Clemson Tigers 2024 Season Preview with Phil Kornblut | In-Depth Analysis

we're talking Clemson Tigers football on the ourlads football network ourlads football YouTube channel I'm Greg dep and if we're talking Clemson Tigers football that means it's one and only Philip corn blute from the South Carolina Sports Talk network how's it going Phil doing great doing great Greg looking forward to the start of the season two weeks from tomorrow will'll be in Atlanta Clemson and Georgia huge huge game for both teams probably more so for the Tigers considering their preseason ranking is way down comp compared to compared to what Georgia is so tigers can ill afford an early loss if they want to make the college football playoffs this year I think this is one of those situations where considering the opponent that now with 11 FBS power five teams going to the uh post season uh possibility of 11 more than likely 11 out of the 12 that if Clemson were to have two losses only two losses and one of them was to Georgia and it was a halfway competitive game and they win the ACC Championship I think they'd still make the playoffs safe to say that safe to say that that means if what you're suggesting comes true that means along the way they will have beaten NC State and they will have beaten Florida state Florida State on the road thing about Clon split one of them you could still split one of them you know you think about you could you could um and course it would put you it would yeah you well if you lose to Georgia and then you lose to Florida State or NC State yep you still have that'd be two losses you could run the table you could run the table but you you need help you would need help of course uh they got to go to Tallahassee so that'll be a really really difficult game for them as well look this Clemson team when you look at them on paper they basically have the materials to win every game but they also have some unproven areas that lead you to have some reservations about them winning every game and and that's why like I mean it's been 10 years 2014 since Clemson was preseason ranked as lowly as they are you know this year by the AP and the coaches uh for so the the national perception of Clemson has slipped you know Tigers were always 1 two 3 4 in that conversation with Alabama Ohio State uh you know Michigan whoever the flavor of the Year happens to be but um they've got to go back out and reprove themselves there's no question about it to the as far as the national absolutely perception is concerned y yep yeah and I think this would be interesting and I and I would hope for the fan sake that if and we're just going to use Clemson as an example of course here if that were to happen let's say they lose to Georgia they lose another game they run the table they left two losses they win the ACC title game and they get in that would be a really good thing for the fans because they would say to the fans hey don't worry because these programs are still gonna put these big time matchups on their schedule because they know it won't hurt them as much because really if you think about it let's say Columbus loses to Georgia loses one game and they're done loses one other game and then they don't get invited then it's almost like them saying well why would I do that why would I add Georgia in my schedule then I'm right back where we started where I can't lose a football game another football game the whole season so I think they would let him in but again you never know but I I think that would get it done and I certainly hope that would be the case because again nobody wants to see these types of matchups go away because this is gonna be a great match up and keep in mind they kept Florida State out last year with no losses yeah well that was four so but yes I understand yes yeah and of course they lost their quarterback which was the big blow against them but you never know what the committee's going to do uh year in and year out they have not stuck this has been one of the big complaints they have not stuck with a steady formula the recipe seems to change with the delegates inside that room so who knows what it looked like here with the 12 team and if you if you've got two losses but they were to the right people and they were close games and you did the rest of your work that might still be good enough to get you in heck you might have three losses for a team who could still get into the playoffs again it's all subjective yeah um they'll have a bunch of data in there and they'll go over that and they'll look at the schedules and they'll weigh this against that but when you boil it down it's an opinion it's the opinion of those people in that room this team versus that team who deserve to get in and who doesn't and that's why it's good that now there's 11 possibilities in the FC in the FBS power five or power four now uh instead of just four so now if they make a mistake here or there I don't care what anybody says I know they're talking about well they're still gonna complain if it's 11 or you know what if you're complainer at 11 nobody really cares so except the team that gets knocked out if they're the 12th team uh but uh this course you know they're not gonna sit at 12 they're gonna eventually go to 16 and then they'll probably go to 24 they'll look at the FCS playoffs C that they've got what 24 in the FCS playoffs I believe um so they're not going to sit still they're going to look at the TV ratings and they're going to see the TV ratings are very high they're going to look at the ticket sales and see that the fans are buying the tickets they're going