was just fired at Virginia Tech
also played his college football at Western Carolina. So a
couple of Catamounts were coaching in the Atlantic Coast Conference
up until a few days ago, and those guys their time.

Speaker 4 (51:44):
Didn't overlap there.

Speaker 2 (51:45):
But kind of interesting that a smaller program like that
would produce two coaches that would go on to kind
of have the resumes that those two have put together.

Speaker 6 (51:57):
Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, you see a lot of prominent
coaches is that went to small schools or played at
small schools or or you know whatever. It's it's kind
of interesting to say.

Speaker 2 (52:11):
Tim Berray again with a show on the program for
a few more minutes talking about the Clemson Tigers. Now, Tim,
it looked to me, and I had Chad Morris on
the program earlier, it looked to me like Kate Klebnick
plays a little bit better with tempo. And I don't
know if you get that vibe as well, but I
just wonder if that isn't something that might help settle

(52:33):
him down a little bit at Toms. I really do
feel like when he's almost, you know, thinking too much,
that he just kind of gets a little bit caught
up into his head, maybe swimming a little bit in
his head.

Speaker 4 (52:44):
Do you think he plays better with tempo?

Speaker 6 (52:46):
Yes, although hang on, I'm going to read you the
list of quarterbacks who don't play well with tempo. There
are none. I think you could say that about most
most quarterbacks that once they get into tempo means getting
into a rhythm. I can say the same thing about
Trevor Lawrence when when when? When he was here. Of course,

(53:10):
Trevor never lost the regular season games, so the topic
didn't come up very often. But yeah, I I you know,
I think so. But part of that to get a
good tempo going, I think is you have to kind
of run the ball consistently to get four or five yards,
especially on first down. Uh. The element of surprise I

(53:31):
think certainly helps you to get a tempo going, and
and to do that you got to be equally efficient
running the ball and passing the ball. But but but
you're right, I think when he can hit that, get
that short passing game going, and get a little tempo going.

Speaker 2 (53:51):
How do you grade what you've seen from Adam Randall
so far. I know Dabosweeney was asking if he felt
like Randall was over work then Swingy sort of chuckled
and said, what no workload. No, he's only got forty
some odd carries. But I mean, how do you grade
in your opinion the job Adam Randall's done.

Speaker 6 (54:10):
Oh, I think he's done very well. You know, a
lot of fans are affected by recruiting ranking, and so
Davidson came in it was this as you know, the
best running back in the in the country, and I
think he's going to be a very good running back.
But there's a lot of aspects of the game that
are involved to get a lot of care. I think

(54:32):
as the season goes on, he's going to get you know,
more and more carries and and you know, even I
think C. C. J. Spillerer's first game, I don't know
that he had ten yards of rushing and receiving in
that in the first game. Took him a few games
to get going. So but I but I think Adam
has been tough running on the inside. I think I

(54:54):
told you that in the preseason that I saw that
in the in the two preseason scrimmages that I win
to and you know the last two games once he
got one hundred and ninety two yards I think in
the last two games.

Speaker 5 (55:06):
So you know, I think Adam.

Speaker 6 (55:09):
Ramdall has done well. He's certainly the best blocking running
back we've got, and he's the best receiving running back
that we have out of the backfield. So before we
see a lot of time for the others, you know,
the score is going to have to get the margin's
going to have to be a little bit higher than

(55:29):
it's than it's been, and I think just the other
ones are going to have to prove themselves as you know,
as blockers. You know, there have been a good many
plays now when they've been in the game and you
know K's going back to pass and you might see, uh,
you might notice, and it's it's it's not an accident
that the opposing defensive coordinators are sending guys from the

(55:50):
perimeter where you have to have a running back block
to protect your quarterback. And you know, there's been a
lot of players where K's been running for his life
and it is because a running back on either side
as not blocked.

