The "Improved Defensive Numbers" Edition

Clemson's shift to Tom Allen is expected to pay huge dividends in 2025.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Each time or Clipson Sports Talk with Lawton swanwany. Finally,

(00:44):
Clemson Sports Talk has come back two drive time. Hello everybody,
long and Swan back in the saddle once again. It
is d show that shakes the south Land. Clemson Sports
Talk for you each and every afternoon as you make
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(01:04):
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Clemson Sports dot dot com ETO three four five, OHO
zero zero eighty six text line and phone line. And
again I appreciate each and every one of you being

(01:27):
a part of the program. Here on a Friday afternoon,
remember program, and note we're off all next week, so
if you tune in and we're not here, don't panic.
We'll be back the following week. We've got the ACC
kickoff that week as well, so we'll be up in
Charlotte for a couple of days, getting back into the
college football grind here on the show the Chase of
the South Line. I told you, it would go by fast.
I always tell you this, and now you'll say, but Swanny,

(01:52):
you got a week away next week, So it's gonn.
That's gonna feel great for you to be on VAK.
But what about me. I'm still hustling at the job it,
I get it. But the college football campaign SEC media
days next week. That type of stuff will carry you
through most certainly, right all right? Coming up at our
number two, Will Van Dervoort joins the program, and of

(02:14):
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(02:38):
So out of the gates per usual here on a Friday,
this will be the format. I'm gonna slice and dice
the interview we did earlier in the week with Facts
and Childress in the latter segments of our one will
come back full throttle with Will Van Dervoort in our
number two. Okay, but I want to again with an

(03:01):
article that I put together over on the website Clemson
Sports dot dot com about this Tiger defensive line, and
we noted here on the program. We noted on the
program over the past couple of weeks once at ESPN
my draft from Matt Miller came out just how highly
thought of this group is in TJ. Parker and Parker,

(03:22):
DJ Parker and Peter Woods. I don't know who Parker
Woods is. Sounds like a superhero, Peter Parker. Maybe that's
maybe that Maybe that's it. Is it Peter Parker spider Man?
Maybe that's maybe that's how I got the old the
old tongue tied and twisted there. But anyway, defensive end TJ.

(03:45):
Parker and defensive tackle Peter Woods. That duo for Clemson
projected as two of the top six picks, along with
Kate Klemney, who was projected as the top pick, giving
Clempson six out of the excuse me, three out of
the top six picks in the upcoming NFL draft, which

(04:07):
I think it does beg the question about a couple
of things. Number one, does this say something about the
twenty twenty five class just as a whole. Does it
say anything about this group and not as much maybe

(04:29):
about the talent that Clemson has acquired, because it certainly
feels like talent acquisition, And in the day and age
of the transfer portal, it's not completely impossible for schools
to hold on to the guys that committed to them

(04:49):
out of high school. But that's what Clemson has done
here with Parker and Woods. And not to mention, I
almost don't want to call them Parker in Woods anymore.
I almost want to call them Peter Parker. Just to
do it. It just makes it all make sense. But TJ.
Parker and Peter Woods are a duo from the state

(05:10):
of Alabama. Parker from Phoenix City, Peter Woods from Alabaster.
Too high profile programs in the Yellehammer state that committed
to Clemson, and the Tigers have great ties back there,
including Dabo Sweeney who played for the Crimson Tide. So
there's no doubt about Clemson's relationships in that state and

(05:31):
the job that they've done recruiting it. But these guys
are almost what you would perceive and call like home
grown talents at Clemson because against what feels like the norm,
even though probably statistically not. These are individuals who have
stayed in the program. They didn't waver and go somewhere else,

(05:51):
and they've worked themselves into the conversation of being two
of the top prospects, not just on the defensive line
in the country, but two of the best defensive linemen
in terms of potential future in the NFL draft at
this point. Not to mention the fact that some outlets
have Parker as the best defensive end and Woods as

(06:12):
the best defensive tackle, and they were on the team
a year ago. But when you look at the numbers
nationally a year ago for this Clemson Tiger defense under
West Goodwin, it didn't perform to the level based off
of the talent that you see projected to the NFL
this year on that defensive front. And that's where I
wonder how much of an impact is Tom Allen going

(06:34):
to have, because if it's significant, I mean, it should
improve those numbers for Clemson immensely. Taking a look the
Tigers a year ago finished last excuse me, finished last
season thirty seventh nationally in sacks just two and a
half per game, and twenty fourth in tackles for loss
with six point nine under Wes Goodwin, and that's a

(06:56):
big part of the reason forget about what happened late
in the game against North Carolina and the strategies that
played out in that moment. At the end of the day,
with the talent you had and Peter Woods was a
little banged up a year ago, but this unit should
have been much more disruptive given the projections of where
they see these guys going in the NFL, especially if

(07:16):
you compare some of the projections versus where guys like
Dexter Lawrence and Christian Wilkins were drafted, and you could
throw Cleveland Ferrell into that conversation as well. Now, Farrell
was certainly drafted hi probably much higher than many people projected,
going what fourth overall, but even still, for these guys

(07:37):
to be projected as two of the top six picks
in the NFL draft just tells you how good Clemson's
front could be along with the transfer from Purdue and
will help along with Demante k part up front, along
with guys like Vic Burley and Stefiland Green, who appeared
to have very high ceilings and are still early in
their career. If you're watching on TikTok, let me know
what you think in the comments about Clemson's defensive line

(07:59):
this and what kind of year do you think Peter
Woods and TJ. Parker or as I might call him,
Peter Parker spider Man if you will, what type of
season do you think those two might have? And again,
the article for everybody listening to the show is up
over on the website. As I said yesterday, Clemson announced
that the ACC media kickoff will be attended by k

(08:22):
Klubnick and Antonio Williams from the offensive side of the ball,
and we'll get Peter Woods and TJ. Parker on the
defensive side of the ball. And taking I guess the
kind of resetting back to what I was saying out
of the gates, is it indicative of the class or
are these guys better than those other players that have

(08:45):
come out, because I don't think you can find a
single person. I don't think I don't think you can
find a single person that would say that you believe
that that Cadklubnick is as good as Trevor Lawrence, Yet

(09:06):
club Nick's projected as the number one overall pick as well.
I don't know that I can find many of you
that would say that you think Kay Klubnick is better
than Deshaun Watson. But Kate Clubnick is projected as the
number one overall pick. Watson was not even a top
ten selection in the NFL draft. What was that? I

(09:28):
think there were what three quarterbacks selected before Deshaun Watson?
I believe that's right. Let me throw this in the
Google machine to take a look at the NFL draft
from that twenty twenty seven season. Let's see, Trubisky went second,

(09:54):
Patrick Mahomes went tenth, Watson went twelfth, so he was
there were two quarterbacks taken before Mitch Trubisky and Patrick Mahomes.
But again, Kate klub makes projected as the number one pick.
And then you fast forward just a couple of seasons,

(10:18):
and I would beg the question, does anybody I love
Peter Woods? Okay, but would any of you say that
you believe Peter Woods is a better interior defensive lineman
than Dexter Lawrence. I feel like almost every one of

(10:41):
you would say, no chance, Swannie. But Dexter Lawrence was
the seventeenth overall pick in the NFL draft, And I
honestly I don't know that many of you would say
that you believe he's better than Christian Wilkins. Wilkins was
the thirteenth pick in that class. Now we might could

(11:03):
argue whether or not you believe that TJ. Parker is
better than Cleveland Ferrell, who was the fourth pick in
that draft, because a lot of people say that Cleveland
Ferrell and may be based off of production. They would
be right that Cleveland Ferrell was overdrafted there more well

(11:25):
thought of than he should be. But that I think
is a fair argument to be made. I mean, if
Parker were to go third overall, that would make him
the highest ranked Clemson defensive lineman in the history of

(11:47):
the NFL draft. And I believe not one hundred percent
sure on this, but I believe sixth would if Peter
Woods were to go six, would put him just behind
Gaines Adams and Cleveland Ferrell. I don't think any other

(12:10):
Clemson player has been drafted that high on the defensive
line that I can remember. Just off the hoof, I'm
gonna try to take a quick gander to see, I
know Ferrell, just making sure I'm not missing anybody from
like recent years. But yeah, I think that would make

(12:35):
Vic Beasley win eight, so he'd be ahead of Beasley.
I'm just looking for a few more seconds here, where's
that Gains Adams draft, the late Gains Adams. What year
was he taken.

Speaker 2 (12:56):
There?

