Big Bad Neighbors To the South

When Florida State joined the ACC in 1993, the Noles took the Tigers’ spot as conference bully without much of a fight. The Tigers were a program in total disarray. With coaches like Ken Hatfield and Tommy West and increasingly obsolete facilities, the Tigers were barely competitive with the Noles on the field or in the conference standings, routinely being blown out by the Noles and even dropping behind North Carolina and Virginia in the conference hierarchy.

However, around the turn of the century, things started to change with both programs. Clemson brought in Tommy Bowden, who improved Clemson’s recruiting and brought the Tigers their first win over FSU since 1989 when he upset the Seminoles in 2003. Clemson went on to beat the Noles again in 2005, 2006, 2007 and then again in 2009, during Dabo Swinney’s first full season.

Over the last 5 to 7 years, Clemson became competitive with the Noles not only on the field and in the standings, but also in recruiting. During the 1990s and even into the early part of the 2000s, FSU was regularly able to come into South Carolina and land players like Peter Boulware, Jamal Reynolds, Alex Barron, Greg Jones, and Lawrence Timmons. However, FSU’s appeal to South Carolina born prospects appears to have diminished. Since 2005, when FSU signed the state’s top prospect, Northwestern DB Jamie Robinson, the Noles have only signed three prospects from SC. Linebacker Dekoda Watson, defensive lineman Everett Dawkins and safety Justin Bright.

Meanwhile, in that time period Clemson has been able to go into Florida and South Georgia and beat out the Noles for several top prospects, including running backs CJ Spiller and Jamie Harper and defensive linemen Tavares Barnes and Brandon Thompson. The Tigers also out-evaluated the Noles for several players in the Noles’ back yard, landing Florida born prospects like DeAndre McDaniel, Jacoby Ford and Rashard Hall that grew up FSU fans but for whatever reasons were not recruited by the Seminoles.



CJ Spiller grew up an FSU fan

While the improved coaching and recruiting brought forth by Bowden and Swinney (and also Clemson’s recent facilities improvements) deserve a lot of credit for Clemson’s 5-2 record against the Noles since 2003, it must also be mentioned that during that time, FSU was in disarray themselves. Bobby Bowden’s bunch fell on hard times, losing at least 3 games every year from 2001 on, and losing 6 games in the 2006 season, 2007 season and last year in the 2009 season. To put that in perspective, the Noles lost 6 games total between 1992 and 1996. They did not lose 3 games in a season at all between 1987 and 2000.

2010 marked Bowden’s final season in Tallahassee. The man they hired to replace him, Jimbo Fisher, served as FSU’s OC for the past three seasons. Prior to that he was the OC at LSU, where he coordinated the offense for Nick Saban when LSU won the national championship in 2003.

Fisher plans to bring a Saban-esque offseason regimen to the FSU program in an effort to turn their in season fortunes around. He has already begun to overhaul FSU’s strength and conditioning program, bringing in new coach Vic Viloria, who worked as an S&C assistant for Saban at LSU. He has also mentioned his plans to implement a Saban style overhaul of everything from nutrition to academics to team psychology, with the eventual goal of replicating Saban’s programs at LSU and Alabama. Those new offseason programs require substantial support staff additions, which FSU’s administration has provided.

Fisher has also asked for a brand new indoor practice facility, which has been planned and will begin construction soon. In fact, he is already showing plans to prospective recruits.


Rendering of FSU’s planned indoor practice facility

Interestingly enough, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney had many similar ideas when he was hired. Swinney expressed an interest in overhauling Clemson’s offseason training program by adding several new full time strength and conditioning staff members that would work as “player development specialists” and assist with on campus recruiting. Former Clemson and NFL players Levon Kirkland and Patrick Sapp were two names that were mentioned. However, those positions were not created, and instead Swinney was given several extra part time graduate assistantships. The initial positions Swinney asked for were $60,000 a year salaried jobs, while the graduate assistantships he received are hourly minimum wage positions.

Swinney has asked for a training table, which he has not yet received, and Swinney has also made a request that the practice fields be moved to Lot 5, in the shadow of the west endzone, and that a full size indoor practice facility be constructed there as well. To date, there has been no action there.