Speaker 2 (56:07):
Tim Beray with us here on the program, and so
from there we can stick with the offense for just
a little bit longer. I mean, when when they're clicking,
tim it's really it really feels the way it felt
during you know, this incredible run that Dabosweeny's had for
so many years. But when they're not, I mean, it

(56:28):
does feel a lot like some of those same dj
Ui Unglile led offenses, so to speak, where it just
feels like sometimes Clemson has not been able to get
out of their own way. And I just wonder, like, psychologically,
how does that play into your head as a player
where you're just pressing to make plays and you know,
even from the standpoint of as good as Bryant West

(56:51):
Coast played, that drop kind of feels like a play
where maybe you're just trying to do a little bit
too much. I mean, how do you think these guys
set in over the next I don't know, a few
days so that they're playing the best football they can
on Saturday?

Speaker 6 (57:06):
Well, I think you know that the opposition we've played,
you know, we've lost the two teams in the top twenty,
and I think you know I'm not I mean, Dabo
can can double down on it all he wants I'm
not a proponent of playing a tough team in the
first game of the season.

Speaker 8 (57:24):
Hey would have.

Speaker 6 (57:24):
Think you would have thought this would have been the year
to do it because we had sixteen starters back. But
I you know, I'm one that in twenty twenty one,
starting against Georgia, that game just sapped DJ Leungalle of
his confidence. And I think I think, you know, Kate
lost some confidence against LSU, and you know, well, let's shoose.

(57:47):
The defense has been pretty good since they since they
played us, So I don't know, I think I think
it's going to take a good offensive game. Hopefully that's
going to happen against SYRAC. There's one hundred and twenty
first in the nation in total defense and in the
hundreds and a number of other categories, so that hopefully

(58:09):
they'll get their confidence back and continue on as which
has been the case in you know, in other seasons.
I mean, it basically happened last year. We always scored
three points in the opener against Georgia and and you know,
had a nice in the winning streak and ended up
in the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (58:28):
One of the other things too, and it kind of
ties into Notre Dame obviously they're oh and two. They
had a tough loss this past weekend as well. Tim,
And I know you're an alumnus of Notre Dame and
I'll just ask you flat out like it. Oh and
two is still ranked in the top twenty five. I mean,
they're in the mix to get back into the College
Football playoff. But I mean Clemson, with the way this

(58:48):
thing sets up for teams that aren't your earthscubit are
in conferences. I mean, Clemson could theoretically still lose to
you know, South Carolina and their other non conference game
at the back end of the season and go, what
one loss in the ACC and still get in the
College Football Playoffs's kind of crazy how that's different for

(59:11):
Notre Dame at this point. Seems like a much tougher
road to not be in a conference.

Speaker 6 (59:16):
Yeah, that's exactly what happened last year. When you think
about it, Notre Dame lost one game early and they
needn't lose two. It was a loss to Northern Illinois
and I think ended up with a losing season, So right,
I mean, you know, kind of over the course of
the season that felt like two losses, But of course,
the difference is this year's see if Notre Dame runs

(59:38):
the table and you know they will just lost to
two really good teams basically within the last thirteen seconds
on either game. You know, I think that'll get taken
into account. But you're right, it is easier to get
in the playoffs if if you can win your conference championship,

(59:58):
it makes the non conference game irrelevant. I mean, I
mean when you think about it, Uh, we could have
lost to Troy, you and we'd still be We still
have the same chances to get in the in the playoffs.
The only thing that you know you could is if
Clemson did win the rest of their games, finished ten

(01:00:21):
and two in the regular season, didn't get in the
ACC championship game, you know, would the would the run
be good enough to be looked at us to be
ranked by the committee within the top twelve That that
might be tough to do. But there's a lot of
games between we now and then. But a ten and

(01:00:42):
two Clemson team, you know, might might still be if
if we're impressive now that you've got to be impressive
if you're going to win it, just like Notre name
is going to have to be impressive. The rest of
it's its way. They still have some opportunities. I think
Southern Cows much improved and they're a really good team.
They got to at Arkansas, you know, coming up, but

(01:01:04):
buying Mark's Notre Dame's going to be favored in the
rest of their games. So let's see what they what
they do.

Speaker 4 (01:01:09):
Yeah, no doubt.