Speaker 1 (12:56):
It is two thousand and seven, so Adams for Pharaoh
went forth. So yeah, I mean that would make at
that point, if Parker went third and Peter Woods went sixth,
that would make Parker the highest rated Clumson defensive lineman
ever selected, And that would make Peter Woods fourth, right

(13:17):
behind Parker and the other two fourth picks, which is
somewhat mind blowing to me because again, is that about
how good they are or does that signify a little
bit of a dip in the expectations of this twenty

(13:41):
twenty what will be the twenty twenty six NFL Draft. Now,
looking back, it looks like Jeff Bryant was selected by
the Seahawks with the sixth pick in the nineteen eighty
two draft, so he would equal Bryant's selection. But yeah,
I don't see anybody else in the common draft era

(14:04):
that would compete with that. So these are two. These
are two guys on that defensive front right now for Clemson.
Fair or foul that are projected, at least at this
point to be more highly thought of going into the

(14:25):
NFL than Christian Wilkins Dexter Lawrence. Like for Peter Woods
to be above those dudes, Like I personally was really shocked,
and I'm sure you could go back in the archives
and find those episodes. I mean, I was shocked that

(14:46):
people didn't think more highly of Dexter Lawrence, who's now
what a three time pro bowler that people and you
might make the argument that he's the best defense interior
defensive lineman in the NFL, certainly one of the top
three or four, but you know that's a fixture, that's

(15:12):
a signature piece. And to have Woods projected high and
what's is great, Like there's some video on social media
of Woods where you know, some draft guys and things
of that nature are like breaking them down. Don't get
me wrong, I'm not here to try to besmirch the

(15:32):
name of Peter Woods, but my gracious, that is some
big time complimentary projections and they are just that projections.
And these are the other thing too, These guys are
just juniors. Now, Dexter Lawrence was a junior, but Wilkins

(15:56):
was a senior. I mean Wilkins and and Cleveland Farrell
was a senior. Remember, those guys chose to return. Wilkins, Lawrence,
and Bryant chose to come back and play another year
to try to win a national championship, and they did
win a national championship. And so like, that's kind of

(16:19):
the other side of this as well, is that these
dudes are young, just a couple of years removed from
high school, and that's where they're seen. And let's add
one other piece to this. The advantages of having new
defensive coordinator Tom Allen in the fold for Clemson absolutely

(16:46):
feels like a win for those guys on that defensive line,
and not just Parker and Woods, but k part help
Burley and stefilin Green. I mean, adding those players into
that rotation along with Jahim Lawson, now I hate. I mean,

(17:08):
you know, look, guys leaven transfer. I thought, hey, j Hoffler,
who transferred to Georgia Tech, had a chance to have
a big impact for Clemson this year and would get
playing Tom. But the era, the era of patience is
not upon us.

Speaker 3 (17:26):
We have.

Speaker 1 (17:28):
Our kids, in a lot of respects have turned into
the microwave society, the microwave mentality, and I understand it.
I truly understand it because regardless of how you or
I feel about it, you know, kids want to play

(17:50):
because there's more opportunity to make money if you're playing.
It's hard to convince somebody that you're better off being
at a school winning and enjoying your experience, right, Like,
that's that's a whole different ball of wax. You can say, well,
sure I can enjoy my experience and be a champion

(18:14):
at Clemson. To make two hundred and fifty thousand dollars
a year, that's great and all. But maybe I could
go make seven hundred and fifty thousand and yeah, maybe
we'll win a national title, but I make three times
the coin. Maybe you don't even compete for a national title,
but you make three times a coin and the kids
are going. So I'm feeling good about things. I'm feeling

(18:37):
good about my life, and maybe so maybe that's what
you value. But either way, that Clemson defensive line this year,
I guess they'll get a chance to go out and
prove it. Are the experts and the projections, and again,
it's really more than anything, just one man's thoughts. I

(18:59):
guess at this point in Matt Miller, But is it
more about those dudes and how good they are?

Speaker 4 (19:06):
Now?

Speaker 1 (19:06):
I think this is a fair question. You can text
us and let me know what you think. Eighth three four, five,
h zero zero or eighty six. Hit us up on
Twitter at Clemson Sports. Is that projection more so about
those juniors true juniors and their talent? Or is that
a bigger projection on the rest of the world of

(19:30):
college football this year? I'm interested to hear what you
think about it. A zero three four, five zero zero
eighty six? All right, when we come back, as I
mentioned earlier this summer on Fridays, we're kind of resetting
some of the stuff from earlier in the week, and
so today we will jump into and we'll slice and
dice the interview we did with Facts and Childress right

(19:52):
here on the show The Shakespeare South Lane. Keep it
a lot for more. Remember will Van Dervoort now re
number two, stay with us, rocking and rolling all the
way the on the Friday Clemsons, Wartstall, Lawton Swan. Don't
forget about our friends at Alumni Hall on the corner
of campus on College Avenue of downtown Clemson. It's Alumni
Hall for all your officially licensed Clemson merchandise has T shirts,
Tailgate Garrid Moore, go check them out today. It's Alumni
Hall where Tiger fans shop. All right, we're gonna jump

(20:15):
into our conversation with Fax and Childress from one O
five to five to roar in the upstate here from
earlier this week, the beat season is almost over college
football be herefore we know it in the Big twelve
media days were going on this week obviously over the
past two days. But break your Mark. I gotta give
this man a lot of credit, like in the era

(20:36):
of like Steve Jobs and those individuals that stand out
in front and really boost their product for a league
that I don't feel like has what I would call
major top line contenders nationally facts, and I gotta say,
I think he does a really good job of selling
that conference and that's exactly what they need right now.

Speaker 4 (20:55):
Yeah, I think your Mark has an argument for best
commissioner in the sport when you look at at what
he is dealing with from a financial element, what he
is dealing with from a lack of a true contender,
for lack of better term like he said Swany, and
all he has done is been at the forefront of
innovative ideas, you know, name rights, sponsorship, branding. He's thinking

(21:15):
outside the box and very creatively to keep this conference afloat.
It's the harsh reality, and he's done a phenomenal job
thus far. I think there's some really intriguing coaches, storylines,
teams within the Big twelve that you know are ready
to peel back this year. So I'm excited to see
what the future of that league looks like. And it's
refreshing to see that level of innovation from you know,

(21:36):
one of the two members of what will be like
I guess the more forgotten of the p fours, which
is the Big twelve in the ACC. You know, you've
got a commissioner and Phillips, who we like, you know, right,
and Phillip's a great dude. But there's been more attention
in the ACC about the lawsuit of the two power
players soon and to get out of the league the
last couple of years than there has been on what

(21:56):
is going to put the ACC in a better position
to succeed going forward. I think the difference in demeanor
and game plan there is played pretty drastic to began
in swine. But I love your mark man. I think
he's a brilliant mind. I think he's exactly what the
Big Twelve means that he said, and I'm excited to
see what the future of that league looks like.

Speaker 1 (22:13):
Facts and Childress with this year on the program, And
do you agree with this? I mean, maybe it's just
our regional bias or whatever, But once Texas and Oklahoma
left the Big Twelve to go to the SEC, and
all the other dominoes fell in place in the world
of college football, I mean, I don't think there's really
an argument at this point. I mean, it's the Big
Ten and or the SEC at the top, and then

(22:34):
the Atlantic Coast Conference followed by the Big Twelve Or
Am I wrong on that?

Speaker 3 (22:39):
No?

Speaker 4 (22:39):
I think you're a one hundred percent correct by saying that.
I mean, I think there's a clear hierarchy within the conferences.
There's a power too, which is your SEC and your
Big Ten. I'd actually rank the Big Ten number one,
but that's a conversation for a different time. And I
think you have the ACC as the clear third kind
of power player in that, and then the Big Twelve
is I would say behind that as far as you

(23:00):
know quality of college football conferences, but as far as
future outlook goes SWANEA. I have to be honest by
saying with Clemson and Florest State negotiating the exit feed
down and with the Big Twelves, you know, willingness to
innovate and think forward like we've been talking about with
your Mark and almost skiels like there's a chance that
the Big twelve could leave the ACC sooner rather than later.

(23:21):
Maybe not from a quality of teams standpoint, but from
a status of league and financial element standpoint. So it'll
be intriguing to see how, you know, the power hierarchy
shakes up, and obviously the dollar sign is what matters
the most throughout all of this is we've all become
accustomed to these past couple of years in the crazy
shark infested waters that are twenty twenty five collegiate athletics.
But I'm really looking forward to seeing what the ACC

(23:42):
and the Big Twelves game plan is to continue to
try and even that gap. And to be honest, Swanny,
I'm just grateful to have Graham dev as the ad
of Clemson to kind of bridge that gap in creative ways,
and I think he's done a phenomenal job throughout this
process and has been very calculated with the way that
he has, you know, kind of surveyed the conference realignment lands.