While Fisher’s proposed changes have certainly been much more Saban influenced than Swinney’s were, the bigger difference between the two so far is the support they’ve received from their respective athletic administrations. Florida State’s administration has been much more agreeable to Fisher’s requests, giving him the new positions he has asked for(according to the FSU blog Tomahawk Nation, the size of FSU’s support staff has nearly tripled under Fisher) and beginning on his
new indoor facility.

Meanwhile, Clemson’s administration has been less forthcoming, and has frankly not provided the support that Swinney was promised when he was hired.

Of course, the appearance of Fisher does not mean all is right in Tallahassee or that FSU’s dominance of the 1990s is on the way back. Those FSU teams were really good, and those Clemson teams were pretty bad. But it does look like Clemson’s primary competition in the ACC Atlantic is about to get a lot tougher and the fairly easy road a down FSU provided for Clemson in the Atlantic division may be closing.

This is not necessarily a bad thing. In the late 1970s, when Clemson made their first commitment to a winning football program in the modern era, the Tigers played the University of Georgia every year and used the Dawgs as their measuring stick. Wins over UGA in the late 70s and early 80s on the field and in recruiting propelled the Tigers to their first and only MNC and to their most outstanding decade of football success.

If the Tigers show the same commitment to football now, a strong FSU could be what they use to propel themselves back into the national spotlight.

The key is for athletic director Terry Don Phillips and for that matter the Clemson administration all the way up to the Board of Trustees to commit to giving Clemson and Dabo Swinney the support it takes to be a championship program.

Public Enemy

At the start of May, Phil Kornblut ran an article stating that Ole Miss basketball player Murphy Holloway was a “done deal” to transfer to Clemson thanks to a “source”. CUTigers.com following Kornblut’s lead and ran a headline about Clemson receiving Holloway’s transfer and later ESPN picked up the story and ran it on their ticker. Last week, Ole Miss’ Athletic Director denied Holloway’s transfer request to Clemson citing “drumbeats” that Clemson had contacted Holloway prior to his release from Ole Miss as his rationale for denying the release to Clemson.



To our knowledge, Clemson made no improper contact with Holloway and operated completely under the NCAA rules and regulations, but Kornblut’s article, CUTigers’ article and ESPN picking-up the story was enough smoke for Ole Miss’ AD to think that Clemson had tampered with Holloway.

Ultimately an irresponsible article by Kornblut did nothing but hurt Clemson's chances to land Holloway.

This is nothing new. Kornblut has antagonized Clemson for years.

Who can forget Kornblut’s “on air/off air” attack on Tommy Bowden several years ago?

Kornblut's Attack on Tommy Bowden

Or Kornblut’s interview with CJ Spiller’s Mom about CJ transferring to Florida?

Kornblut has also allegedly repeatedly phoned prospects that Clemson and South Carolina are battling for while Clemson coaches are present in an effort to be disruptive and break up the rhythm of the in-home visit.

Kornblut does not have much of a relationship with anyone at Clemson. Kornblut was not popular with Tommy West or his staff at Clemson, Kornblut was not popular with Tommy Bowden or his staff at Clemson, and Kornblut is not popular with Dabo Swinney or his staff. Nothing is different in regards to basketball as Oliver Purnell’s staff did not trust him, and you can certainly imagine how Brad Brownell and his staff feel about Kornblut right now.

On the other hand, Kornblut is, allegedly, very close with several current and former South Carolina coaches. He has a strong relationship with USC assistants Brad Lawing and Ellis Johnson, and former assistants Dave Roberts and Ron Cooper.

Former Clemson assistant coach Rich Bisaccia had a strong relationship with Kornblut while Bisaccia was the recruiting coordinator for USC. When Bisaccia left USC for Clemson, he cut Kornblut off. That should say it all about the level of trust Kornblut has at Clemson.

Phil Kornblut is not an unbiased journalist. He is a USC alumnus with a strong anti-Clemson agenda. He has been persona non-grata as far as Clemson coaches are concerned for over a decade. But for whatever reason, Kornblut is still allowed to attend Clemson sporting events as a media member, eat Clemson’s food and sits in Clemson’s press row where Kornblut has been caught browsing USC fan websites and listening to USC Athletic events on the radio.