Speaker 2 (01:01:10):
The path to the playoff is tough for everybody. It's
really tough right now for the Clemson Tigers. They'll get
back on the gridiron Saturday at noon. You can hear
Tim Bray, Don Monzonaen, Reggie Merriweather on the call as well.

Speaker 4 (01:01:23):
Tim.

Speaker 2 (01:01:23):
Always great to catch up with you. Glad you're having
a good week and we look forward to talking to
you soon.

Speaker 6 (01:01:28):
Sounds good, Lawdon There you.

Speaker 2 (01:01:30):
Go, that's Tim Burray. All right, quick, Bray, we'll come back.
Tim Bray did give me a little nugget off the
air that I do want to drop for you. I'll
give that to you in the final segment here on
the program, so that'll be right near the top of
the hour, close to the six o'clock. This is what
I did not know. Tim may have mentioned this on

(01:01:51):
the radio, I admit it. I don't get a chance
to listen to Tim on the radio because I'm at
the games. I wish I could listen. I probably there's
probably a way to do it. I mean, I could
probably stream it, but it's so hard to hear in
these open air press boxes. It's just not even worth
trying to listen to people because of how loud.

Speaker 4 (01:02:10):
It is in there.

Speaker 2 (01:02:11):
Anyway, but Tim gave me a little nugget about Notre
Dame and a legendary quarterback there in a slow start
that I did not know about. I'll tell you about
that before we get out of here today. Stay with us,
Lawton Swan, Clemson Sports Talk back with you here on
a Thursday. That was Tim Bray before the break, all right,
So to rehash it because I know I've gotten a

(01:02:33):
couple of texts from Gamecock fans eighth three four five
zero zero eighty six. I know my take was a
little little hot there early about Shane Beamer. It just
makes sense to me. I'm not telling you that it should,
that it's going to happen. It just makes sense to me.
But since that time and talk with Chad Morris and

(01:02:54):
doing some research on this, I did find that the
last time and You may not know this. The last
time that a coach left a Southeastern Conference job for
another job was in twenty thirteen. It's been a dozen years.
I'll give you a minute, little jeopardy to think about it.

(01:03:19):
Who was that coach.

Speaker 4 (01:03:21):
Boom ball boom boom, boom boom boom boom boom James Franklin.

Speaker 2 (01:03:29):
James Franklin when he left Vanderbilt to go to Penn
State at the end of the twenty thirteen season. Lane
Kiffin left Tennessee for Southern col back in nine. But
that's a fair reason to think it does not happen.

(01:03:50):
But nobody's ever had the ties that Beamer has, nobody's
ever had the ties to Virginia Tech. And maybe he
wants to make his own way. Maybe he wants to
carve his own path, and he doesn't want to be
involved in that. But dude, think about how you feel
about your alba mater. Think about how you feel about

(01:04:12):
the school that you loved growing up and if you
played football, if you were fortunate enough and you played
for that school, how you feel about it. And then
mix in there, if your father was the greatest head
coach of that program's ever had and the program has
been on hard times. Like at some point this carving
out a path for yourself has to become a little

(01:04:34):
bit of you know what, I gotta go do this.
This is my path. My path is to restore greatness.
And again, maybe I'm wrong. Chris listened to us in
Columbia says, come on, Swany, Beemer's not leaving. He's building something.
Virginia Tech might be his dad's legacy, but Shane's carving

(01:04:57):
out his own hair.

Speaker 4 (01:04:58):
That, Chris, in fairness to you, that's.