to say you know why not more for others the more the marrier so yeah yeah be interesting to see what the ticket sales would be like for uh well for that f for that uh um group of five team that's going to be the interesting one uh either at home or on the road what kind of ticket sales do they get I'm not that I think of course if as long as they're getting a a soldout uh stadiums for all the power uh teams which are the majority of the playoffs of course uh they're not going to care what one team does but I me I'd be interested in that and I hope that they would get because you never know I mean could be one of these teams like San Diego State uh you know what they don't normally get great attendance and you would hope that that if they home if they have one of those home playoff games in the first game in the first round that the fans would show up and it would make it uh you know the spectacle that it needs to be but either way I think the playoffs are going to be a huge success this season I think the fans are gonna eat this thing up well probably so because we're addicted to it right we can't get enough but keep in mind that when it goes to the playoff system for those games those ticket prices are going to be exorbitant I would imagine uh so now you've already asked your fan base to buy season tickets and buy you know regular season tickets and fund nil and continue to give to the scholarship uh organizations uh keep asking and asking for more and now here comes a playoff game with be but it's going to cost you $150 a ticket and your now you know will your club status will that uh get you a better ticket I'm not sure yet how schools are going to handle Distributing the tickets so there'll be some griping about that and I'm sure uh students will not be getting student tickets I mean they're going to have to pay that's what they do for FCS when a team hosts an FCF FCS playoff games the students don't get free tickets or any sort of a reduced ticket they have to pay the NCAA listed price so now this is the college football playoff running this not the NCAA NCAA runs the FCS playoffs but I'm sure they'll follow the same model yeah so will there be you know maybe this first year because it's Unique and playoff game on campus and it sounds like a great big deal people probably gobble those tickets up but time after time we'll see if that continues have they ever had a situation or do you think in this situation that and I'm not necessarily going to point to specific school but let's just say there's um a team that's got a game at home and and uh uh for whatever reason they're just not s they're not coming close to selling out any way that like within 24 hours 36 hours before kickoff that they would say like they would drop the ticket prices for the for the um student body and say well we're not going to sell this out anyway but we really would like to have this Stadium sold out so let's just give these kids discounts to get the heck in that Stadium well this is all new territory you know maybe an outside company a lot of times an outside company like the NFL a company will buy up tickets so a blackout can be lifted also keep in mind too that all these home games are going to be played when students are gone they're all going to be played during Christmas break yeah so how many students are G to leave home and come back uh are you going to have to rely on the general public to buy up most the tickets because the students aren't going to be around we're going to this is kind of an experimental year we're going to learn a lot of things from this first go round let me pop up the latest depth chart uh from ourlads on Clemson and I'm sure they're uh not going to be precise here uh since it is college football but they do a great job as good as anyone and you know I've been thinking about how I realized this is really interesting how not just ranking wise but overall the consensus seems to be well Clemson's slipping uh davo doesn't want to do the transfers look at the way that they're played the last couple of years it's it's over it's over at Clemson he's behind the times and and that's it end of story yet when I look at the talent that they have uh it's just a matter now of whether or not as you mentioned it's really just a matter of now Ken Ken a Cabe Club Nick can he take that next step can he come through in the big games at the clutch moments he's done that on occasion but on other occasions not so much so can he be that next can can he step up not necessarily an NFL quarterback but a really good college quarterback that might be able to win us a few big games get us in the playoffs maybe win round and show that Clemson's not dead after all do you think that they do have that Talent on the team to in order to accomplish that well so much is on the shoulders of Club Nick going into this season uh we've seen enough of him through one and a half Seasons to have an idea of what he is now the word coming out of the camp from dabos Sweeney and others is that he is a more mature player he's a better leader uh he has a better understanding of the offense a better grasp on decision making that's been sort of the knock against him his decisionmaking making the wrong decision at the wrong time and in some cases like in the Miami game just totally going against what the coach told him to do when they sent in the play so that has kind of gotten Clemson fans on edge what kind of are you g to get good Club Nick or you gonna get bad Club Nick when he's out there he's got the skills I mean he runs well he's got a good strong arm can he put the entire package