Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - FAVORITE? Clemson Tigers POISED for ACC Dominance | Can Dabo Swinney's Squad Live Up to Hype?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Is Clemson the favorite in the ACC? Well, we got on Morgan Thomas, the host of Locked-on Clemson Tigers, to answer that question for us. You are Locked-on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello, everyone, and welcome in a Locked-on ACC. I'm Jackson Holzer, filling in for Alex Dono. I am the host of Locked-on-Surcise. course, always joined by Kenton Gibbs, host of Locked-on Wolfpack and former NC State defensive

Starting point is 00:00:41 tackle. And on today's show, we are going to preview the Clemson Tigers, perhaps the favorite to come out of the ACC and represent the conference in the college football playoff. Should there only be one team in the ACC this upcoming season? We hope that there's more than one. But if there's only going to be one, it's likely going to be the Clemson Tigers. And here to tell us all about the Clemson Tigers is more Morgan Thomas, the host of a locked on Clemson tires. We're going to hear his thoughts, the season prediction. We're going to go over the defense. We're going to start by talking about the offense for Clemson,

Starting point is 00:01:17 featuring one of the best quarterbacks in the ACC. And before we get to everything, today's episode is brought to you by Fanduel. Right now, new customers can get $150 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. Morgan, thank you so much for taking the time here to tell us all about, perhaps the best team in the ACC. I want to start off with your offense. You guys got a lot of good players coming back. Let's start right there.

Starting point is 00:01:45 There's at least, by my count, five all-conference players that are coming back to the Clemson Tigers offense, four of which are on the offensive line. So, Morden, how about this one right here for you? Do the Clemson Tigers have the best offensive line in the ACC? I think this year they could have one of the best. in the country if everything, you know, plays out the way that we're hoping under Matt Luke.

Starting point is 00:02:11 So they should be one of the best in the conference for sure. You know, they really only lost one guy in Marcus Tate to the NFL. And they're replacing him with either Elijah Thurman or Harris Sewell or Colin Sadler, who all have played that position and started at that position in the past two years. so, or at least last year. So, you know, they've got returning guys that are going to fill in that hole. They've got a whole offensive line that's probably the most cohesive that they've had in years. And, you know, they don't have any guys that I would say are like probably first round draft picks, to be honest with you. And that's always been a frustration for Clemson fans to not have that, you know, massive offensive linemen.

Starting point is 00:02:59 that's a first round draft pick. But what they need is a few guys who are some of the best in the ACC, and I think they finally have a couple of guys that can fight for that. Blake Miller being one of those guys. Walker Parks obviously coming back, and then Tristan Lee can get in the mix as well. So you've got a good handful of guys to kind of really lock it down and make Kade Clubnick's life much, much easier,

Starting point is 00:03:28 because that's, that's, the key he's the superstar you know i'm glad that you outright came out and said one of the best in the country because jackson's playing it way too coy about oh are they perhaps the favorite in the acc they're by far the favor of an acc that's that's a foregoing conclusion it's i think it wasn't it the fbion fbi that had a miami there ahead of them that was a little weird and to espns fpi i would say lay off the crack computers on crack is not the title of your fpi please Stop it. But not. Back to you. So in terms of everything that Clemsons's offense bring, you talk about one of the best offensive lines in nation, returning a lot of time.

Starting point is 00:04:09 The wide receiver court, everybody knows it. You all are battling Ohio State for 1A, 1B, who's 1, who's 2, that type of deal. Kay Klubnick, a Heisman candidate, a guy that everybody's expecting the world of. The only question marks I'm seeing are in the backfield. Tell me what the answer is there in terms of running back of course. Yeah, I think that's where you're going with that. I think it is a big question mark replacing a thousand-yard rusher in Phil Mafa. A lot of controversy over how he was used last season because it ended up being where he was almost overused. Actually, I'm not even to say almost.