Speaker 1 (24:00):
He's on Twitter at FACX and p XP. You can
go follow him right now. That's Facts and Childress, host
of Facts on Sports in the Upstate from nine to
noon weekdays on WCCP Faxon from there with your Mark's remarks,
he commented, I had a chance I played some of
them for our audience. In our number one, he commented

(24:21):
on the model of the college football playoff, which of
course he desires, that five plus eleven format. The SEC
was kind of against it at one point, then they
shifted a little bit. There's a couple of things I
think that are all involved in this, but more than anything,
for me, the reason that this five plus eleven model

(24:44):
is the best model is because if your league earns
four or even five spots in the playoff, they are
undoubtedly earned in the other format. I feel like the
conferences like the ACC and the the Big twelve are
vulnerable to having a really good third team that doesn't

(25:06):
crack in because of these what I would call that
point archaic rules, it just don't make sense.

Speaker 4 (25:12):
Yeah, you know, it's been really interesting to kind of
try and evaluate and assess what the new options for
the formats are and what the ideal format is. And
you know, Swani, in totality, I tend to agree with
you that the five plus eleven seems to be the
most rational, and it seems to be the most fair.
And to your point, you know, there's gonna be the
folks that pull for AEC schools, that pull for Big

(25:33):
twelve schools, that gripe about SEC bias, And while I
do believe it's prevalent, I think that we also have
to be objective and acknowledge the fact that much higher
quality football from top to bottom is being played in
the Big twelve and the SEC, or in the Big Ten,
in the SEC rather than in the ACC in the
Big twelve. That's not to slight a Clemson or a
Miami or a team that plans to contend out of

(25:55):
the Big twelve this year, maybe in Arizona States, because
we saw last year that the upper shon teams in
those leagues can go toe to toe with the big
boys in the Big Two. If you will, Arizona State.
Had Texas dent to rights Clemson, if they could have
stopped the one run, might have beat Texas on the
road and matched up against Arizona State for all we know,
they had that within seven in the fourth quarter. The
difference is the number three team in the league to

(26:18):
the bottom of the league in those two leagues versus
the Big two versus the other two. And you know,
for me personally, I think Florida might have a top
ten roster in the country this year. The issue is
they play like five of the twelve best teams in
the country, so they may end up losing three or
four games, and if they were to get into the playoff,
I think there'd be a large contention of people going

(26:39):
SEC bias SEC bias. That's not really the way that
I do things. I think that we have to have
some level of valuation of strength of schedule and quality
of league. That plays an element into this. And if
you're going to blow it up and put sixteen teams in,
every conference needs to be represented. You need to have
group of five representation, and then the remain flops should
just simply go to the best teams. It doesn't matter

(27:00):
about conference affiliations. To me, I think people make too
big of a deal about it. I want the highest
quality football in the top knowledge football being played on
the big stage, and the horse reality of that for
some clubs advents a year is that right now that's
the Big Ten and right now that's the SEC.

Speaker 1 (27:14):
With a quick break, we'll come back with more from
Fax and Childress right here on the show that Shakes
the south Land. Keep it locked on Fox Sports Radio
fourteen hundred and of course around the world on the
iHeart Radio application Stay with Us. Back at it on
a Friday afternoon, Low and Swan hanging out with you.
We were talking with Facts and Childress about the college
football playoff Formatt and Faxon. You know, the other argument

(27:37):
that I kind of have against that four four two two,
et cetera model is this Faxon, and I think it
makes like if you're a retiring coach. I said this
an hour one. If your coach is retiring and you're
getting older, you might be in the Big ten or
the SEC for the rest of your career. But with
the wins of change in sports, you don't know what
conference you're going to get in. So I think any

(28:00):
young coach that would be in favor of something like that,
given the fact that in a couple of years you
might be coaching at a Miami or a Georgia Tech
might not be the most logical situation because you might
be supporting something that ultimately hurts you in the long run.
And I think coaches and even assistant coaches are cognizant

(28:21):
of that.

Speaker 4 (28:22):
Yeah, I think that's a good point, Swania. And you know,
for me, it just created so much intrigue about what
the coaching carousel is going to look like going forward, right,
And you know, I think maybe it might not be
the best example for what you specifically laid out, but
I think the whole Alabama coaching search was just so
tantalizing to me about the names that we were seeing
linked to that opening before Debor got the job, In

(28:43):
the fact that Mick Norvell was linked to that job
and then turned around and went two to ten and
was allegedly the runner up for the Bama job. Right,
there are just so many nuggets and so much context
and nuance and what goes into taking a job nowadays
as a head coach, whether it be within the coaching cycle,
whether being candidate that those are things that have to
be considered right, and playoff format has to be considered.

(29:04):
If they go four four to.

Speaker 5 (29:05):
Two to two.

Speaker 4 (29:06):
Why at that point you're talking about a completely different
evaluation as the head coach as to what's a good
job versus what's a bad job. Then you get the
financial element of this, right, where's my nil chess going
to be at? How much payroll am I going to
have on a your year basis? Realistically speaking, these are
things that people didn't even think about five six years
ago and never thought they would have to think about.

(29:27):
So you're having to see people either adapt or die
on the fly. And you've seen some people dying, You've
seen some people adapt, and I think ultimately it's created
more parody. From the perspective of it feels more now
than ever like any team has a chance to win.
And a part of that's the expanded playoffs. A part
of that's the NIL, A part of that's the conference structure,

(29:48):
a part of that's the realignment. And I know there's
a ton of issues which we both complained about extensively.
I'm sure with the current format, and I'm not saying
that they don't need to change things right, but I
do think that what this created is a lot of
intrigue and in a backwards way. While it's gotten further
away from the group of five having parody, I would
argue we'd never seen more parody within the power.

Speaker 1 (30:08):
For on Twitter at faxon PXP, Fax and Childress with
us here for a few more minutes to talk college
football and facts. And I'm off next week. I'm actually
taking my vacation, so really the next time I get
after it, it'll be at the ACC kickoff up in
Charlotte in a couple of weeks. And with that, you
you brought up the Florida State Seminoles and Mike Norvel.

(30:30):
I talked with Jeff Cameron from war Chant TV here
a couple of weeks ago about that situation, because I
think everybody would say that prior to Jordan Travis getting hurt,
you know, it appeared Mike Norvel was probably setting himself
up for a extended run at Florida State. But then

(30:51):
last season the wheels just completely fall off to go
two and ten, And there are people down in Tallahassee
that think that maybe you know, that was just the
one off the third Tenano season into the college being
short of the College Football Playoff again while by Georgia.
What are your thoughts on the Seminoles ahead of the
ACC kickoff and what type of season do you think
Mike Norvel will have and what kind of season does

(31:14):
he have to have in your mind to stick around
another year.

Speaker 4 (31:17):
Well, Swanee, I'll preface this by saying, we visited an
ACC kickoff up in Charlotte last year and I had
a massive swing and a hit, and I had a
massive swing and a miss on your show. My massive
swinging a hit was that Florida State would not make
a bowl game and DJ would get bench. My massive
swing and a miss was on Virginia Tech. So I'm
big on praising and criticizing. Apparently got hold myself accountable.
I thought VT was gonna be good last year. They

(31:39):
ended up losing onto one score games. But I was
right on Florida State last year. And weirdly enough, Swanee,
I'm buying the dip right now in Tallahassee. I'm buying
the Mike Norvel stuck and I'm buying the dip in Tallahassee.
And it's because I think they're financially positioned to compete
in this league for the foreseeable future and to walk
that out parallel. Does four of State have in the

(32:00):
ACC that's not named Clemson or Miami. From a resources,
from a facilities, and from a financial.

Speaker 1 (32:06):
Standpoint, nobody.

Speaker 4 (32:08):
I think it's just Clemson, Miami and Florida State. So
when I look at this new age of college football
and I see a big three forming in the ACC,
I think it's hard to not include Florida State in that.
And now maybe SMU deserves a little more respect, right
They've got sheddared, there's no hiding from it. They've got talent.
Ret's the man with the plan. But we haven't seen
an extended sample size of them in a P four

(32:28):
league to see if in showcase whether they can sustain
that level of success or not at this level of
competition with Florida State. I think the key for Norvel
is as simple as having a mobile quarterback. And I
tell everybody this. I a part of the reason I
thought FSU was going to be a disaster last year
is because I'm not big on Norval's ability to scheme
people open. I think he needs a backyard football type

(32:50):
of creator to make things hactic and to put pressure
on the defense, and that's where the run game can
start to thrive, and that's where they can start to
play off it well. They have that this year in
Tommy Castelano's and I know a lot of people are
selling his stock right now and running with the narrative
that he was benched at BC and all that, and
you know, he's making some comments that I would definitely
not make about Alabama and set those expectations on myself.