together if he does you put him together with Phil mafa their big of giving you 25 carries in a game and a 100 plus yards he was nearly a thousand yard rusher last season you put that together and then you look at their wide receivers Adam randle's been having an excellent preseason camp Tyler Brown was a a was an unexpected star uh last season somebody you didn't think a lot about and uh they expect more out of him um they've got two freshman Bryant Wesco and um they have another freshman TJ Moore uh TJ Moore who they're they're very high on both of those guys um in particular I think Wesco has really stood out in training camp and has a chance to be a big-time early contributor and then um Cole Turner is back if he can stay healthy he gives him that guy uh in the slot and Troy stellato as well so uh they've got good weapons there they love their tight ends bring stool and the Freshman beton cerr uh Josh sap veteran uh they love those guys uh and then up front it's a veteran group that just has to play better across the board and stay healthy um the center position was the one unanswered position going in the camp and it looks like Ryan lithum is going to emerge as the guy there uh Walker Parks has played a lot of ball for them he's been a little bit banged up but he's the Right Guard Blake Miller's a veteran at right tackle Marcus Tate is the left guard and Tristan Lee is the left tackle they've all played a lot of ball for them so on paper it it looks pretty good for them on offense if the quarterback can put it all together and give them the kind of highlevel performance that you know is required of every team uh this day and age so much rides on the back of the quarterback and to this point he really hasn't delivered in a consistent manner um take the last seven or eight minutes of the bowl game come from behind win that they had in the Gator Bowl last year and uh you see a terrific quarterback you know a guy who made all kind of big plays and helped rally them from a deficit against Kentucky but then again it was some of his plays and his performance that kind of got them in that hole to begin with yeah so they just need more consistency more high level consistency out of him and they'll be fine on offense yeah the injuries were uh really all across the board uh that's the thing again that I think you know a lot of the fans and analysts just want to uh poo poo uh or not even consider uh but that had a lot to do with why Clemson just wasn't the same and again kumnick was clubic but uh things could have been better if they were a healthier group um starting with that offensive line as you mentioned of course Tate uh went out late in the year Parks was out uh early in the year um but the offensive line I mean Miller uh is is um getting a lot of accolades so uh it seems like a typical really strong offensive line now mafa becomes the man uh he was uh rotating with Shipley last year the whole uh you know speed power Duo now it's power and and do you think mafa winds up being the Workhorse or do they have another guy that they want to kind of try to slip in and feel that they that they can take over the role for Shipley yeah let me mention one more wide receiver I didn't mention Antonio Williams who was one of those injured parties last year he's healthy and when healthy um he gives him a really good receiver as well mafa is GNA be the primary Workhorse Keith Adams Jr has had a good camp and has drawn the attention of Davos Sweeney he really likes him he really likes his style of running David Zumi omomi who is a freshman uh will have a chance to carry the football or perhaps Jay Haynes uh those are their top guys but a bit of a drop off I mean when it comes to experience and actually um producing it's a big drop off because mafa is the only one in that group he's the only one in that room who has H experience and who has uh produced as a running back for them so we'll see what happens they do like Adams um isumi Omi is a guy with a lot of talent coming out of high school and hannes has been in the program now a couple of years and they like what he can do so somebody's going to have to step up and give mafa a bit of a break I don't know if it'll be Adams first my guess it would be at this point in time Adams would be running back two and probably Hayes running back three would be my guess at this point all right from three to two Okay so yeah let's talk about those receivers so again this is injuries you talked about Williams and and I got to tell you and maybe this is the selling point that really helps uh dbo uh with the whole no transfer deal that hey if you're really good freshman true freshman you're gonna play uh because I I've been doing this now for several weeks and I haven't seen any team so far that had as many true freshman that produced as much as Clemson uh and and wide receiver I mean you mentioned Williams so he leads the team as a true freshman in 2022 as the as the top yard getter 604 yards then misses most of last year then you've got Turner who has the big ACC title game in 2022 as a freshman then he misses uh most of 2023 then you got a true freshman last year as you mentioned Brown he led the team in yards with 531 those was are three freshman two true freshman I believe I don't I don't think Turner was a true but maybe I'm wrong at the time but Williams and brown two freshmen now you're talking about Wesco and more two true freshman who could end up getting some playing time this year and this is just from the wide receivers and and I've got others that will go into so that that that receiving unit is really is