Starting point is 00:04:50 He was overused in many scenarios not rotated really much at all towards the end of the season. And then when you needed him in the postseason, really the most season, really the most. most he was injured and was falling at the first sign of contact and not what he was at the beginning of the season. So they've got to figure out a different way of doing it. And it's not that they've got to. They have no other option now because they don't have another five-star big-time guy that's ready, in my opinion. Now, they do have Gideon Davidson, the best player in the state of Virginia, one of the best running backs in the country. But he's a true freshman. We know Davosweeney doesn't always like to throw out true freshman unless you're Sammy Watkins.

Starting point is 00:05:35 He doesn't really like to throw you out there to the fire unless you're probably the best player in the country. So is he one of those guys? Now, a lot of fans would tell me Morgan. He is. But I know that he has 24-inch pythons. I know he looks like a man child. I know he came on campus over 200 pounds. But he's still a true freshman and it's still Davos-Sweeney.

Starting point is 00:05:58 and they still have LSU at the beginning and not just some tune-up game. So I do believe that they will go with Adam Randall. I know he's a converted wide receiver, but I do think that Kade Kluvnik doesn't really need Gideon Davidson immediately. I don't think he needs an All-American running back. I don't think he needs an All-ACC running back, mainly because of what you guys have already thrown out there. the fact that he has an offensive line that can protect him and that should be one of the most veteran in the country.

Starting point is 00:06:35 And then also the fact that he has more than enough wide receivers, more than the past five years that we've seen. There have been a little bit of a, you know, there was a time where you're like, wow, this is wide receiver you and the T. Higgins and Mike Williams era. And then it disappeared. And it was like, what happened? And a lot of that had to do with DJ Oeliana Lillet. A lot of that had to do with guys just not. you know, being good, you know, not working out the way we thought. Now they've got a handful of guys that are already definitely guys you can count on.

Starting point is 00:07:08 So you don't really need a running back to do it all or to be a thousand yard rusher. I would be absolutely shocked if there was a thousand yard rusher. I'm going to say running back by committee, three guys, Adam Randall starting it. And then David Eziomou, a guy who hasn't had a lot of opportunity, but it's going to get it now. He had a great spring. And then Gideon Davidson is that star of the future that you hope to see, in my opinion, come on later on in the season. Morgan, you mentioned during that whole point about how Davos-Sweeney doesn't necessarily like to play true freshmen,

Starting point is 00:07:42 unless they're one of the best players in the country. In fact, he's the same guy that did not start Trevor Lawrence right away. And he was quite literally the best player in the entire country. But Trevor Lawrence was not someone who snuck up on us. I think we all kind of had a feeling he was going to be an excellent. player and he turned out okay, ended up going number one of the Jacksonville Jaguars. But who do you think is someone on Clemson's offense this year that can kind of sneak up on us? Who can take that next step forward in development?

Starting point is 00:08:11 Well, I think the only guy that really is going to get that opportunity that hasn't been talked about is Gideon Davidson, you know, because he's that guy who's going to be the highly touted freshman that's coming in in a position of need. A lot of the other positions out there, wide receiver, offensive line are so, you know, stacked that you're not going to get a lot of freshmen in there. You could maybe see Braden Jacobs, Brandon Jacobs son play at tackle position. But, you know, tackle at the college position is difficult, even though he is also a beast, you know, at his young age. but anybody who I think maybe might be a little bit of a shocker for the Clemson fan base would probably be Ian Shefflin, former power forward now turned tight in.

Starting point is 00:09:02 That would be probably the most shocking one to do anything on the offense because there's a lot of veteran guys right now outside of running back. That's very interesting there to say, hey, we're going to make that jump all the way from a super productive guy like Brenning Stool, guy who's played a position for forever today, to now we've got a basketball player for you. Let me ask you this. We've talked about the backfield.

Starting point is 00:09:27 We've talked about the strengths of the offense, the weakness of the offense, all that good stuff. Where do you think that this offense ranks nationally? If you had to say, you know, obviously we know this is going to be one of the better offenses in the ACC, if you had to give a level to, let's say, top five, top 10, top 25, where do expect this offense to finish in terms of production?