(33:12):
But I think Florida State's primed to make a bounce
back this year, and I think they could win seven
eight plus games, and I think that's enough to keep
this thing aflow for Norvel. I think the pendulum might
have swung too far in the wrong direction, and I
understand that that is a part of going to and ten,
which is embarrassing for a program like Florida State. And
I'm not excusing it by any means or any standards,
but realistically speaking, they didn't have the talent last year

(33:33):
up front, they didn't have the talent last year at
the skill positions, and they sure didn't have the talent
at quarterback with the depth of that room behind DJ
after his injury, and DJ was never very good to
begin with. So I think Florida State is significantly more
talented right now than they were a year ago. I
think their quarterback is slated for success when you look
at how Norvell has had success in the past with
Jordan Travis, with that backyard style of football where he's

(33:55):
running around and making something happen outside of structure. And
I think Norvel goes eight and four this year and
that's enough to keep him his job at Tallahassee. As
far as the future goes, I think they have a
high floor because of finances. Do I think they get
back to the mountain top of thirteen and zero, No,
probably not. Do I think Mike Norvel is as good
of a coach as that thirteen and o season would indicate. No,
probably not. But you know what he did. He developed

(34:17):
his quarterback in Jordan Travis, and he struck golden the
transfer portal with Keyon Coleman and Johnny Wilson, and a
lot of people will discount Norvel for that and throw
it back in his face saying he has a bunch
of poral kids. Somebody still got to coach him, and
Norvel did that at a high level two years ago.
So I think he's gonna win eight games this year,
and I think some of the hot seats, slander and
talk is gonna start to calm him down. But the

(34:37):
final point I'll make on that, Swanny, is you paying
that buyout? Because I'm sure is heck not for Mike Norvel.

Speaker 1 (34:43):
That's FAXX and child just joining us here on a
Friday afternoon with a quick break. Don't forget you can
head over to our website, Clympsonessports tal dot com right
now and check out an update that we've got out
on Clempson's defensive lineman Peter Woods and TJ Parker anchoring
that Clympson Tiger defense heading in to the twenty twenty
five season. Stay with us. Final segment of our number one,

(35:03):
Will Van Dervoort from the Clipson Insider joins us around
the bend in our number two here on a Friday afternoon.
We wrap up our segment with faxon Childress here for you,
and we were talking about the Florida State seminoles and
Vaxxon had them going eight and four and then this
is what I had to say about it. I've got

(35:24):
him at eight and four as well. The problem is
I've got him losing to everybody that they would want
to win, right they want to beat. I've got him
losing Alabama, losing to Clemson, losing to Miami, and losing
to Florida and that's eight and four. But you didn't
really beat anybody at that point. But you talk about
quarterback play in Tallahassee, how big of an impact do
you think Gus Malzan will have on that offense, Because
I would think it's going to be pretty significant.

Speaker 4 (35:45):
I actually think Florida State's gonna have a pretty darn
good offense this year. And I think Malzon is a
guy that, throughout the course of his career has found
a way to kind of fine tune his offenses to
what his roster showcases. I would say it's a mixed
bag on public perception on Malzon. I think he does
a pretty good job in totality. I love his creativity.
I love his willingness to accentuate his player's Skiell sets

(36:07):
and look at his roster and say, Okay, what does
my quarterback do well? What do my running backs do well?
Where are my strengths, where are my weaknesses? How can
we put our guys in a position to succeed every
time they touch the football all year. And while that's
not super realistic, obviously that's not the way sports work.
He does a good job of trying to do it right,
and there's something to be said about that, Like there
are guys that don't try and get their primary playmakers

(36:29):
involved as frequently as I believe they should be in
college football. Malzan is one of those guys. You got
a star player. He's touching it fifteen times a night.
So for Florida State this year, you got a mobile quarterback, which.

Speaker 5 (36:40):
Gus Buss loves.

Speaker 4 (36:40):
You got two dynamic running backs, and Williams and Davis,
who I'm high on, love that. You got a wide
receiver room that looks improved, albeit I'm not completely sold
which he can make it work. He got some speed
on the outside, and he got some size, some different
profile guys. I think Florida State's going to be a
team that has their identity on the offensive side of
the football this year. And I know that that's been
the Inverse in a couple of the years pass and
they've really had some great defenses with Verse and Frisky

(37:03):
and all those guys that were making plays on that
twenty twenty three defense. This year, I think you see
a more running gun version of Florida State that's letting
loose and playing and shootouts. And I think Tasalanas is
actually gonna have a pretty good year down.

Speaker 1 (37:14):
In tallahas All Right, final thing facts, and this was
a big week for the EA Sports college football fans.
I knew my son, who's sixteen's been grinding away on
that game. I saw you tweet out about it. So
what do you think so far? Diving in? It's early
yet gameplay has improved.

Speaker 4 (37:31):
Man, I'm excited about it. Me and my friends from
my hometown all do a big league so we like
spin a wheel for our teams for our online dynasty.
I got Colorado and we have a lot of fun
with this, Swanna. You would probably think it's funny. We
do press conferences, right, and we're like playing into the
bit and just trying to have as much fun with
it as we can, for no doubt purposes to stay
in touch with our guys from the hometown. So that's
really why I play, right. I don't have as much

(37:53):
free time for video games nowadays, but I love college football.
I love my Tigers and I want to get that
full experience with my guys each every year. So it's
been pretty fun to continue to work through that with
some of my friends. And I'm excited to see where
college Football twenty two continues to go in the future.
I think they've made some big upgrades to the game,
and I think it's really exciting times right now in
the name image and like this era that you can

(38:14):
be in a video game, right, Like I'm really close
with Barrett Carter, I'm really close with a lot of
the guys that played on Ohio State, all of which
are from my hometown on Jordan Hancock, and those guys
were in the game last year, and for me, it
was cool to see some of my childhood friends be
in the game. But when I ask them about it,
I'm like, it's got to be pretty cool. And Barrett's
first thing was, Yeah, I'm gonna show my kids this
one day. Right, You're in a video game and that's immortalized.

(38:34):
So I think from that perspective, that element provides a
really cool opportunity to the student athletes as well. And
I just think in totality, all of this has been
a massive win for the world of college football, right,
and you know from my perspective, and I'll let you
get out of here before this oneing because I know
I'm rambling a little bit. It helps me get more
educated about the game and who's on what roster with
all the portal volatility because I can pull up my

(38:56):
video game instead of individually googling every roster, and I
can cite and through the depth charts at the click
of my fingers within ten seconds. It's awesome. So it
can be used as an educational tool in that perspective
as well, which I think most people might like net
and overlook and think, oh facts and that sounds a
little stupid, but I promise it really does help me
in my day to day preparation with what I'm trying
to do with my job and get up to date

(39:18):
on these rosters and what they're gonna look like.

Speaker 1 (39:19):
So it's a business expanse. Okay, I'm gonna be getting
it right now.

Speaker 4 (39:24):
Facts, yeah, right off on your LLC swany. There you go.

Speaker 1 (39:28):
Hey, just do a better job recruiting the high school
ranks than Dion does in Colorado. I think you'll be
all right again these facts and childress every day nine
until noon one of five to five, there are in
the Upstate Facts and have a great day.

Speaker 4 (39:39):
My man, Hey, I appreciate your brother always always funk, Swanni.

Speaker 1 (39:42):
So there you go, resetting that conversation with Facts and
Childress from earlier in the week for those of you
that are not available to listen in our number two
of the program. Now, some of you podcast listeners will say, Swany,
I have the ability to listen to all hours of
the program because I'm a podcast listener, and that is spectacular.
And you might say, well, I didn't want to hear

(40:02):
Facts and Children's again an hour number one of the podcast.
That's okay. That's why they made that little thirty second
fast forward button. You're that little scroll wheel. Like, resetting
an interview for a podcast listener should not be a
bad thing. I love podcasts. I mean I listen. I
constantly lock in to podcasts. And I will tell you

(40:27):
this too, like I know a lot of you like
to read books on tape, and some of you will say, well, man,
I can't afford audible because listen audible is through the
roof and I'm not about to try to pitch you
on how to buy audible. I wish allible would give
me some coin to be able to pitch it to
you or give me a free membership, then I would
tell you about it. But how about this. Your local
library if you got a library card, has an app

(40:47):
called the Libby app. There's also another app. I can't
remember the name of it right off the wrap, the
hoof Actually, let me see, I got my phone right here.
I keep all those in a folder, so hoop, there
you go, hoopla. Free books. Yeah, you might have to wait.
You know, you might have to place a hold on
a book, but free audio books. I'm not talking about

(41:10):
sitting there and holding with your hands. I mean that's
always a great thing to have, is access to books.
And I spoke, because you know, I work in the
school district. I spoke with a librarian about it. I said,
does this count, like, does this count is reading? Or
do I actually have to hold a book and flip it?
She said, no, as long as you're following the story
and making mental images in your mind, that would count

(41:33):
as reading. So some might say that I am an
avid reader.

Speaker 3 (41:42):
I guess that's your theory.