Speaker 2 (01:05:02):
Kind of where I got that path idea. Sorry, but yeah,
I mean I get that. But maybe his path is
to go and restore restore order in Blacksburg. Marcus says

(01:05:23):
Beamers hours period, he turned this into a non win program,
and he's got momentum. The Hokies can look elsewhere. Yeah,
I mean, look, I I'm not saying it's gonna happen.
I need to reiterate that again. And I'm not saying,

(01:05:44):
Marcus that you think I'm saying that he's leaving. I'm
just simply saying that he makes the most sense. He
makes the most sense, and I would imagine if we
go through certain corporations whether it's Walmart, whether it's Ford
Motor Company, we probably find times where the company went

(01:06:08):
away from the founding family, hit some hard times, only
to bring in How about Apple, there you go, how
about when when when Apple, when their whole thing was
Steve Jobs went down, where Steve Jobs left, Apple sort
of dwindled and then they're finally like, all right, well

(01:06:29):
we better bring him back, and he brings him back
in boom. Now everybody's walking around with that iPhone in
their their pocket or a phone that's mimicked off of
the iPhone. Regardless of how cool you android against think
your androids are, they're all mimicked off of the iPhone.
That was the that was the first, That was the
real McCoy.

Speaker 4 (01:06:50):
Let's see.

Speaker 2 (01:06:50):
Kelly in Lexington says, I hate to admit it, but
you're not wrong. If Virginia Tech comes calling, that's family.
I just hope Beemer's loyal to the game Cocks and
not tempted.

Speaker 4 (01:07:02):
It's gotta be tough.

Speaker 2 (01:07:03):
I mean, it's gotta be tough, and it's weird though,
to see his dad wearing that South Carolina gear for
that Virginia Tech game. I guarantee you that much and
I would also make the argument.

Speaker 4 (01:07:17):
That part of the.

Speaker 2 (01:07:20):
Not allure that he would have for that job, but
that maybe people in blacksbur would have for him, is
the fact that they just played him three weeks ago,
like they got some recency would see in his program
compared to their program, and so they had to watch
that game. They had to be watching that game a

(01:07:43):
couple of weeks ago and going even though it wasn't great,
even though it wasn't like it wasn't like South Carolina
like smashed them. But it's hard to imagine the Virginia
Tech faithful sitting in Atlanta watching Shane Beemer team beat
their team and them not go, dude, that's gotta be

(01:08:04):
our guy, Like that has to be our guy. That
coach has to be our guy. Now would they be
willing to pay him? How much would they be willing
to pay him? I'll be honest, I think based off
of what Beamer what the the upper end is I

(01:08:28):
guess by comparison to other teams in the Southeastern Conference,
Beemer's got a great salary. I don't know that that
the folks at Virginia Tech would be willing to put
up the eight to nine million that it would take
to even bump him up and give him a raise.
But I think what they can offer is an easier path.

(01:08:52):
And I'm not saying people don't want to be challenged,
and I'm not saying that Shane Biemer doesn't want to
be challenged. But you know, you know, you tell me
all the time how the path for Clemson is easier
to the College Football Playoff. I acknowledge said truth that
you drop. I'm not telling you it's easy, it's easier,

(01:09:14):
but that same path exists in Blacksburg. I don't know, man,
I I unless South Carolina just turns it around and
makes a run.

Speaker 4 (01:09:27):
Because I think if if.

Speaker 2 (01:09:29):
South Carolina struggles this year, if it's five and seven
or six and six, I think we'll have game Cock
fans will see. You know what, I kind of wish
you would leave. I don't think he can do it
like some people, some of the game Cocks that listen
to our program will bail on him. And I get
that too. So why we're fans, fandom, fanatics, and crazy topics.

(01:09:51):
Occasionally quick break. We'll come back with more here on
a Thursday. Keep it locked, Lawton Swine, Clemson Sports.

Speaker 4 (01:09:58):
I can. I can almost the game Cocks through the
radio right now.

Speaker 2 (01:10:03):
Yeah, Clipson starts one and two and Swani's just trying
to get rid of our head coach. No, I'm just look,
it's kind of like when I think it was Tiger
Chuck the other day that Texans Like, really, Swan, you
gonna talk about Clempson making a run to the playoffs?

Speaker 4 (01:10:15):
What what are you doing, dude?