Starting point is 00:09:45 in terms of production, this has got to be that year. You know, every sign points to this is a contract year for Cade Clubnick. He's running out of his college contract and trying to get an NFL contract. So he's got to get that. So he's got to move on. He's got to be one of the best quarterbacks in the country. I could realistically see him moving up 10%. And that would be 4,000 yards passing.

Starting point is 00:10:15 40 touchdowns. If you're having something like that, you're in New York City at the end of the season and your team's one of the best offenses in the country. I could easily see that. We are joined by Morgan Thomas, the host of Locked-on Clemson Tigers. I'm Jackson Holzer.

Starting point is 00:10:32 That's Kenton Gibbs as well, the host of Locked-on Wolfpack. Stick with us here because we just talked about Clemson's offense. We're going to come back. We're going to discuss the defense. Summer sports are in full swing and whether you're all about baseball under the lights, golf on the green or high-stakes soccer action.

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Starting point is 00:11:41 This is Locked on ACC. I'm Jackson Holeser, the host of Lockedon, Syracuse filling in for Alex Dono, who is still on vacation in Europe. We're of course always joined by Kenton Gibbs, former NC State defensive tackle and currently a co-host for Locked-on Wolfpack. And we're previewing the Clemson Tigers, which means we're going to have on Morgan Thomas, the host of Locked-on Clemson Tigers.

Starting point is 00:12:04 We just talked about their offense. Now let's shift gears to the defense with new defensive coordinator, Tom Allen from Penn State and Morgan. This is kind of a simple one. How do you think this? this defense is going to change with a new depth defensive coordinator from last season to this season. I think it's going to go back to what Clemson really wanted to be, what Davosweeney wanted his

Starting point is 00:12:28 defense to be, and that is just very, very aggressive. They sat back a little bit more than we were used to. They got into a point of being a pretty heavy blitzing team, and then with West Goodwin, it kind of dropped back. And my approach to defense are what it seems like, Clemson's approach to defense has been, it seems as if we don't want to sit back and see if we can outsmart the quarterback and out play or out scheme the quarterback. We would rather try to get in your face and just fluster you.

Starting point is 00:13:01 And maybe you are better than our defense, but we're not going to give you time to even show that. And I think that's what Brent Venables did and he instilled in the defense. And we lost that a little bit over the past couple of years. sitting back, letting the quarterback figure out what they want to do. Yes, West Goodwin is very smart, but we found out more often than not that he was getting out coached or the defense was not being able to rise to the occasion. So I'd like to see a little bit more of the fundamentals, a little bit more of the better footwork and the better angles taken. They were really having a difficult time with mistackles, arm tackles sliding through, guys getting to the second level. one of the worst rush defenses in the country as far as compared to what they had been in the past.

Starting point is 00:13:48 So they've got to get back to that. The front seven should be really good, but it all goes back to fundamentals and aggressiveness. And I think that's what Tom Allen is going to bring in. From the very onset of his first interview, it was really awesome to see because he feels like an extension of Davo Sweeney. And whatever Dabo has done to adjust has been to me the smartest thing. Maybe it was something that fans wanted and he didn't do at the beginning. But as you get older, as you get to the top of the mountain, you want to surround yourself with, you know, it's much easier to surround yourself with guys who can self-manage and self-coach and self-lead.

Starting point is 00:14:34 when you hire guys from within who've never done that position or never been in that role, then you have to do a lot more as the head coach. You have to mentor and follow through on so much more. Now, Matt Luke, he's a head coach himself. He doesn't need any help. He can use a little bit of bouncing ideas off of everyone, but you don't have to tell him what to do. He knows how to run a whole program.

Starting point is 00:14:59 Tom Allen, same thing. You don't have to hold his hand. He knows how to run an entire program. So these two guys are going to help free up Davo Sweeney to be able to do what he does best, which is be the CEO instead of being the developmental guy. We saw what he wanted to do. Unfortunately, three years down the road didn't really work out. Now this path I think will work out for him going forward.

Starting point is 00:15:24 So to me, Tom Allen was a great hire, fits everything. And then getting in Ben Bullware from a Clemson fan standpoint, having a guy that's a national champion that's a hometown hero as far as football goes. And, you know, someone who is a cheerleader on the team, I think is going to help, you know, pay dividends. He is saying that the new motto for the defense is limp biscuits break stuff. And so that's the kind of aggression we want to bring. So let me ask for this. This defense stars at every level.