Kornblut then returns to Columbia, where he gets on the radio and rips Clemson.

But for whatever reason, Clemson’s athletic leadership does nothing to eradicate this problem. Terry Don Phillips has the power to sign off on Clemson’s Sports Information Department blackballing Kornblut, but this has yet to take place. Why has this not been done? How much more will Kornblut hurt Clemson before TDP wakes up and takes action against Kornblut?

This man must be removed from covering all Clemson athletics events immediately. His reputation and credibility in Clemson have been in question for well over a decade. Very few Clemson fans take him seriously, and his reputation falls further with each stunt he pulls. In fact, he has graduated from simply insulting Clemson and Clemson coaches on the radio and annoying our coaches and recruits to directly hurting Clemson on the recruiting trail through his behavior.

To paraphrase Kornblut, Terry Don Phillips, “in your heart of hearts,” you know that it’s long past time to pull the plug on Phil Kornblut. Once and for all, get this man the hell out of our athletics venues.

We encourage everybody to call and email TDP and demand that Kornblut's Clemson Media credentials be revoked.

pterry@clemson.edu
(864) 656-1935

New Year’s Resolutions for TDP, Jimmy Barker FAIA, Tim Match, Bill D’Andrea, Katie Hill, Dori Helms and the Board of Trustees.

The AOC wants to wish everyone a Happy New Year and wants to congratulate Clemson on winning the Music City Bowl and CJ Spiller on the most amazing career we have ever seen. After losing those 2 games in diametrically opposed yet equally soul crushing fashions, there is no way Tommy would have stayed within 3 touchdowns of Kentucky, so props to Dabo for getting the guys out there and playing hard in an atmosphere that was 5:1 Kentucky fans, cold, and basically everything you DON’T want in a bowl game when you start the season.

So, where do we go from here? We have spent a siginificant amount of time discussing this and we have come up with some things that The Clemson Administration should commit to our football program and athletics department in general. Some of these things cost money. Some cost energy. Some will hurt feelings. Some will require the people charged with running Clemson to put their egos away, think beyond the 6 inches in front of them. We firmly believe that Clemson is wrought with potential. Potential to be one of the greatest academic and athletic institutions in America, but there are some areas that are underperforming, and there are areas for improvement.

Resolution #1 – Build our Student Athletes a Training Table.

-Do this yesterday. This is the biggest absurdity known to man. We can pretend that these kids are regular students, but it is beyond ridiculous to do so. What these 18-23 year olds do to their bodies, and require of their bodies are so far removed from what some accounting major from Sumter does to his body, they might as well exist in different worlds. Please understand, we are primarily talking about football here, but a training table would benefit every single sport program on campus.

All of these kids are in school at Clemson because of what they can do with their bodies. They represent Clemson on a national stage and bring recognition to Clemson. The fact that we do not have a training table to allow these students to put proper fuel in their bodies should be an felonious offense punishable by incarceration. 50% of weight training, conditioning and development of the body is nutrition. Our athletes will never be developed at their peak without proper nutrition.




The AOC suggests building an institute of nutrition headed by Dr. Jackson that will be the southeast’s leader in nutrition and health. It is time for Clemson to put their best foot forward here. Be innovative. Be daring. Tell your athletes that you are going to put the best fuels in their body as possible and you are going to lead the nation in research and development. Make it a major. Make it an academic program. Whatever you want to do with it – DO IT.

Resolution #2 – Give Dabo the support staff you promised to him

When Dabo was hired, he was alleged to have been promised 6 full time support staff positions. The bottom line is our coaching staff is forced to waste their time doing things that coaches at Alabama, Georgia, Florida, etc do not do. Nick Saban has over 30 support personnel to help in off-season workouts, nutrition, recruiting, high school relations, game day management, advanced scouting of opponents, etc.

When Tommy Bowden was hired, he was promised facility upgrades that took 6 years to even break ground on, and 11 years to complete. This is unacceptable. Clemson’s coaching staff is limited by NCAA regulations on how much off-season contact they can have with their players, so support staff for the strength and conditioning department is vital. Players at places like Alabama and Florida have former NFL players working with them in the off-season refining their skills.