Speaker 2 (01:10:19):
I gotta talk for two hours a day about college football.
These are topics that come into my brain. And we
talked about Virginia Tech and UCLA yesterday and I didn't
even I don't even think I mentioned the name Shane Biemer.
But I was sitting there thinking about it last night
and I was like, wait a second. I was one
of the first ones that came out and thought Beemer

(01:10:39):
would have been a perfect fit when they were after
they fired Justin Fuinte, I was like, I was like,
he's even better now. He's a better fit now in
my opinion. Anyway, last night up in Tigertown, Yeah, Dabo
Sweeney did meet with the media and he was asking
about how he feels the team respond did this week.

Speaker 8 (01:11:00):
Yeah, No, they've practiced well, they've responded well and they've
practiced well last week. You know, we just got to
get it, as you said, we got to get it
to translate the game day. And I think it's just
everybody you know, making up their mind that you know,
they're going to go do it and you know, let's
we'll find out on Saturday.

Speaker 2 (01:11:19):
Sweeney was also asked about any potential lineup changes it
could take place at cornerback or the tiger position this week.

Speaker 8 (01:11:26):
We'll see, you know. I mean again, it's been a
good week of practice, just finished up. I thought a
really good Wednesday. You know, good meetings. Team is. You know,
they understand what they got to go do. Just got
to go do it. Everybody's got to do their part,
do their job.

Speaker 4 (01:11:42):
Dabo.

Speaker 2 (01:11:43):
Sweeney was also asked about Adam Randall and his workload.
Adam Randall's got forty one carries through the first three
ball games. It's not too much work though, but I
think just really more in comparison to the other guys
and Davos Sweety.

Speaker 4 (01:11:57):
Says, no way.

Speaker 2 (01:11:57):
The office hadn't been on the field enough.

Speaker 8 (01:12:00):
We had much of a workload. Are you kidding me?
We I hope that that becomes a problem where we
get the snap count that we need to get. We
didn't have much of a workload from a play coount standpoint,
so everybody's pretty fresh Dabos.

Speaker 2 (01:12:16):
Sweeney was also asked about Shelton Lewis and Kylon Griffin
and some of their limited snaps and what's going on
with those two guys.

Speaker 8 (01:12:23):
Yeah, they both played, and we need them to just
keep getting better. They're practicing well. You know, Shelton's played
a good bit to this point, and KG I don't
think played much last week, but he's played a good
bit in other game or two. So both have good experience.
And yeah, we just need them to We just need
that depth to really, you know, and not just be
good depth, but go compete and push everybody compete to

(01:12:45):
win a job. So it makes everybody better. But they've
had a good week.

Speaker 2 (01:12:50):
Dabos when he was also asked about what facilitated Recher
freshman Chase Bird out of Career High School who walked
onto the team back in twenty twenty four in opportunity
to get on the field and they joy the tech game.

Speaker 8 (01:13:00):
Yeah, I mean he's just in the slot rotation and
and uh, we had Uh, Tyler Brown went out and
Antonio was obviously out, so he was just, uh, you
know guy and the had gotten the third reps there
was ready to go in and when we needed him
for a for a report to Chase does a good
job for us. He and he and Clark Sanderson, those
two two really good young little slot guys that that

(01:13:25):
I think are gonna be good little players.

Speaker 2 (01:13:28):
Demo sweet was also asked if he was impressed with
the way the Syracuse team competes for coach Van Brown.
Sweetey misunderstood the question and thought that he said was
he surprised at how they play. So that's kind of
why the surprised at the way they play. That's kind
of why the interaction goes the way it does.

Speaker 8 (01:13:46):
No, it doesn't surprise me at all. Uh, I mean
that's I don't think I thought just we said, it
doesn't surprise me at all. I mean, he's a good coach,
that's why they hired him to be the head coach.
And he's he's a defensive guy. And the guys, you know,
they've had a great year last year. They played tough,
they play physical, they chased to the ball, and uh,

(01:14:08):
I think he's done an amazing job that surprised me
at all.

Speaker 4 (01:14:11):
Dabo.

Speaker 2 (01:14:11):
Sweeney was also asked about his viral comments about I'm
only fifty five, I'm you know, I'm not gonna go
to the beach and whether or not he sort of
knew about that or if he had taught with Graham
Nef about his comments and and here's what Sweeney had
to say.