Starting point is 00:15:59 Avion Terrell, the little brother of age. a guy that's projected to be drafted highly next year. Lineback in court, Wade Woodass, Sammy Brown, who part of way, love me some Sammy Brown. Every time I watch his film, he's one of those guys. The more I watch it, the more I like, the more I'm like, oh, this kid, he's got all the goods. And then defensive line, you thought rocking that defensive line room, you're probably going to hit a first rounder somewhere along the lines there in terms of Woods and Parker, both on that defensive line together. and even the young man that you just got from Purdue, who I know they got to be crying, shaking, and throwing up.

Starting point is 00:16:34 The only play they had that was worth a damn is now playing in Cleveland, South Carolina. What an evil world we live in. Which group do you see as the best of those three? Oh, man, if you're looking at from top to bottom, I'd have to say the defensive line. You know, you've got T.J. Parker and Peter Woods, who if they have the season that we're expecting,

Starting point is 00:16:57 will be drafted in the first round, in my opinion. Will Helt, who is a all-conference player on the defensive end, now has three years to go and is part of the team and going to be part of the team of the future. DeMonte Capehart's a returning senior who you didn't think you were going to get, but it's a guy you don't need to tell what to do. He knows exactly what to do at the defensive tackle position. And then behind them, you have some newer faces that nobody's really heard about,

Starting point is 00:17:25 but that are electric in a lot. Amari Adams and Ari Watford and a few other guys like Daryon Mayo, a lot of guys who just haven't had their opportunity yet, just going to have to wait their time. And that is what happens at Clemson with the defensive line. If you join and it seems like they don't have a problem getting high recruits, but it's rare that you're going to get immediate playing time. You have to be willing to wait your time. But when you wait your time and you get through the program, more often than not,

Starting point is 00:17:56 they end up being a high draft pick. So that defensive line to me should be one of the best, you know, in the country. And I think should be the best unit for me. The weakest unit, if you're going to ask me that, I would say probably the secondary. Well, it's funny you mentioned the defensive line because my next question was going to be specifically about Will Held. The fact that Clemson doesn't usually take transfers. usually, but they do make an exception every once in a while. Will Howard is definitely one of those exceptions.

Starting point is 00:18:31 What are your expectations for him this season and beyond? Davos-Sweeney has taken many transfers. They just happen to be guys that turn into accountants and graduate assistants. They don't happen to be anybody that actually does anything. They happen to be guys that maybe, you know, are there to get their degree, I guess. But, you know, right now you're looking at Will Help and him coming in. That was a shocker to me, to be honest with you, because I did not expect Clemson to win against Texas A&M. There must have been something else there outside of money.

Starting point is 00:19:08 And what we do find out, and I'm sure you guys with your teams find out, there are definitely guys who just want the money. But there are still a large majority of families who they want their children to play close to home or they want their children to play for a coach that they trust. They want them to go to a university that they feel like is valuable. They want them to be around other players that are good and talented and be around coaches that are proven. And so the culture, the family, the everything all all wrapped together. There's still a ton of players out there that care about that.

Starting point is 00:19:45 And Clemson also has success winning a lot of games. So that helps too. they can compete. You know, I don't know what the money value was on it, but it must have been competitive enough because when you go in and you go to the transfer portal, that was the thing everybody doubted about Davo was he's not going to go into the portal and just drop money on somebody that doesn't already wear the jersey. And I didn't think that either. I thought Davo was, he's very, very public about, hey, I'm going to, you know, I'm going to invest in the guys that already invested in me and in our university. But to bring me, you know, to bring up.

Starting point is 00:20:20 bring in new guys like this that, that haven't wore the uniform, has been a new world for Clemson. But what I've noticed with the three guys that they took that are actually, we think going to get a lot of playing time, they all have something that you're not worried about them in the locker room.