Clemson is a special place. It would not take a huge financial commitment to bring in guys like Levon Kirkland, Woodrow Dantzler, Raymond Priester, Rod Gardner, Anthony Simmons, Dustin Fry, etc to come back and mentor younger athletes in the off-season. The creation of a culture where Tiger greats come back to Clemson in the off-season and work with younger Clemson players is something that can only help us move forward.



#44 was ready to work for $66,000 per year, but TDP said "NO" after originally saying "YES"

Resolution #3 – Come up with a plan to continue moving facilities forward.

The Arms Race in College Football is undeniable. Create a long-term and short-term plan. The long-term plan should include moving all the practice facilities for football to Lot 5, directly behind the West End Zone. 1.5 practice fields and an indoor facility right behind Death Valley would show an dramatic commitment to Clemson Football. We know some fuddy duddies will likely be upset about their parking spaces being moved, but when Clemson is winning 10+ games a year, there will be thousands of fans willing to take their seats. The short term plan should be shown to all recruits. The long-term plan should be on the official Clemson Athletics Website and should look professionally done.



Even South Carolina Has An Indoor Practice Facility

Resolution #4 – Let Clemson’s coaches stand on their own merits

Clemson’s coaches should be permitted to recruit any NCAA elegible student athlete in America. If the athlete is not NCAA elegible, then they should be permitted to sign and place them in an appropriate junior college or prepatory school of their choosing. If this ruffles your feathers or upsets you, then you have zero interest in winning football games, or looking at facts.

Fact #1 – South Carolina is a state that is ranked low in all academic categories in regards to their public schools. So not only do our coaches have a smaller population to work with then their neighbors to the north and south, they have to recruit from a public school system that is ranked anywhere from 45 to 49 depending on what study one looks at.

Fact #2 – Ian Williams, Dwight Jones, Jakar Hamilton, Jarrius Wynn, Toquavios Gilchrist, Jonathan Abbatte, Tydreke Powell, Brandon Paul, Ryan Houston, Wesleye Saunders were all athletes that our coaches were not allowed to recruit. These student athletes were admitted to places like North Carolina, Wake Forest, Georgia, Florida and South Carolina. All but South Carolina are considered superior institutions to Clemson and rank above us in The US News and World Report Rankings.



Clemson said "NO" to me, so I said "YES" to UGA

If our coaches feel like an athlete can succeed at Clemson University given the support structure we have in place, they should be allowed to recruit and sign them. Period. We do not think Clemson’s coaches will go mustang and recruit a bunch of gun wielding crips from Compton, nor do we think Clemson is attractive to thugs and gangbangers. There are a lot of great kids that are great football players who come from academically disadvantageous situations that can play football. If Clemson’s coaches go Ron Prince and sign a bunch of JUCOs, then you can do what Kansas State did – fire them. The bottom line is our coaches should not be penalized by academic restrictions that elite universities like UNC and Wake Forest do not even follow. If you hired the guy you think can lead your football program, then let him have total autonomy on the players in his program. If you think he is the type of guy that will bring in the wrong kids, fire him or do not hire him in the first place.

Fact #3 – Excellent athletics HELP, not hinder Academic Performance. This point cannot be argued. There is too much research on it that proves it. When your football and basketball programs are in the national spotlight, are winning bowl games and advancing deep into the NCAA Basketball tournament in March, your applications always go up. Alabama’s applicant pool is bigger than ever. Boston College attributes the “Flutie Factor” into a spike in the average test score of their freshman class in the 1980s. George Mason saw a 25% gain in the numbers of their applicants after the basketball team advanced to The Final Four. If James Barker wants to promote Clemson’s Academics? Get a 3 hour commercial on National Television that will turn a 15.5 rating across the country courtesy of your football program.

The Avenue of Champions can be reached at aoc.clemson@gmail.com

Defending Paul Johnson's Triple Option

When GT's offense is most dangerous, the midline is really hitting. The outside veer, rocket sweeps, and other things are devastating, but Tech hits with the force of an ICBM when the midline is humming. Basically, Dwyer will run through A gap, and if the 3T squeezes him, Nesbitt will pull it, and be running vertically and chewing acreage while he is doing it. Check these 2 clips against Miami in 2008.