Speaker 8 (01:14:27):
Do I just work in football, man, I don't. I
have no idea if anything's vile, I don't. I don't.
I don't have a I don't pay attention to any
of that stuff. I don't have a clue. I just
come in here and do what I'm supposed to do,
and y'all create whatever headlines you want from there. But
I've just focused on trying to get ready to play Syracuse,
not worried about anything else.

Speaker 2 (01:14:48):
Sweeney was also asked about facing off against Syracuse in
their physicality.

Speaker 8 (01:14:52):
Yeah, we just kind of played to the standard that
we that we have around here period the end. It
doesn't matter who we play, or where we play or
when we play, Uh, just play to the standard. And
you know, uh, we got to play you know, physical
and with great effort and tough and great discipline, great belief,
and uh you know, apply all those things to your

(01:15:14):
fundamentals and your techniques and the scheme. Uh, that's how
you win. Gotta play winning, I mean, like you got
to do what winning requires. I mean, win the turnover margin.
You know, don't go out and beat yourself with a
bunch of penalties. Uh, be great in the red zone,
third down. I mean, that's that's that's what wins football games.
They're a talented team. Where talented team, we've got to

(01:15:34):
we've got to execute at a high level, and we
got to play and compete to the standard.

Speaker 2 (01:15:39):
Davos when he gave an update as well on his
thoughts on Syracuse quarterback Steve Angeli the Notre Dame transfer.

Speaker 8 (01:15:46):
I think he runs better than people people want to
give him credit for. I mean they'll run some zone
read with him, He'll pull it. And I mean he's
a he's a good scrambler. I think I think he's
he's uh yeah, he may he may not be he
Haines King, but he's he's very aware in the pocket,
and I think he has good instincts and he's savvy.

(01:16:06):
But you know, they're not afraid to run in Uh,
that's for sure. So I mean I think he's uh,
he's definitely a guy that's gonna throw it all over
the park, that's what he does. But some of their
big plays comes with him, you know, using his feet
and creating some some space and and and you know,
off off schedule type plays. I think he does a
good job with that.

Speaker 2 (01:16:27):
Sweeney was also asking Brian Westco had responded at practice.
Of course, it was his drop during the game against
Georgia Tech that Daboswhene really felt like took a lot
of the momentum away from Clemson.

Speaker 8 (01:16:40):
Yeah, it just goes back to the you know, little
things finishing. Like I said after the game, he's finished
with your eyes. I mean, he's got to finish with
your eyes. You catch the you catch them. I guess
it was John Bloles given the demonstration to uh, you know,
you gotta you gotta just don't take those routine plays
for great and sometimes you can and you're trying to

(01:17:03):
do a little too much. But hey, you said, back
to back great games for us. He's been a real
bright spot, you know, and really proud of Westco, really
proud of him, and he's off to a good start.
For us, and you just got to keep that continuing,
and we've got to get a bunch of other people to,
you know, start playing like we need him to play
as well.

Speaker 4 (01:17:23):
So there you go.

Speaker 2 (01:17:24):
That's Dabo Sweeney from his time with the media yesterday
afternoon after practice. Quick breat We'll put a bow on
the show right after this.

Speaker 3 (01:17:34):
What have you done for me lately? It's a fair question.
Just don't lose sight of the bigger picture. Don't forget history.
Looky for us at Clemson. The answer to the questions
what have you done for me lately? And what have
you done? Always are the same.

Speaker 4 (01:18:00):
We win.

Speaker 2 (01:18:47):
Final segment on a Thursday afternoon Swan clemses sportsaw all right,
timber ray Or, it was on earlier and he and
I were talking off the air for a minute about
kind of K clubn Eclipse's slow start, and Tim said,
you know, back in nineteen seventy eight. Nineteen seventy eight,

(01:19:13):
Notre Dame was one of the top teams in the country.
They entered the season rank number five. They had won
the nineteen seventy seven national championship. They were returning Joe
Montana as their starting quarterback. Expectations were through the roof.