deep now I don't know if they've got a a superstar but it really is as deep as I seen it there and don't forget Adam Randall uh who was Adam Randall in and out last year with injuries he had a knee the previous year I believe so he's been dealing with that so yeah you know do they have a Sammy Watkins do they have a nuke Hopkins do they have a uh a Higgins in there um or any of the other outstanding receivers what hurt them was they signed some receivers after that terrific group left and they signed some receivers who at least in recruiting looked like they were going to be uh comparable to that previous highlevel group and they just just didn't pan out for them across the board and they all ended up transferring out for one reason or another and uh so they've had to go basically and rebuild their wide receivers room um you know Randall was a big-time Prospect uh they've hit on him I mean he's a good player when healthy he can do a lot of good things for them Williams was a big-time recruit when healthy he can do a lot of good things Tyler Brown was not heavily recruited he was the last guy they took in that recruiting class and he turned out to be just a godsend for them last year yeah stellato has stellato just can't stay healthy in fact DAV Sweeney said yesterday after the scrimmage he said he's gimpy again he's been dealing with leg injuries his entire career at Clemson so they've really when healthy he stood out last year he made some big catches they just can't keep him healthy um there's a kid named Tink Kelly you want to keep an eye on um he's from over at Daniel and he's got really good speed uh and he's guy that is getting a look in Camp and might help him out some we mentioned uh Wesco and TJ Moore uh that was this year's recruiting Hall and uh they're really high on both of them there's a kid named Noble Johnson who has been uh out injured and he also had an off the field issue to deal with a traffic related incident that um but he was a highly recruited player out of Texas who might get his chance to play at some point this year once he gets fully healthy so it's a crowded room they got plenty of people and they got they got people with enough skill and talent to be good at wide receiver but they don't have unless you know the expectation is more could emerge as that next great NFL prospected wide receiver who would you guess all best guess one guy well I mean we haven't seen more yet and we have I'm sorry did I say more I meant Wesco Wesco is the one who's having the big camp we haven't seen them in a game yet Wesco or more of the returning guys of the ones that you're looking at um man I would guess best NFL possibility would be Randall okay because of his size his his strength his size uh as long as his knees healthy he has pretty good speed as well so yeah I would probably put him in that category yeah he's like 64 220 or something like that that's yeah he can go up and get it yeah he can go up and get it and the tight end burning stool uh had an a pretty quiet uh 4 what 98 almost 500 yards receiving last year which is pretty good for a tight end so uh how does he compare uh to other good tight ends that have come out of Clemson uh he is he's at hybrid tight end uh he's he might be somewhat similar to a u if you remember this kid uh Jordan Legette a tight end tied inette yeah yeah he can get down the field uh he's probably not quite as bulky as Legette was but uh you know he's he's a little bit more of a Slender tight end but he's a a hybrid guy who can split out and actually kind of give you another wide receiver look over there okay so you can have him uh detached you can have a receiver in the slot and you can have a wide out you can really load it up to one side depending on where you put him but yeah uh he's he's very good he he can catch the Deep ball he can catch the underneath routes uh he can give you a little blocking on the line as well so uh he's their best tied end uh they really like this freshman beton cor who apparently is having a a real good camp and then Josh sap who's the son of Patrick Sapp former Clemson quarterback who became an NFL linebacker and and Josh has gone in there and given him some good play as well so you'll probably see all three of those at one time or another during the season so the the true fresh betor is somebody that might get some uh playing time this year keep an eye on him well you know based on what we're hearing from Camp again we don't get to see any of this we only can go by what dbos swinny or the coaches might share and he's he said some good things about boncor coming off their scrimmage they had a situational scrimmage yesterday and he mentioned beton cor is a guy that's come on and is probably going to get some playing time for him I well he's one of the top recruits from this class and I'm not holding anything back for two freshman at Clemson so uh if history tells us something a couple of these guys are going to make uh some way this season and produce okay oh by the way the one thing I did notice and I don't know if this is the offense if this is Cade but most of the guys that I saw their averages not very not very high not very deep it doesn't look like they have many deep threats now is that the receivers is that Club Nick is that the style the of the team or yeah they just need to get some better down the- field passing options with these receivers which is it yeah that's a great observation one of the big changes in the Clemson offense from the big-time days of deshun Watson and even Kelly Bryant and then Trevor Lawrence um when they were you know going to the