*In this example the C does a great job cutting the NG, the 3T gets caught in the wash, the MLB gets slammed into by the PSG and the OLB over pursues opening up a huge cutback lane. The thing that is scary is even if the OLB didn't over pursue, he is blocked, so the play is there anyway.


Dwyer's 1st TD (UM v GT 2008)

In this clip, GT runs the play to the weakside, and use the motion man (Jones) to block down on the support player (the free), the DT hammers Dwyer, and there is no one for Nesbitt and its off to the races.


Josh Nesbitt's Long Run (UM v GT 08)

Your standard meatball announcer or tailgating pop warner coach will say, play an 8 man front with the CBs manned up and 1 S in the middle of the field. Well as someone who has a love affair with all sorts of double slot formation, you are going to get a 4 vert or a vertical switch concept where you have 2 guys going vertical up the numbers and 2 up the hash which means somewhere you have Kavell Connor chasing a cat. Not good. You can also get the old run and shoot choice route shoved down your throat. One slot motions and runs a fat post, while the other slot runs a shallow cross. The backside WR runs a smash while the frontside WR runs a go. This is a cover 3 and man killer.

When GT is mashing your defense with the midline, GT is really effective at turning on their outside game. PJ is very patient and does not panic if you get up a score or two. Once the inside stuff started hitting against UGA in 2008, they Dawgs manned up the corners, ran a 4-4, and tried to overload the box. PJ will mix up blocking schemes and really get after you good. Here in the Miami game, the 3T took Dwyer, the S got cut by the playside back, and the OLB took the QB leaving no one for the pitchman.


Roddy Jones' 40 yard run against Miami

Here in the 2008 UGA game, UGA's answer was man coverage. The S screamed downhill, but because the CB was manned up, when the WR went inside to crack, the CB went with him, and there was no one on the perimeter.


Roddy Jones - Long Run - GT v UGA 2008

The final nail in UGA's coffin was a defense that had been on the field entirely too long that was no longer tackling, but rather hitting.


Roddy Jones TD - GT v UGA 2008

SO HOW THEN SHOULD STEELE ATTACK?

In the first match-up our DT and Maye took away the midline stuff, while Clemson lateral speed on the outside helped us take away the outside. Steele will have to continue to mix-up looks to try to keep PJ off balance because PJ will find and exploit weaknesses in a defense that is predictable of the course of the game.

Nesbitt is the guy that drives Georgia Tech's offense not Dwyer and if Nesbitt can keep and follow Dwyer up the middle for 4 to 6 yards like in 4th quarter of the Clemson game then we are in trouble. The QB keepers have given Clemson fits all year, so finding the answer prior to the GT game should be priority number one for Steele.

Another key will be limiting Tech's passing game, which Clemson did well in the first game; however, GT passing attack has improved as the season has progressed. Nesbitt is throwing the ball better and overall the passing game is much more fluid. Of course All-ACC WR, Bay-Bay Thomas, is the key weapon when Nesbitt drops back to throw. Clemson needs to make sure Thomas is matched-up with a taller, physical corner on every snap. Chancellor on Thomas is a match-up asking for big plays against us.

Georgia Tech's offense isn't a ball control offense, it is a big play offense, so Clemson has to score TDs, all while allowing our defense to rest and be coached up.

Not Sure If TDP Is Serious

In a recent Post and Courier article, Terry Don Phillips was asked about moving the Clemson-South Carolina game to the start of the season.

"That might be a good idea," Phillips said."



I hate this idea and hope TDP is not being serious.

Why mess with an established tradition especially an established tradition that has worked out in Clemson's favor for over 50 years?

Who cares if the ACCGC is the next week? This doesn't stop Alabama and Florida from playing a rivalry game the week before the SECGC. It also would mean that Clemson would likely have a pivotal ACC clash the week before the ACCGC, which is still two pivotal games in back-to-back weeks.

Clemson-South Carolina is a rivalry and should be played at the end of the season just like Ohio State-Michigan, Alabama-Auburn, Florida-Florida State and Army-Navy.

I don't see a single positive aspect of this lame idea and can't believe that it would ever be seriously considered by Clemson's Athletic Department.

Share your thoughts on this idea and vote in the poll question on the top right.