Speaker 1 (41:44):
Okay, well that's what the librarian told me, all right.
With a quick Break. Will Van der Wart from The
Clemson Insider set to join the program right around the
bend here on a Friday afternoon, as we get closer
and closer to kickoff of the college football season, we'll
talk with Will about his thoughts on the Big twelve
media days, get his thoughts on the upcoming SEC and
Big ten media days, plus the a c C kickoff

(42:08):
said to get underway in just a couple of weeks
up in the queen City of Charlotte, North Carolina. Stick
around for more the show that shakes the south Land
each time Lord Clipson Sports Talk with Lawton Swan. Swanny,

(42:58):
it is our number two. That's drive time right here
on the show The Shakespeare Southland, Clemson, the Sports. So
long Swan ain't out with you. Will Van Derboort from
the Clemson Insider coming up around the bend, and of course,
the show The Shakespare south Land, brought to you in
part by our good friends over at METS Plumbing seven
three to two drip, Drip, Drip drip. You know the jingle,

(43:20):
seventh three to two drip. That's mets Plumbing, mets plumbing
dot com. That's the website as well. All right out
of the gates here and our number two, Will Van
Dervoort joins the program. Follow him on Twitter at steeler
will will ye V. What's up, big guy? How are you?

Speaker 5 (43:36):
I'm doing well, man? How you doing?

Speaker 1 (43:37):
I'm good? How was your Fourth of July?

Speaker 2 (43:39):
Buddy?

Speaker 1 (43:39):
What do you do for that?

Speaker 5 (43:40):
I've got a couple of dogs, so I stay here
just to make sure they're they're fine. Me and my
brother we had a cookout and did that here at
the house. So we stayed at the house. Didn't didn't
really watch any fireworks or anything like that, but we
did our normal Fourth of July family stuff from that standpoint,
you know, from a barbecue cooking, if you will.

Speaker 1 (44:01):
Right, right right. So I saw this on TikTok, and
so your dogs are fearful of fireworks, I assume, like
most is that what you're kind of ina? Okay, So
I saw this on TikTok, dude, and I don't know
if it works, but people claimed it did. So get
about three or four tennis balls and you put them
in your dryer, and you put your dryer on no heat,

(44:23):
and then you just run that thing once the fireworks begin,
and it makes a constant noise, and the person said
that their dogs didn't bark at all because there was
this constant rattle instead of the occasional fireworks. So maybe
I've cured your ills for the future.

Speaker 5 (44:43):
Maybe some Now. My only question with that to be
is that do the tennis balls not catch on fire? No?

Speaker 1 (44:47):
No, you don't turn the heat on no no, no heat,
no heat, no heat meat. Yeah, yeah, you put your
dryer on no heat. Yeah. I better make that clear
because I got radio lists no heat. Everybody just you
run no heat and yeah they say that works. So
I don't know, but anyway, I guess we'll find out. Uh,

(45:08):
let's see two years. Yeah, you don't even have to
wait a full year. You can try in six months
and let me know. You get back with me. Will
Van der Boord again for the clips of Insider does
a fantastic job there lead writer, and he joins us
here on a Friday afternoon on the heels or off
the heels. I guess I should say of the big
twelve media days and Brent your mark and his comments

(45:29):
about the five plus eleven model, will you know in
this business unlike maybe in some respects with what you
do covering things on the writing side of things. You know,
when I'm on the radio every day, I have to
talk about so many different things all the time. And
my ideas on the model of the future of the
college football playoff are things that I've certainly talked about
here in the past. But I think the five plus

(45:51):
one model makes the five plus eleven model makes so
much sense because regardless of conference, it makes you earn it.
Where do you stand sort of all, you know, a
sixteen team playoff down the road, and what a five
plus eleven model would present.

Speaker 5 (46:06):
Yeah, first of all, I like the five plus eleven
model in the sense that you're gonna get your five
conference champions, four conference power for and then you know
a group of six champions are gonna be your five
automatic qualifiers, right. I like that part of it. I
like the fact that you're saying, Okay, we're gonna have
eleven at large bids.

Speaker 4 (46:28):
Now.

Speaker 5 (46:29):
The only worry I have, and coming to find out
this week, what your Mark said was that the A
that big ten in the SEC don't have the power
that everybody thinks they have when it comes to the
voting power. Well, everybody thought they could just go ahead
and vote and take a you know, and vote and
get the plus.

Speaker 2 (46:45):
Get there three or four.

Speaker 5 (46:47):
You got teams in there. And you know, I know
right now Greg Sankee is wanting to you know, put
the strength of schedule as more of a determining factor
in the selection committee's process. Right now, the selection committee
is saying that that's not They're really not wanting to
do that just yet. And so there's they're a little

(47:08):
back and forth there. To me, I want to see
the flaplus eleven without the strength of schedule metric. Here's why,
Because what is the strength of schedule metric? You know,
just because ESPN says South Carolina plays a harder schedule
than Clemson, is that's why that's strongest? I mean, what
makes up the strength of schedule metric? Because it's all

(47:30):
determined off what happens in the preseason when we don't
even know how good some of these teams are. Right
And so again, if you give me a fair strength
to schedule metric, like you're starting to use it at
a certain point in the season, maybe week seven or
week eight, based on what teams have done and what
they're what they've done offense, defense and stuff like that

(47:52):
then then that sounds better to me than how what
right now with the strength of schedule metric is based
on which is based on perception, you know, just because
ESPN thinks this team is better than that team is
not strength to schedule to me, you know, because I
know a lot of teams that play in different conferences
that are better than other teams in other conferences, but

(48:14):
they don't get the necessary benefit of the doubt of
that because you know, a certain network's telling us how
much is better one team's better than the other when
we really don't know that. So so that's the only
my only concern is that the SEC tries to pull this,
you know, this metric, because then if they do it,
then all all we're gonna have is SEC Big ten
at large teams and the AC team the Big twelve

(48:36):
may get two or may not, you know what I'm saying.
So that that's whereas everybody will try to use that
SOS as a way to get more SEC and Big
ten teams, in which I don't think is right. And
you know, when you look at me, especially like right now,
the SEC is not as hasn't been as good as
it has been in the years past last step years.

Speaker 4 (48:57):
That's the fact.

Speaker 5 (48:58):
Look at look at the the National Championship the last
two years and stuff like that. Right, yeah, And then
you know, when I look at the ACC and the
Big Ten, in most years, the ACC has been other
than as good as the Big Ten, you know where
you know, for most of the last decade or so,
it's always either been Ohio State, Michigan or Penn State

(49:20):
right in the mix. That's it. Nobody else in that
conference has been in the mix. Now that added Oregon
and that'll help. But so don't come and tell me
that one conference is better than the other when basically
they've had the same kind of players that the whoc's
had the last ten years or so.

Speaker 1 (49:36):
Will Van der war Witherson, one of the criticisms of
the Big twelve is that they've not had kind of
that pillar program minus Texas and Oklahoma now that they've
left to the SEC. And I would say that's arguably correct.
But I'll give your Mark credit for this. Will You know,
they went to the Star in Dallas to put this
thing on. They had a huge stage. They make the
event look bigger. It kind of reminds me, I guess

(49:58):
in some ways of like pt bar right, like he's
out in front selling this thing as Hey, we're legitimate,
and I'll be honest, I think he's doing a really
good job. Now, the onus falls on those schools to
put it together, and you can't have teams, in my opinion,
like Oklahoma State, who you would assume would have risen
with them, you know, with Texas and Oklahoma leaving. Instead,

(50:21):
they lose nine consecutive games at the end of the
year and go three and nine. What a face plant
for that team, and that really hurt I think the
Big Twelve, even though they were able to get Arizona
State in the league. Who, by the way, will I
don't know if you know this or not. They got
rid of their preseason media poll because a year ago
Arizona State was voted last in the league and they

(50:42):
feel like that may have held back their conference in
the sense of what you were just talking about, with
how it's perceived in the power rankings, etc.

Speaker 5 (50:51):
Yeah, and hopefully what I would say about that is,
hopefully this is a step in the right direction where
we get rid of preseason media polls. And I speak
as a voting member of the media, but I used
to be an AP voter, and so you know, and
even though I was an AP voter, I was never
a fan of doing it that early in the season
because I just don't think we know, you know, I

(51:13):
always use I'm a big NFL fan, as you know, Lowton,
I'm a huge Stealers fan. And I always tell everybody
you really don't know who the true Super Bowl contenders
are until Week six. That's when you find out who's
really real and he's not, because that's when the games
get a little more difficult. You start playing more of
your division teams and you find out, you know, teams
start dealing with injuries and things of that nature. Well,

(51:34):
college football is the same, but we give teams passes
because we start the year off with a certain team
ranked number one, and what are they just done to
deserve to be number one? You know, what does the
team deserve to be ranked number ten at early in
the season.

Speaker 3 (51:48):
Nothing.

