It is finally here. College football has returned, at least for the media.
This week for members of the media marks the unofficial start to the college football season, as conferences from around the country gather for their respective media days]
Tuesday is the only day the media will be allowed to interview all of the assistant coaches for the Tigers until bowl season, except for the offensive and defensive coordinators.
Next week will include a quick trip up Interstate 85 to Charlotte for the three-day ACC Kickoff, where we will hear from the commissioner of the ACC, Jim Phillips, and every head coach in the conference, along with three players from every school.
With this week and next being a jam-packed four days filled with lots of questions and plenty of coach-speak, today we give you the biggest three questions that the Clemson Tigers will face during the next week.
1. How will the Tigers handle not being the top dog?
For the first time in what seems like ages the Tigers are not the media darling--that honor goes to Florida State. Will the Tigers load up the ROY bus and run it all the way to another ACC title or will they live down to the expectations?
Swinney is a master motivator and will undoubtably use the media as motivation, but will these 18-22 year olds by in quick enough to make the national media look foolish--that is the real question.
2. What position group concerns the Tigers the most? This question is a staple for Swinney at his outing, and every year the answer provides a glimpse into the coaching staff’s area of concern.
While Swinney, ever the optimist, rarely points out a group that truly concerns him, the head coach often gives hints through his response as to the area that the staff believes will need the most improvement early in the season.
3. What position group will surprise people? This is the question that Swinney loves because he annually points to the “gotcha” times over the last few years in which he has named a group or player that no one expected and proved to play out.
Three years ago it was the cornerbacks that Swinney believed would be the biggest story of the season, and they were. A few years ago, it was a scrawny walk-on receiver named Hunter Renfrow, about whom Swinney sang praises, and he turned out to be pretty good at catching footballs.
And four seasons ago, Swinney pointed out the running backs as a group to watch, and the country watched as a true freshman named Travis Etienne exploded into the record books.
A note from the publisher:
As crazy as it sounds, this week in July football is back!
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