playoffs winning national championships their their deep striking threat and their quick striking threat that's been lost in their offense uh Personnel wise or strategy wise whatever you want to point to um Garrett Garrett Riley their uh offensive coordinator um you know when he came in it was thought that he be he would bring this explosive offense uh Theory with him uh where he was previously they they scored a lot of points uh he had a very explosive quarterback and um but they ran the ball a lot he his offense is really based on a balance between the run and the pass he likes to run the ball a lot so um do they have that was TCU I believe was that the year did he was he the coordinator when they went to the championship uh that's correct yes he was okay yes and then when Clemson you know when they fired their offensive coordinator and brought him in it was like whoa this is the steel of the century yeah but I would say he was the disappointment of the century last season um because they didn't look anything like a cohesive well tooled offense um and they didn't do anything from an explosion standpoint I mean it hardly took any deep shots so those of us who were used to seeing Clemson's offense were like you know where's the Deep ball yep so now it could have been Personnel or it could have been philosophy I don't know but okay that's got to be one of the things they Implement once again if they can in this offense I can remember with DeShaun Wasing Lawrence of course now you're talking about generational quarterbacks but you could and they had outstanding receivers too uh you could pretty much count every game on their third or fourth offensive play they were going to take a deep shot and often times oftentimes you know especially on the road they would love to stick you quickly on the road here you are you come out of your locker room and your fans are going crazy you got all this excitement You're Gonna Play Clemson rah rah rah and you kick off to the Tigers okay first down they run they run it up the middle uh you know second down they might throw a quick out then on third down they've slipped a receiver behind you and they've hit you for a 75 yard Bomb It Happened Time After Time After Time and it would just suck the air out of the stadium and and break the spirit of the opponent and they would go on and they'd win by you know 35 or 40 points yeah that's been missing from their offense for one reason or another uh quickly you mentioned Watson and I know this is has nothing to do with it but uh with what's going on right now but obviously you know as much about his playing days here and and and about uh Watson's ability uh he's getting a lot of um uh a lot of criticism contract what happened in Houston and all point I'm I'm I'm trying to bring up here that was ask you is as as as a teammate from what you remember and just as a man from what you remember um do you think Deshawn is are you are you expecting Deshawn to actually kind of pick things up again at some point and he's just too good and and he's say what you want about his personal issues and all the distractions and everything he's he's gonna show him he's gonna show them or are you a little bit concerned with whether or not he's ever gonna get it back well I mean if he's healthy I think he will get it back uh he's too much of a talent and I mean you know I don't know him from a personal standpoint just a professional standpoint having been around him during his time at Clemson and covering them so this is a guy that could do no wrong at Clemson I mean this is a guy who played on a torn ACL to beat South Carolina in the Rivalry game I mean they had it just braced up as tight as it could oh yeah he refused not to play he was going to play and they told him you couldn't hurt it anymore so let's just put this big old heavy brace on on it tighten it up and and he went out there and played and I mean this was a guy that was just on and off the field he was all you could ask for he was building uh houses for Habitat um you know his mother a great story she lost her tongue She had tongue cancer she lost that so you know she had he had to communicate with her a different way uh and take care of her it was a great story um and of course he was a great football player he changed everything at Clemson I'll never forget his his his first game for Clemson was against Georgia in Athens and he wasn't starting Cole Stout was the starter okay uh and they put him in late they put him in in the second quarter I think it was and he moved them down the field and he threw his first touchdown pass was a laser that went like it whipped right by three Georgia defenders in the end zone They Were like whoa where'd that come from I mean That's How Strong his arm was that when he did that people knew that they had a special talent now he still didn't start until they played Florida State yeah they were very yeah they were very careful about how they did that but getting back to your question I mean the things that happened with him in Houston and all these lawsuits and all that yeah I mean that's his personal business it's out of uh certainly seemed to be a little bit out of character from the guy that we we covered at Clemson but when healthy uh and given the right people around him and the right scheme I don't see any reason why he can't get back to being a a highlevel NFL quarterback yeah I I've I've been defending him uh I believe he does have it left but like you said it is all about getting healthy because I've always I've just been referring to last year when he played with uh he injured his shoulder