Starting point is 00:20:41 You know, you've got Will Helt, who is a star in his own right in his previous team, but they only won one game last year. So he's trying to get on a team to prove that He can do it and help a team completely. He wants to be a part of a team that can win, not just an individual. So that fits great.

Starting point is 00:20:59 You've got Jeremiah Alexander, a former five-star guy, basically was a bust as far as a recruit goes, has played nothing, went to Alabama, left Dabo Sweeney at the altar, as Dabo says in the recruiting world. At the very last minute, chose the tide, didn't work out for him. Now he's coming to Clemson for his second chance at an opportunity to move on to the NFL and get developed and show what he can do. So that's a guy you want in your locker room with that kind of attitude. And then Tristan Smith, a guy who almost was a thousand-yard receiver at a lower university in Southeast Missouri State who's basically just saying, I need an opportunity.

Starting point is 00:21:41 I'm so thankful that Clemson, he's so thankful that Clemson gave him that opportunity. So you've got guys that I think in the past, Dabo was worried about, but now are building upon, you know, a good culture that can help them get to the next level. Well, that just about does it, talking about the Clemson Tigers offense and defense. Coming up, season prediction time,

Starting point is 00:22:05 where does Morgan Thomas, the host of Lockdown Clemson Tigers, have his own team finishing within the conference. Find out next on Lockdowne CCC. This is Locked on ACC. I'm Jackson Holzer, Kenton Gibbs, and we're joined by Morgan Thomas, the host of Locked on Clemson Tigers.

Starting point is 00:22:29 And when you're done watching or listening to this podcast, you can do us all favor, hit that like button, hit that subscribe button for all our channels. Locked on Clemson with Morgan Thomas. If you're a Clemson fan, hey, this is perfect for you. You're listening to Morgan Thomas right now.

Starting point is 00:22:43 Maybe this is the first time you are discovering Morgan Thomas. You're going to want to pay attention to Lockdown Clemson Tigers because he's going to talk about your team, literally every single day. And of course, locked on Syracuse with myself and Kenton Gibbs with locked on Wolfpack. We're still going here, though. Season prediction for the Clemson Tigers. Morgan, this is a softball right here. How many games are they going to win the regular season? It's not really a softball, you know. It actually is something that I feel a little superstitious about predicting wins and losses before the season. You know, should I,

Starting point is 00:23:20 go the route of saying they're going to lose more games than I really think they're going to lose in order to reverse jinx the team so that they don't do that. Maybe I say they stubbed their toe against LSU. Maybe I say they stubbed their toe against Syracuse because that's a pay me back game for allowing them to get to the ACC. Maybe I say they stubbed their toe against SMU. They wants a revenge game. Maybe I say that Friday night game that's scaring me a little bit in Louisville is going to be another one. There is a, this schedule, and a lot of people outside the ACC, like to pick on the ACC, oh, they're no good, this and that.

Starting point is 00:23:57 But you look at the schedule and you look at the teams, it's a respectable schedule. It's got a lot of teams from August all the way through that are going to be a big time challenge for Clemson. You know, I do not expect there to be an undefeated season. I'd love to say that. But the reality in that the time of college football that we're in, it's more and more difficult as we go.

Starting point is 00:24:28 To me, I do have some concerns about Louisville. I feel like a Friday night game, away from home. Road games, as they always say, are very, very difficult to win, and especially road conference games in November. And so that one is one that I am. I've got a big circle around and I'm worried about. I'm not worried about South Carolina. Sorry, guys.

Starting point is 00:24:53 I feel like that's a win. Lenora Sellers, you know, he got his chance and he won, but they're not going to let it happen in their house for sure. So I think Clemson's going to go down there and continue the streak in their house, hopefully come back next season and write the ship. LSU also a very difficult one to predict because when I came out and said they had better team. Man, the entire nation of the LSU Tigers came down on me in the comments and reminded me that LSU also has a pretty stout defense and a good quarterback and a team that is ready to

Starting point is 00:25:29 compete. Last time Brian Kelly came to Death Valley, the real Death Valley in Clemson, South Carolina, his eyeballs were extremely wide, looked like a deer in headlights, and Notre Dame walked away from the hurricane with a loss. So LSU and Brian Kelly are in for a big, you know, a big challenge at the beginning of the season against Clemson. I'm going to say not an undefeated season. I'll go with, I'll go with one loss. That's what I'm going to say.