Speaker 5 (51:49):
I want to see what a team looks like in
Week eight, after they've gone through half the schedules. They
either have injuries or they don't who they playing and
they look good playing them. That's when you get a
fair of assessment of who somebody is right, And preseason
polls I've always hated. And I know they're good for radio, right.
I know you guys love them. They don't give these

(52:10):
something to talk about. But as a writer, I just
always not liked them because they just don't seem fair
to me. And they give these perceived notions of who's
really good and who isn't. And sometimes that comes to
fruition and those teams turn out to be really good,
and sometimes it doesn't. And we've seen that, and we've
seen it on the biggest stage when a team gets

(52:30):
into the playoffs that we didn't think deserve to be in.
And it shows all Ohio State in twenty sixteen, right
when they got in, and nobody thought they deserved to
get in, and cons did want to them beat them
thirty one to nothing in the playoff game, right, And
we see that a couple of times. So you know,
I know there's arguments for both and all, but man,
I'm with getting rid of the preseason polls and then
go back to you saying that, you know, making it

(52:52):
more like a Barnum and Bailey kind of circus deal.
I see that, and I guess from a television viewership
that is cool, right, and from a you know, stuff
like that. But from a personally from a writer's standpoint,
I hated it because like they had all the coaches
on one stage and they're talking. I'm like, oh man,

(53:14):
this is ridiculous. As a writer, you just hate it
because it's like, you know, you're not getting hard of
anything in depth or getting really true thoughts on what
a coach or player feels like when it's in that
kind of environment. So it is what it is. It's
you know, you got to adjust as a writer. But
from a pr standpoint, I get it. I see what

(53:35):
he's trying to accomplish.

Speaker 1 (53:36):
There Will Van Dervort with us here on the program again.
We've got the SEC Media Days coming up next week
and then the Big ten in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
I believe Will will be going head to head. But
are there any big storylines that you are looking forward
to hearing about or talking about coming out of the
Southeastern Conference next week?

Speaker 5 (53:58):
Yeah? Well, I think one of them is that strength
to schedule metric. I think it's gonna be brought back
up again. You know. Greg Thankee at the end of
their spring meetings, passed out a pamphlet to all the
reporters that were that were there for the spring meetings,
and you know it was how you know, strong the

(54:18):
SEC is compared to other teams and trying to automatic
you know, and that's his job. Let's first of all,
I understand what Greg Thankee's job is to promote and
you know, do what's in the best interest of the
of the SEC. But you know, the whole thing was
clearly propaganda to get this strength to schedule thing going
forward if he wants the media on his side. So

(54:39):
he's trying to play that because last year they felt like,
you know, South Carolina, Old Miss and Alabama got jipped
of the Tassotball Playoff, which I have I can see
the argument more for South Carolina than I can for
Alabama Old Miss. Last year, everybody keeps making that from
a national standpoint, people make that argument for those two teams.
I think South Carolina had a way better argument. They

(55:00):
played a tougher schedule, they beat everybody they were supposed to,
and then at the end of the year they knocked
off Clemson, who ends up being in the Coast Football Playoff.
I think South Carolina had way more of a case
than any of those two did, but but you know
they they wanted. The whole point of the pamphlet was
to pass out this metric to show how strong the
SEC is compared to other conferences and why they need

(55:22):
to have more teams in the playoff, and I get it.
So that's gonna be a big issue. I think next
week you're gonna see obviously the by the Leaven model,
which I will give Sankie credit keys come along on that.
At first he was more in favor of the four
plus four plus three plus one model, right, and now

(55:42):
now he's more leaning toward that five plus eleven. So
you know that's gonna be a big topic I think
next week, as well as the NIL and you know
the rev share. You know a lot of people you heard,
you heard Deion Sanders comments the other day about they
need a salary cap. You saw yesterday reports came out

(56:05):
with the Commission already putting it out there that they
have you know, they're taking out these schools that aren't
doing things with the first two already, and they put
out some guidelines and what they expect and what they're
looking for. So I think all these are the things
that are gonna be talked about the next couple of weeks,
but not only the SEC, but the ACC and the
Big Ten as well.

Speaker 1 (56:24):
Again. Will Van der Voart covers the Clemson Tigers for
the Clemson Insider. Go check out his work today. He's
on Twitter again at steel or will So. Clemson will
also have their media days coming up next week, a
chance to gather and talk with Daboswingy and the coaches,
and I think, I mean, look, I really wish we

(56:44):
still had more access to these guys during the year,
but I know they've really rained that back in over
the past couple of seasons. I mean, how valuable does
that make a day like what's coming up next week
for you? In your opinion, Very valuable?

Speaker 5 (56:57):
And I wish we had more time. We only get
like three or four hours, which you think would be
enough time. But we're gonna talk to about everybody in
the program, all the coaches, the sports staff guys, any
of those you know kind of coaches that are considered
now because it's changed the last couple years. Right, It
used to be only assistant coaches were deemed you know,
coaches and by the NC double A and all that,

(57:19):
as far as all the others were support staff specialists
and all that. Now everybody can coach, right and so
like so now we get all those guys on this day.
It's not just the tim on field coaches, and so
there's a lot to go through and a lot of
guys can talk to, just not enough time to do it.
Not that I'm complaining because I'm getting to talk to them,
so I'm gonna figure out how to do it, you know,

(57:44):
but I just wish we had a few more hours.
I think that would definitely be beneficial. But hey, I'll
make the most of it, get what I can. But yeah,
this is very important to where you talk to, you know,
get an idea of what the coaches are thinking about
certain players their development, who they think could be guys
that stand out that maybe we don't know much about

(58:05):
right now. You know, maybe there's a guy that's really
stood out in the spring that only the coaches saw
that they just really kind of kept it to themselves.
You know, maybe we get a guy like that, or
maybe there's a sophomore or somebody that developed even more
over the summer that they're really excited to see how
they're going to perform during fall camping for the season.

(58:26):
So that's kind of what this day is to me.
It's an opportunity to find those kinds of stories and
then just get the perspective of the coaches of what
this current team is going to look like. Because I
think I've always said this. You know, Davo's job is
to promote his team and say the best thing he
can and do the best he can with you know,

(58:46):
the times he gets that opportunity, the other coaches, though,
they're gonna give us more detail why these guys, these
are the position coaches, why this guy's improved, why this
guy's not improving. And that's what makes us different is
when you get to talk to those guys.

Speaker 1 (59:01):
So I want to ask you. We got about three
minutes or so here. There was a projection from ESPN
that had three Clempson Tigers in the top six draft picks,
and I talked about that earlier. Was Kate Club that
going one, Parker going three, and Peter Wood's going sixth.
And my question is this will because two of those

(59:21):
guys are juniors, and we've seen great defensive linemen come
through Dexter Lawrence, Christian Wilkins, etc. But they weren't drafted
that high. Is that more of an indication and again
it's just one man's opinion, but is that more of
an indication on how good these guys could be at
Clemson this year? Or do you think that's an indicator
that maybe college football might not be quite as top

(59:41):
heavy as maybe it was when Wilkins and those guys
were playing. What would your thoughts be on that?

Speaker 5 (59:47):
You can accombination of both. I do think there's some
really really talented teams. But what you're finding out Lawton
is you know what we see. You know, I'm trying
to say this, So like what you're finding out is
with nil and with Red Shaer. As Deion Sanders was

(01:00:08):
saying the other day, more teams or the teams that
make the most money are getting opportunities to have the
best players, if that makes sense, right, So you're seeing
if you're not seeing teams, you're seeing teams that are
loaded more so there's gonna be those four or five
six teams that are just loaded with talent and then

(01:00:28):
everybody else. And I think that's what we're seeing now
and it's starting to show, and so I think Clemson
is got Clemson's one of the teams that's loaded with
a lot of talent, and I think you're starting to
see that with their with their team, and I mean
with when you look at these draft rankings, and also
I think it's a combination of, yeah, these guys are

(01:00:48):
really good, but also Clinton's got a lot of guys
on a lot of talented guys on their team. And
instead of being you know, twenty five teams with guys
with talents dispersed out, now we're seeing because of one
year transfer right, you can transferrec to one year, because
of nil because of redshare, you're seeing teams like Clemson,

(01:01:10):
Ohio State, Georgia, Alabama start to load up on the
talent again. And I know a lot of people thought
this would be great for college football, but what they're
gonna find out is it's not gonna be. It's gonna
be a top heavy sport again, and you're just gonna
have these dominant teams that year in and year out
are always gonna be at the top. And what you're

(01:01:33):
doing if you're Clemson and you're trying to make sure
you are one of those dominant teams year in and
year out. So I think of the combination of both
where it's just there's a lot of top heavy teams
and a lot of talent. And those teams you see
if you go through that list, right, you're gonna see
who on there Ohio State with two three players. Right,
You're gonna see Georgia with two or three players. You

(01:01:54):
can see Alabama with two or three players, right, and Texas.
Those are the teams and no quintindent. There are also
the teams that everybody stinks to go make the cost
of ball playoffs.

Speaker 1 (01:02:03):
There you go, keep up with everything. He writes over
on the Clemson Insider dot com. He's Will Van dedibor willive.
We'll talk to you next week, my man, quick breat
We'll come out with more here on a Friday afternoon.
Back at it on a Friday afternoon. That was Will
van der Vord before the break again. Ah three four
five zero zero eighty six. That is the text line
in the phone line. And hey, don't forget about our friends.

