The Clemson Tigers are hungry for revenge. They know they didn’t meet their expectations last season, which is why they are confident about going further in the 2025 NCAAF season. Fortunately for Dabo Swinney, QB Cade Klubnik will be with the program for at least one more year, something the coach never doubted.
There was much talk about Klubnik potentially leaving in search of new opportunities this season, but Swinney always knew he would return to the Tigers, and now both will give their all to achieve great results alongside the rest of the team.
“Didn’t have a reaction, because I knew he was coming back, so there was never any doubt that he was coming back,” Swinney said in the press conference. “So there really was no reaction. It was just, it was, I mean, I knew he was coming back.”
After having the best season of his career last year, the talented quarterback is confident he can replicate his success and, why not, improve on it even further. Swinney knows that one of the reasons he will represent the program once again is because of the culture surrounding Clemson.
“I mean, it just speaks to the culture here,” Swinney said. “I mean, we’ve had seismic changes in college football the last few years. I mean, like in the history of the game, and I think we’ve been top in the country, you know, top couple (of teams) in the country the last two years, in retention. So, I mean, I think it kind of answers itself. It’s not like we lock them in a room here and tell them they can’t ever leave. These guys leave anytime they want, you know?”
Swinney reflects on the value of being at Clemson
In an era where many players switch programs from one moment to the next due to the Transfer Portal, Dabo Swinney, one of the critics of this process, made it clear that being part of the Clemson program can mean a lot for the players who experience it.
“I think we’re relationship driven, we’re purpose driven, and the kids … it also speaks to how we do things on the front end,” Swinney said. “There’s a transaction, but it’s not transactional here, which is not, I mean, it’s relationships. And, you know, we’ve created an environment where the kids can calculate a cost and a consequence of leaving. You know, there’s value in being here, there’s value in the place, there’s value in the people. And that’s not easy to have.”
The Spring Games according to Swinney
One of the off-season storylines in College Football revolves around the Spring Games: some argue that they should be canceled, while others, like Sherrone Moore, support these events with a strong message.
Dabo Swinney, to some extent, joins the group that supports this part of the process, and he made firm comments in recent statements to the press.
“We’re going to have a spring game and I hope we can have some type of fan day with it as well,” the HC stated. “I don’t know, we’ll see. Listen, whether you have a spring game or not it’s going to be tampering.”
“Ain’t nobody going to go look at the spring game, go, ‘Oh yeah, boy,’” he also added. “They got PFF. That’s called PFF, they’ve got everything on everybody already. Canceling the spring game ain’t going to stop tampering. We’re going to need a lot more help than that to stop tampering. And hopefully at some point that’ll happen.”