I think had a torn rotator cuff against uh Baltimore in that game same type of situation as talking about wouldn't come out of the game went 14 for 14 in the second half I think it was the last team to beat Baltimore in Baltimore and won the game didn't see the field the rest of the season that's the last memory you would have of the guy so try to understand that the kid is tough the kid wants to win the kid the kid that has and the players around him know that they know who's tough they know who buys in now I've got another story to add there with his 20 ACL at South Carolina so I like it got that was his freshman year too that was his freshman year and um um yeah he was that was quite the quite the effort and and quite the performance uh he put on in that game I mean he was he was throwing it he was running around and uh and this big old bulky brace on his knee and then he had surgery he didn't play in the bowl game if I remember correctly I don't think he played in the bowl game because he had knee surgery soon after that game okay now on defense uh and we've got some more stories about true freshman so uh the The Edge rusher TJ Parker last year five and a half sacks as a true freshman uh throw in another player uh who played uh I don't know if he you could tell me whether or not he's gonna be playing linebacker or safety but that's khil Barnes also a very good true freshman season last year so again two more true freshman coming through for Clemson on defense let's start up front uh I see Parker there but I don't really see much else uh from my eyes so what else is there in the in the pass rush department for Clemson of course they launched some good pass rushers off of last year's team they lost Tyler Davis uh right in the middle they lost um um a row R both of their yeah they lost him they lost really uh both of their starting defensive ends Xavier Thomas was one of them but what they've done you mentioned Parker they brought him along last year and he proved that he can handle it so he'll start the other defensive end believe it or not is g to be Peter woods they move him outside okay play him at now he he may play some inside um technique as well but their plan right now is to start him outside at 35 pounds their two inside guys will be Payton page and Damonte Kar okay with Vic Burley coming back from injury and getting a chance to uh to play and those are the primary ones uh you might see some Caden story um dbos swinny has mentioned steil yon green as somebody who's called his eye uh but those are the guys in the middle and on the edges really Parker and woods and K denhoff and um I would say probably maybe some AJ Hoffler in there as well Jem Lawson's put on a bunch of weight and he might become a factor too so those are the guys that they will rely upon they are it's a good group I'd say Parker and woods are probably the most highly acclaimed y of that group I don't know that across the board like they've had at Clemson in recent years that they are as talented or as deep up front as they have been in recent years but that at least that front group not bad um Kart and Paige have been primarily backups in their careers so now they'll get their chance to to start and see what they can do and so uh Burley though is the top uh he's like the number three in the middle I would say so now he's coming off an injury he did participate in their scrimmage the other day and he drew the attention of Davos Sweeney afterwards who said you know burley's back and he looks real good so okay probably get something out of him and you mentioned khil Barnes he's actually going to be their nickel as it looks right now their one question on their defense is one Corner Spot actually got a couple of questions because of injuries it looks like Avon Terell is going to start at uh one corner position as AJ's brother the guy that starts for the Falcons and jayen Lucas has been dealing with a shoulder he's coming back into practice it looks like something he's going to have to play with okay uh Shelton Lewis was a guy making a move at corner uh but he's been dealing with a lower leg injury he's missed practice so he's kind of dayto day uh Brandon stroer and tooy Fagan and Ashton Hampton are all freshman who've caught the attention of the coaches they've been talked about uh another one who's a freshman is Corian Gibson so they've got as many as really uh Four Freshman who might figure into their rotation at the cornerback spots okay okay uh and then as far as the safeties go it looks like kylon Griffin and RJ mickens will be the the starting safeties and khil Barnes will be the uh will be the nickel um I'm not sure you know when in the case of when they want three linebackers on the field but you want to have Barnes on the field you can run him in there and put him at one of the safety spots as well all right and then at uh linebacker uh they of course lost uh troter so Carter now becomes the man um and a lot of people are surprised that he stayed so Clemson fans really happy about that um Wade woodz is gonna take over for Trotter is that the case that appears to be the case uh he's a guy that played a lot for him last year they really like him they really you know I think they kind of view him as one of those linebackers they've had in the past like a Jamie scaly um just a guy that makes plays around the line of scrimmage uh doesn't break a ments uh knows what he's doing out there so yeah uh and his brother has joined the team his brother's a freshman recruit at linebacker you're gonna see a lot of Sammy Brown uh a true freshman who's very highly uh touted