(01:02:24):
At Alumni Hall on the corner of Campus College Avenue
of downtown Clemson, it's Alumni Hall for all your officially
licensed Clemson merchandise, hats, T shirts, Telgate, Gary Moore go
check them out today. Alumni Hall where Tiger fans shop.
All right, if you were with us yesterday, we caught
up with our good buddy Brett Friedlander, who's not quite

(01:02:44):
stepped away completely from coverage of college sports, but is
pulling back significantly, and we talked of him about his
experience covering the ACC kickoff, which again, we're on vacation
next week, so when we bounce back, it'll be almost
time for that ACC case golf. Here's what Friedlander had
to say about the event in the man. I hate

(01:03:05):
to say this, the olden days.

Speaker 2 (01:03:07):
Well, let me just say that it was a totally
different world. Back then, the ACC had eight and then
nine teams, and it was really more of a family
kind of situation. I was working for the newspaper Annapolis, Maryland,
covering the turfs, who you know. Obviously, that tells you
how much exchanged. Maryland is not in the conference anymore.
But every year around this time they have a little

(01:03:29):
get together in Foxfire Village, North Carolina, is just outside Pinehurst,
and the coaches and the media would all get together,
we play a little golf, and we'd sit down at
some tables, have some dinner, and then talk about the
upcoming season. So it's kind of evolved from that, and
then it just kind of grew and it's nothing like

(01:03:50):
the the monstrosity that we see now, which is basically
made for television, and you know, we're you know, with
a big ballroom and and doing a question and answer
session with each coach and you know, the breakout sessions
which you know, you really can't get intimate, you know,
in a setting with his fifty sixty people and crowded around,

(01:04:12):
you know, a table with a coach is sitting up
on a podium, you know, rather than just kind of
a bunch of is sitting around around table just you know,
shooting the bull.

Speaker 1 (01:04:20):
Now, if you think back to those days, obviously the
Clympson Tiger faithful would love to hear a story or
two perhaps about Danny Ford. Is there any Danny Ford
moment that maybe sticks out for you from those early
times covering the Clympson Tigers for.

Speaker 2 (01:04:36):
You, not really other than the fact that he was
he was a lot more quotable in those situations than
he was after games. I can tell you that, Yeah,
Danny was just no, seriously, Danny was just I mean,
he was as a genuine a guy as you will
ever see, you know, a tobacco chewing, you know old time,
you know, good old boy who just kind of loved

(01:04:57):
football and just kind of loved yarns and talking about
I tell you what, the one thing I remember was
with his descriptions of the fridge. William Perry. Now I
came along after the Fridge had had left. I started
covering the league in nineteen eighty four, so it was

(01:05:18):
a couple of years after that championship team. Although I
was working at the paper in Beaufort, South Carolina the
year that they won the championship in the Orange Bougu's Nebraska,
and I actually covered that game for that paper. But
his descriptions of how big the fridge was, and at
that time now he was starting to play for the Bears,

(01:05:39):
and he says, I couldn't imagine I couldn't imagine handing
the ball off.

Speaker 5 (01:05:43):
To that guy.

Speaker 1 (01:05:45):
Friedlander with his herald the program again on Twitter at
b Froud ACC. Now, while you and I were at
the ACC kickoff several years ago, the news kind of
broke that Texas and Oklahoma we're going to be leaving
the Big twelve for the SEC. But during your tenure,
covering the Atlantic Coast Conference. One of the preeminent teams
in the sport was Florida State and head coach Bobby Bowden.

(01:06:08):
What memories do you have of them joining the ACC
And obviously we were in a different era in terms
of the media and the coverage, But if that type
of move, you know, if the if you put the
coverage level at what it is today and have that
type of move take place given sort of what the
run that they were on at that time, I mean,

(01:06:28):
I can't imagine the seismic shift that that would have
felt like, because I think looking back on it, I
don't feel like it was nearly as big of a
deal as some of these other things that we've seen recently.

Speaker 2 (01:06:38):
No, first of all, the thing about Bobby Dowden that
I remember best is that I don't know if he
couldn't remember his player's names or just it. It was
one of those ticks that he had, but he would
always refer to them by number, right, number seventeen. He's
gonna be our quarterback, and he's he's a good little boy.
But the thing was at Florida State coming in I
thought that was a really pivotal moments of the ACC

(01:07:02):
because I thought it was. It was the moment in
which the ACC started caring about football. Up until that point,
it was primarily a basketball conference. That you know, there
was Flemsen, and you know, Maryland was pretty good at times,
You're Tech with Paul Johnson was decent, but football was
kind of an afterthought until Florida State came in. And
when that happened, the national spotlight kind of, uh finally

(01:07:24):
started to focus on the ACC and you could see
the interest and the the the attendance in the football
media circus that preceded the season started to pick up.
And that's when I think the conference started down the
road that it is now. And obviously not to the
same extent, but it became more football centric conference speaking,

(01:07:48):
and it forced everybody else, and it forced everybody else
to start putting more interest and more emphasis on football
because Florida State came in won the league what nine
straight years when they first when they first came in,
I think he lost like one game again in conference
play up, and you know during that early stretch, and
so everybody else had to get better.

Speaker 1 (01:08:07):
Too well, and they win a couple of national titles
along the way, and so that's kind of where my
next thing would go. I was playing some audio from
Brett Yormark, who I might argue, just in the sense
of trying to create an aura around his league, might
be as good as anybody right now in the power
for out in the Big Twelve, And I think the
real question becomes not just for that conference, but for

(01:08:30):
the Atlantic Coast Conference maybe even this season. You know,
the depth of the leagues by comparison to the Big
ten in the SEC, I don't think hold as much
water nearly, but you can have three, maybe four strong teams.
How important and significant is it for not just the
Big Twelve, but maybe the ACC this year to present

(01:08:50):
more options for the college football playoffs.

Speaker 2 (01:08:53):
Yeah, you know, with all due respect to the Wake
Forests and Cows and Stanford's of the world, I think
parody and I think balance from top to bottom is
not necessarily the thing that the ACC really needs right now.
I think the ACC needs to have three or four
really strong teams that stand out, that are in the
rankings the whole season, and really, like you said, gives

(01:09:14):
a committee more options and kind of take away that
you know, that narrative that oh, who did they play.
They played a crappy schedule. I think there's a potential
for a couple of teams to break out like that.
I think Louisville is poised to be really good. I
think Jeff Brahm is an outstanding coach. I'm not convinced

(01:09:37):
that SMU is going anywhere. I would be absolutely shocked
if Florida State is as bad as they were last year.

Speaker 1 (01:09:45):
Well a quick break can come back with more here
on a Friday afternoon. Rolling along on a Friday. We
also caught up with Mike You've earlier this week and
he give us an update on former South Carolina running
back Marcus Lattimore and what he's been up to recently.

Speaker 3 (01:09:59):
Yeah tell you is going back to right before COVID.
The plan was after he left his role as director
of player Development at the USC, his plan was to
go over to Europe. He wanted to study the brain
and how adolescents, you know, the brain for adolescents and
how they kind of function. He was just fascinated by that.

(01:10:19):
He wanted to be able to do more than just
the football side of it because he felt like football
was just.

Speaker 4 (01:10:25):
However when viewed him, which understandably so right.

Speaker 3 (01:10:27):
I mean, he was really good at it. But what
he's done with the poetry, he's been not only doing
it to help himself. He says, it's been very therapeutic
for himself. But a few years back, he was speaking
as a keynote speaker out in I want to say
it was Eugene, Oregon, and there were a lot of
chairmen of this drug rehab center and what they did

(01:10:51):
was they said, Hey, we think you would do a
really good job teaching our classes to be able to
help out those who are going through a rehab process,
you know, whether it be alcohol abuse or you know,
opioid abuse. And the reason why they feel that way
is it helps them release some of their thoughts and

(01:11:14):
they're able to come out and they're able to discover
more about them. So, yeah, what Marcus has been doing
over the last two years, he teaches two different classes
three days a week out in Portland, Oregon. He's teaching
what they call pen therapy. So not only has it
been beneficial for Marcus, but it's been very beneficial for others.
And that's something again getting to know Marcus.

Speaker 4 (01:11:34):
Over the last couple of.

Speaker 3 (01:11:35):
Years, he's wanted to do more than just football. He
wants to help others. And I think that's the biggest
thing that people might not fully understand about him, is
you know him and I We've had a lot of
talks about it. He loves Columbia, he loves South Carolina.
His family's from here. He loves game cognation. But he
felt like if he just stayed here, he wouldn't allow

(01:11:56):
himself to grow and he would always just be known
as the football player. So to get out of your
comfort zone to do something like that and be able
to say, hey, you know what, I don't want to
just be in a place where everyone's telling me how
great I am. I want to go out there and
create my own identity outside of football. That takes a lot,
and he's certainly been able to do that number one,

(01:12:16):
but number two now he's helping out others. So Yeah,
he's a new book that just came out. It's available
on Amazon.