Starting point is 00:26:00 One loss. I don't know which one, but I will go with one. It won't hurt them in the ACC championship game, and it won't hurt them to get into the playoffs. but I do not think that they go undefeated. Okay, so you got to finish an 11-1 in the regular season. Let me ask you this. How far does this team go on the playoffs?

Starting point is 00:26:18 You know, you know we were going to act. You know we're going to ask. How part of this team going on? Is this a national champion or is this a, you know, it will be nice to get a spot. It'll be nice to be there. It's the best chance Clemson has had since Trevor Lawrence. I think that, you know,

Starting point is 00:26:37 it's the contract year for Kade Klobnik. He's got to do it. And they need to get to the playoffs. Can they win and get to the national championship? A lot of that depends on all the other teams around there. But they should be able to have an opportunity to get there. My feeling is that they can make it with this roster. You mentioned already earlier,

Starting point is 00:27:02 the biggest question mark is kind of the running back room. I would say even bigger question mark for me is how well this secondary does because you got Ricardo Jones and Kyle and Griffin, two guys that are guys that are really going to have to grow up very, very fast in the safety in the very, you know, very, very end of the defense. So we don't want a lot of big plays to happen because our safeties are not in position. So if they are going to make it far, I think to me it's all about how that secondary holds up against some of the most dangerous passing offenses.

Starting point is 00:27:38 So Morgan, there's one game, though, that you didn't really mention, though, on that schedule. I think might trip you guys up. All right. At Georgia Tech, that one's very sneaky. Because Georgia Tech, I think, is one of the sneaky teams in the ACC this year. I think they were better than their record says they were a year ago. And that's mainly because A, Haines King was hurt for part of the year. And B, they had an absolutely brutal.

Starting point is 00:28:03 to the point where it was very hard to even see Georgia Tech go nine and three a year ago. But this year, I think they could be pretty good. But going back to your prediction, I think if Clemson is an 11 and one team this year in the regular season, which I definitely think is on the table, I'd probably pick them at 10 and 2. But if they go 11 and 1, like you say, they're definitely a national title content. Like, no doubt about it, because think about the teams that they would be beating to go 11 and 1. And then you forecast it to the college football playoff. they would have a legitimate chance there in my opinion.

Starting point is 00:28:37 I do think, I mean, like I said, if you look at this schedule from top to bottom, there's not a month that doesn't have a team that kind of makes you a little nervous. And that's my biggest concern with this team is because as you get into the longevity of the season, I mean, you're talking about postseason getting into late January or mid-January, I guess,

Starting point is 00:28:58 you know, you're talking about a team that's got to stay healthy. and if you're having to play tight games, you're having to continue playing your starters. And as you mentioned, September, Georgia Tech, I would even put Syracuse. I do not want to look past Fran Brown, even though it's at home. I do not want to look past the fact that he's going to rile his team up

Starting point is 00:29:20 and say, hey, we got them into the ACC championship game. Now it's our time to get that payback, you know. And like I said, LSU in August, SMU in October. You know, I mean, the schedule definitely has one team at least every month to kind of make you nervous. This has been locked on ACCC. Thank you so much to Morgan Thomas, the host of Locked-on Clemson Clemson Tigers talking all things, Clemson for the upcoming 2025 college football season.

Starting point is 00:29:52 And hey, if you're a Clemson fan or maybe you're an ACC fan in general, check out Lockdown Clemson with Morgan Thomas and hit that like button and hit that subscribe button. so that all Clemson fans know Locked-on Clemson Tigers. And of course, if you're just an ACC fan in general, hit that like button, hit that subscribe button, helps the channel grow to reach all ACC fans. We'll be back soon with another conference preview. So stick with us here on Locked-on ACC.

Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - FAVORITE? Clemson Tigers POISED for ACC Dominance | Can Dabo Swinney's Squad Live Up to Hype?

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