you're gonna see a lot of him uh D Clayton uh Kobe McLoud gonna figure into it um and Jamal Anderson all those guys are going to figure into the linebacker rotation spots as they run their linebacker in and out it looks like Areds has put um McLoud at middle linebacker is who do you think is the starting middle linebacker you think it's McLoud or woodz I would say it's woodz woodz okay yeah I would say they're two starters and the two linebackers set would be Carter and woodz okay that's what I thought uh let me make sure we get that right okay and then Brown I believe he is the top recruit in the class entire class so um uh we've already talked about several true freshmen G who would you just you know I don't know if this would just be a guess but uh just from what you've heard uh you um if you had to pick one of them that you think would probably have the most production this year could you do that could you single out either brown or one of the receivers and say one of these guys I think might be the most productive yes uh well just based on how much they're going to get a chance to play certainly Westco I mean West CO could very well be one of your starting receivers okay when they kick it off against Georgia he might very well Trot out there with the lead Group which means he's going to have a chance to take a lot of snaps catch a lot of passes I think Brown's gonna work his way into that linebacker rotation he's got great speed and instincts you know he was a big- time running back in high school also okay uh so they like his ability to run at linebacker uh Ashton Hampton at corner is probably going to get be a guy a true freshman to get a lot of snaps for him as well you can probably count on him getting a lot of playing time especially with the injury situation they have at corner so okay I would put those three in the Freshman watch position Hampton too okay yeah we didn't talk about Anton so that's good I'll put him down all right so uh Let's uh Before I Let You Go um give me a couple of breakout players these don't have to be of course true freshman but players that have not been noticed like for instance I'm I'm gonna guess Adam Randall is probably one of your breakout players but you tell me if you had one on offense and one on defense somebody is gonna break out and and and find himself on the national stage that he wasn't there before uh who would you pick for each uh each unit yeah well that's a good question so if you're gonna go that route you're gonna have to be talking about somebody in a skill position area on offense uh I would guess not a lineman because I mean they won't don't ordinarily get noticed all that much so um somebody who's kind of a veteran that might have a breakout season for them I'm gonna say watch for Cole Turner a healthy cold Turner if he's able to play in all 12 games uh he's a veter uh he's Savvy he's got excellent speed um he's sort of a that kind of safety blanket um receiver for a quarterback uh you know somebody you look for in a tight situation so I would say Cole Turner wow okay Co you mentioned you know Randall healthy but I mean he's played um and Turner has played some as well too but he's just been dealing with a lot of injuries so I I would say Cole Turner on the offensive side and then on the defensive side I would look at um I would probably say give me Damonte Kart because he's been a backup guy playing behind some excellent defensive lineman ahead of him now he gets his shots and uh he's a big guy he's been in the system for four or five years and so yeah I I would say watch for him to kind of handle his own business in the interior defensive line and kind of keep that tradition going of um Quality defensive lineman on the Clemson defense all right and by the way how special is gonna look any any word yet on how the kicking game might be yeah uh Aiden Swanson is back to punt again he's been there a long time 43 yards per kick last year they no problem there looks like the Freshman Nolan Hooser who's from North Carolina is gonna beat out Robert Gunn and be the place kicker oh that's where he stands right now going into the last couple of weeks of practice before the opener he stands to be the number one kicker right now all right I like it there you go now uh lastly before I let you go what do you think about uh give me a a prediction what do you feel what's your feel what's your what's tingling as far as this uh uh Clemson football team for 2024 they GNA surprise people even though Phil steels got him as the best team in the ACC I know the ACC is down a little bit but still uh there are a lot we we opened up the uh video talking about how a lot of a lot of people seem to be down on Clemson the ranked you know uh ranking indicates that so uh this could be is do you believe this is going to kind of shut people up or are you a little bit apprehensive about what what kind of season they're gonna have apprehensive yeah I would say so when I voted in ACC kickoff preseason po I actually picked them third behind Florida State in Miami well I just looked at the quarterback situations I mean Miami's got uh the ward kid transferred in uh and he's supposed to be super duper special I mean he was picked as the player of the year hadn't even taken an ACCC snap yet uh and then of course Florida state with DJ uang who Clemson fans know extremely well you their thought is well if they do for them what he did for us then we'll beat Florida State you know but he probably grew a lot he probably grew a lot when he was at Oregon State and he is who he is he's a big quarterback who can run he's got a