Speaker 5 (01:12:22):
I want to make sure that I have.

Speaker 3 (01:12:24):
The title of the book correct. It's a it's a
read where he's sharing a lot about himself. But in
addition to that, he has some poems in there as well.
It's called Scream My Name, Scream My Name so it's
been very therapeutic for him and he wants to continue
to write books. So it's a short, little read, but
you can find that on Amazon.

Speaker 1 (01:12:44):
Mike, I know South Carolina fans really appreciate everything he
did for that program and was a dominant player when
he was healthy. Where would he rank? We got about
a minute and a half. Where do you think he
ranks among the greats in Colombia?

Speaker 3 (01:13:00):
So I'm sure some Gamecock fans would have him on
their Mount Rushmore. I actually asked this very question about
a month ago. I kept him off it from just
a college production standpoint, and the reason why was his
work wasn't complete. What he accomplished though when he was
on the field was incredible. But I just feel like

(01:13:21):
when you look at the Mount Rushmore, I would put
I think what I had was I had Clowney, I
had George Rogers. Of course I had el Sean, and
I want to say that I had Connor Shawer on
it as well. So I'd have to go back and
double check some of the guys that I had. But
Marcus is one of the greatest to ever play at

(01:13:42):
South Carolina. There's no question about it, and I think
Obviously his injuries robbed not just him, gamecock fans, which
is college football fans as a whole of something very
very special. But certainly, I mean when you talk about
just take the production side of it, when you talk
about greatest game Cocks, there's a different class, and he's

(01:14:02):
certainly on that.

Speaker 1 (01:14:03):
If that makes sense there. He is Mike Youva Gamecoccentral
dot Com on Twitter at Mike underscore Uva. Mike Man,
have a great week. Appreciate you swany so kind of
need to get a little update on Marcus Lattimore. For
our gamecock listeners who are always out there hanging out
with us, I know you guys are there. You're You're
always there, regardless of what some of you will tell

(01:14:24):
your friends.

Speaker 5 (01:14:25):
So you could.

Speaker 2 (01:14:25):
Continue to peek over the fence at the best radial
showing the nature.

Speaker 1 (01:14:29):
It is okay to be a part of the show
that shakes of south Land and to hang out with
your boy swanee every day to talk a little Clemson football,
to talk a little South Carolina football. It'll be all
right again next week speaking of talking Clemson football and
South Carolina football. As we mentioned with Will Van Dervoart,
earlier Clemson's media day with Dabosweeney and the team taking

(01:14:54):
place and doing it all, and I believe the fifteen
if my memory serves me correctly. On that, plus in
advance of the ACC media days, I mentioned you that
I've got to schedule up all of my radio stuff.

(01:15:15):
I'm intrigued to see how this all works out because
the nature of that beast was that, you know, like
I get it that media markets want to talk to
the teams that are in their media market. That makes sense,
but it's also nice to be able to talk to

(01:15:35):
other teams, and any team that you desire, I would
think should be somebody on your on your billing. But
that's not going to be the case. As I said,
last year, Florida State refused to meet with Clemson media outlets.
I don't know why. I mean, even when the thought

(01:15:59):
process on Floridas sat Clemson in the Atlantic Coast Conference
and the buyout and all of that will certainly be
at the forefront this year. It was certainly a conversation
last year what the future would hold. But you know,
to not sit down with us seems seems a little
bit disrespectful, and you know what, maybe when you carry

(01:16:20):
that kind of attitude, you deserve to have the type
season that Florida State had a year ago. Mike Norville,
how about that? Maybe maybe you got what you asked
for smack down, and maybe a part of that was
having DJ Luis Unglole on the team as the starting quarterback.
But what kind of questions did you think that was

(01:16:42):
the thing that bothered me? What kind of questions did
you think I was gonna ask? Like, I get it
there there are some shock jock types out there in
the world of college and NFL pro sports coverage, But
give the majority of us credit for being professionals and

(01:17:03):
trust it. We're gonna ask quality questions and do a
good job. And you know what, if you get asked
a question that you think is unfair, you could say, look,
I think that's an unfair question, and I'm gonna respectfully
in the interview and go on from there. But tonight,
even do it, man, that was sad. Final segment, flip sides.
Stay with us?

Speaker 6 (01:17:24):
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.
Lucky 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. We win.

Speaker 1 (01:18:37):
Final segment of the show that shakes the Southland vacation loading.
I can feel it almost a chance to get away.

Speaker 6 (01:18:47):
Now.

Speaker 1 (01:18:47):
Some of you will say, Swanny, weren't you off earlier
this summer for a week. Wasn't that vacation enough? Yeah?
That was jury duty? Okay. I mean like I feel
like my summer as an educator is going has gone
by rather quickly. Not gonna lie to you, knowing that

(01:19:09):
we're getting back into the grind here in a couple
of weeks. But when week one was spent listening to testimony,
oh my goodness, it was rough. That was not vacation. Sure,
the sultry vocal cords weren't having to be pressed forward

(01:19:33):
here on the program. Like that is true. I was
able to, you know, not have to come up with
two hours of content and all yah yah YadA every day.
But Bubba, six or more hours in a courtroom. That
ain't toes in the sand, baby, That ain't toes in
the sand. Right, But we are going on vacation next week,

(01:20:01):
are we clear?

Speaker 2 (01:20:02):
Yes, sir?

Speaker 4 (01:20:03):
Are we clear?

Speaker 1 (01:20:04):
Crystal so if you miss us, it'll be all right. Now.
We will be back the following week and then we'll
head up to Charlotte and on Monday and Tuesday we'll
reset a lot of the stuff or the content out
of the SEC media days.

Speaker 6 (01:20:18):
May.

Speaker 1 (01:20:19):
I will make sure that you do not miss that information.
All right, We'll get you that. We'll make sure we
got plenty from the game Cocks. We'll have it covered. Ooh,
like they used to say, maybe they do still say
it about the Atlanta Journal Constitution. I think that's the
newspaper that they said this about. We'll have they had

(01:20:40):
They said they had the South covered like kudzu. I
think what we will have the SEC media days covered
like kudzu for you here next week, in those couple
of days leading up to the ACC kickoff up in Charlotte. Okay,
so don't fret on that front. We'll have it all
locked in and locked in for you again. The article

(01:21:01):
over on our website right now clempsonsportsaw dot com. Clemson's
defensive line sets the tone as Tiger's eye the twenty
twenty five season. And look, there is no doubt that
nationally when we talk about how this team is perceived.

(01:21:22):
It is largely driven by the belief that Caidklubnick and
this Clemson Tiger offense, I think more specifically, without film
offfin without Jake Brenningstool, it's sort of projected on Cad
and this very deep Clemson wide receiver room, along with

(01:21:48):
a host of unproven running backs including Adam Randall who
transferred from the wide receiver room to the running back room,
and then the belief that a Christian Bettencore and others
I will say in fairness in that tight end room

(01:22:09):
can have an impact enough to carry the brunt of
this team's power to help them get back to the
college football playoffs. But defensively, resetting to Tom Allen, TJ. Parker,
and Peter Woods, I think certainly a pretty disappointing number

(01:22:34):
in terms of tackles for loss and also sacks a
year ago from this group, like I think they had.
I think I put it in the article it was
two and a half per game sacks. I want to
say they were at like thirty five. I think they
had thirty five sacks. I'm not one hundred percent sure

(01:22:55):
on that number. I can't remember. It's been about a
day since I looked at it, but I do remember
this like they were I think twenty sacks off of
Boise State's number. I think Boise State had fifty five
sacks a year ago, and Ohio State, I believe if
I remember looking at that chart, was second with fifty three.

(01:23:18):
I mean Clemson was twenty sacks off of Boise State's number,
and boisse of State was in the College Football Playoff,
and so two was Ohio State, right as the Buckeyes
had fifty three and ended up winning the national title.
But for Clemson to be twenty and eighteen off of
those teams who were fellow College Football Playoff teams, I

(01:23:41):
can only imagine how much better it might be by
comparison with Tom Allen now running that defense versus Wes Goodwin.
And what if even if you said you're gonna meet
in the middle and say Clemson had ten more sacks
a year ago they were thirty seventh nationally in sacks

(01:24:03):
per game. If you just gave them ten more sacks,
how much does that change the outcome of some of
those games they lost? Right? Are they then instead of
a ten to four team at the end of the year,
is it twelve and two teams, and is there a
better spot for him in the college football playoff. I
think those are fair questions. All right, we'll be back,

(01:24:25):
not this week, but next week. You guys enjoy your
time away as well, and we'll talk to you then.
As always, y'all, take care now and go Tigers.