Matthew Goldin writes about Clemson Football and Baseball for Shakin the Southland. He is a Clemson grad and Frasier aficionado. Check out his work at shakinthesouthland.com
1) It feels like the questions around your coach have been bubbling for a while, is the fanbase generally starting to turn? Are they set with the two nattys and fortified for a tough time, or are the expectations high all the time now?
The Dabo issue is a tough one. I think former Clemson defensive end Xavier Thomas said it best when he tweeted out that he wished Dabo had stepped down like Saban did when he saw the game changing and knew it wasn’t what he wanted to do. Clemson fans will always be grateful for what Dabo did for the program, but the fans also got used to watching a top quality program and don’t want to see that regress. Nationally, I think there’s a lot of misunderstanding with Dabo. People say that he said he “would quit” if players got paid, and the actual quote was him stating that if college football becomes professionalized, he might as well just go coach NFL. He’s been pretty supportive of players earning money through NIL, and Clemson is actively finding new revenue streams like concerts in Death Valley and ads on the field to bring in money to pay players. Thenilstandard.com shows Clemson spent $25.5 million on its current roster. For comparison, the site shows Georgia spending $30 million. So, Clemson is spending money to be competitive. The issues Clemson has relate to roster construction, portal usage, and coaching staff. A good bit of Clemson’s staff is made up of former players, and then you’ve got guys like Chris Rumph (Defensive Ends coach), Rich Bisaccia (Special Teams Coordinator) and Chad Morris (Offensive Coordinator) who are on their second stint at Clemson. To Bisaccia’s credit, he last coached Clemson in 1998, so the program looked completely different when he was last in Tiger Town. And even Rumph left after Dabo’s second full season as head coach in 2010 to join Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama. But regardless, I think most people would agree Clemson needs a big infusion of outside blood and new ideas to rejuvenate the program, and recent trends have people wondering if Dabo is willing to do that. There are exceptions to this. Defensive Coordinator Tom Allen, Offensive Line Coach Matt Luke, and former Offensive Coordinator Garrett Riley were all outside hires. Dabo’s Clemson staffs have always had a mix of outside guys along with some homegrown coaches. At this moment, some different perspective would help the program.
You then look at the success Clemson is seeing with the defensive players that were taken from the portal, and wonder why the program only took one offensive player when there are other offensive issues that needed addressing. Fans don’t seem to want to become a program where you’re bringing in 30+ transfers every year, but we do all want it used as needed. The hope is that seeing all the positives the portal has brought on defense will mean Clemson dips into it more on offense.
That was kind of a long winded answer, but basically I think the way to summarize it is that we love Dabo for what all he has done, but we don’t know if he’s going to make the moves needed to get Clemson back to where we all expect it to be, and so as that continues, the frustration from the fans gets louder and louder. Personally, I really hope he can right the ship because I hate to see his legacy suffer.
2) How do you see the rest of your season playing out?
I feel better after seeing the comeback win vs UNC. Seeing how the team does against Cal on the road Friday night will tell me a lot. Right now I really don’t know what to tell you because the second half of UNC was the first time we’ve seen good football out of Clemson this year. We’re also watching Tait Reynolds continue to grow. We saw a lot of what he can do against the Tar Heels. While there are certainly some growing pains that will still happen with a freshman QB, there are some reasons to be optimistic.
3) Defensive player to watch Friday?
Ashton Hampton is one of the better Cornerbacks in college. I’m excited to see him get a chance at a great passing attack with an NFL caliber QB in Jaron-Keawe Sagapolute.
4) Offensive player to watch Friday?
I’ll give you two. TJ Moore and Bryant Wesco are some absolute ballers. The numbers right now probably aren’t going to blow you away because of Clemson’s offensive woes in the first two games, but look at their body of work since 2024 and they are both playmakers. Wesco missed a chunk of last season with a neck injury he sustained against SMU. With Clemson’s offense starting to come together, I’d really like to see him catch fire in his comeback year.
5) How do you see the game going?
The general weirdness of having to go across the country and play at 10:30 PM Eastern Time with a short week of practice concerns me. The good news on the late kickoffs is that with weather delays, Clemson has dealt with a pair of games this year that kicked off after 9:00. Then you add in the fact that JKS is one of the best QBs that Clemson will face. The only reason I won’t call him the best QB the Tigers face is because Clemson does have to play Darian Mensah next weekend. I expect to see some of the good things that we saw from Clemson in the second half of the UNC game, like Gideon Davidson running well and Tait Reynolds continuing to improve. But I figure there will be some sloppiness on our end. If Clemson comes out with a win, I’ll be happy no matter how we got there.
6) What does Cal need to do to win this thing?
Clemson’s run defense struggled against LSU and UNC. As good as JKS is, Clemson’s passing defense is its strength. Adam Mohammed for Cal will need to play a role in this game. Not to say JKS won’t get his, but unless Clemson’s run defense improves, Mohammed may be the guy that decides this game.
7) Whom would you most like to punch in the face?
Hmmmm, I need an answer that won’t get me in too much trouble. Right now I think I’ll go with Pete Golding. That whole thing with tampering with Luke Ferrelli still irks me. We should be sitting here talking about his return to Berkley with the Tigers.
Berkley?