(01:19:35):
People thought that Dan Devine's team was gonna go win
another national title, and they started that season zero to two.
They lost in the opener to an unranked Missouri team

(01:19:57):
three to nothing, and then got beat twenty eight to
fourteen by number five Michigan in the second game of
the season. And this was a team that was expected
to have the Heisman Trophy winning quarterback. They were expected

(01:20:19):
to win the national championship, and they went zero to
two out of the gate, much like the Notre Dame
team this year. Ironically, now, they didn't get the offense
going even in the game three they beat Produced ten
to six. That team would go on, however, to win

(01:20:39):
nine games that season. They finished nine to three. They
lost a one point game against Southern Cal or excuse me,
a two point game against Southern Cal in late November,
and then won the Cotton Bowl over Houston thirty five
thirty one. But the the Fighting Irish of nineteen seventy
eight Fighting Irish were expected to be this just elite,

(01:21:04):
blow your doors off type team and went zero to
two out of the gate in clympsones A little bit
like that, right, like the win over Troy. Yeah, like
I said, you can. You can lose all four of
those games in this era and it really doesn't matter.

Speaker 4 (01:21:21):
You're seeding. It would matter, but a group of their.

Speaker 2 (01:21:26):
Power four excuse me, conference champs are in. So you
could lose to LSU, you could lose to Troy, you
could lose to Firm, and you could lose to South Carolina.
You could go eight to o in the conference. You
could be eight to no win your conference championship. You
could be nine and four and being the college football playoff.
And I would I would venture to guess that Notre Dame.

(01:21:52):
You know, we talk about their independence and how they
like it and so on and so forth. I would
guess that if you had And maybe we'll never have
that scenario where a couple of teams from conferences have
multiple losses in the league or excuse be out of the league.

(01:22:13):
And heck, maybe you might. You might even have it
where a team loses a game in the league. Maybe
it's a team that's eight and five and gets into
the playoffs over Notre Dame at some point down the
line and they go, wait a second, this is not it,
Like we gotta be in a conference, so that our
ten and two or our nine and three secures us
a spot, because it may not secure you one. And

(01:22:38):
I've always thought that kind of like during the COVID year,
where if Notre Dame felt threatened to be left out,
that they would jump in when it looked like they
weren't going to have anybody to play. And really, the
ACC they should have put the crews to Notre Dame

(01:23:01):
right then, Like that should have been the moment the
Atlantic Coast Conference could have looked at Notre Dame in
twenty twenty and said, hey, guys, look, that's great and all,
but you're not in our league and we're only playing
league games. And Notre Dame would have looked at the
Southeastern Conference and they have said, now we're only playing
league games. I mean, I guess the ACC may have
feared that somebody else threw them a bone, you know,

(01:23:24):
the big ten throws them a bone, Like is Notre
Dame so big? And maybe they are. Maybe this is
the fact of the matter. Notre Dame. I'll just go
ahead and say it. Notre Dame is so big in
terms of they're following regardless of how you feel about it,
that you can't risk them having a reason not to

(01:23:44):
be a part of what you do. You gotta pacify him,
and even when it was a situation where they were
in a bad spot, what you kind of felt like
was any litigation by Notre Dame to say, hey, well
we're gonna play into Big ten and the ACEC goes no, no, no,
you have like a contract with us. They could quickly say,

(01:24:07):
well you don't want to play us. These teams will,
but everybody collectively would have to say nope, Notre Dame,
we're not playing your game anymore, and then they'd come in,
or maybe the playoff will eventually force it.

Speaker 4 (01:24:20):
We'll see, but I.

Speaker 2 (01:24:21):
Thought that was an interesting nugget from Tim about the
seventy eight fighting Irish. All Right, we gotta get out
of here. On a Thursday, Clemson's first release of Who's
Available comes out later today. We'll see if there's any
good news on that. We'll find that out about eight o'clock.

(01:24:42):
Until then, it's always I'll take care now and go Tigers.