a big arm and uh when given time and Protection Plus that game is down there plus Florida State hit the portal hard and brought in replacement players to replace some of the big time players that they lost they're not afraid to go to the portal so I see Clemson I mean my expectation is they lose to Georgia and they lose to Florida State so that's the two losses and then I mean there's the possibility they could lose to NC State because Grayson Marshall uh not Grayson Marshall Grayson McCall the new quarterback at NC State well you should be you should be he's special yes see so you know kumnick might not even be in the top top half of the quarterbacks in the ACC when you look at them on paper um Syracuse has to transfer from Ohio State who's a really good quarterback who started at Ohio State he's now there yeah um so uh Georgia Tech has the the former quarterback at Texas A&M who had a big year form last year so so the point is you know kumnick is still an unproven commodity to play at a championship level yeah and if he plays at a championship level then things really really good things can happen for Clemson but we just don't know yeah let's see what he does in Atlanta if he's a different type of quarterback and he doesn't make those mistakes and look that game though with those defenses I mean you know these are two teams that once played a game a couple years ago and there were no offensive touchdowns remember Georgia beat him on a pass interception return there were no offensive touchdowns you might very well have that kind of a game when they meet this time though the Georgia people believe from what I've been reading that the Georgia offense is as good as it's ever been even though their starting center is hurt and may not play against Clemson um you know they brought everybody else back on the offensive line they got quarterback back they got the transfer they got etn all Georgia has to do is keep their players out of their cars for the next couple of weeks and and they will fi a very dangerous team against Clemson so for the Tigers yeah I've got them losing at least at least a couple of games might still get into the playoffs but they're going to be walking that tight rope between two and three losses if you ask me yeah big season no question because when a program starts to go one way uh it's real hard to stop either the positive or the negative momentum and uh Clemson can really the program can really use uh a move back up uh because you start keep keep slipping and it just you just wonder whether that they're ever going to get out of it well I'll tell you how bad it's gotten from the national perspective and again you know these are National guys they're not around the program on a daily basis you just they're opinionator like everybody else but Jerry Palm you know one of the nation's uh leaders at uh you know projecting the NCAA tournament and projecting the bowl games so he just came out with his projection yesterday and he did not have Clemson making the playoffs he had them playing in the uh duk's Mayo Bowl in Charlotte against ruter so that's not what Clemson fans want to hear no that's a cold slap in the face now he could be way off it's entirely possible but I go back to the point that I made earlier and that is the national view of Clemson has dipped yeah there's no doubt about it and like you said once it starts going down it is hard to stop and it's up to Davos swiy to make it stop and we'll see if cnick can uh it's it's look I'm not sure you want to start with Georgia but you're going to start with Georgia so put up uh the best performance he can and hopefully it'll be a springboard for the rest of the season in a positive way because you definitely don't want it to be in a negative way so uh we'll see how that works on he still has what one more year of Eligibility Club Nick uh let's see he would have actually last last year was like his red shirt freshman year so he's got year and two more yeah he's got this year and two more if my he could be around he could be starting quarterback for Clemson for a couple more years if it works out yeah if it works out yes if it works out I mean I I've gotten where I don't count on anybody being back for another year with the way kids are departing yeah yeah so and there's nobody right on the on the team right now quarterback like a young kid the well the see this is the this is the scary part for Clemson too they don't have a proven back up Christopher Vina is the backup and he's a red shirt freshman who's not played so you've got really just Club Nick and nobody else in that room who's ever taken a snap so they were a little bit from the standpoint of a backup and some um experience very thin from that standpoint okay so viz is the number two behind Club Nick got it yes so Phil great talking to you again uh hope hopefully has a really good season and we'll get an opportunity to talk during the season in the meantime uh anybody out there wants to follow Clemson football or South Carolina football or anything like that uh similar you can check out the South Carolina Sports Talk network and that's also available you guys stream of course um and I'm assuming do you also have a a YouTube show a channel there is it under the South K Sports Talk network yep just go look for Sports Talk SC or Sports Talk media Network we've got we stream on X and we stream on Facebook we stream on YouTube of course we do our show over radio stations around the state uh as well so we got the audio stream the video stream the radio stations it's got the whole deal awesome thanks a lot Phil thank you pal