Clemson moving forward at ACC Football Kickoff. The Tigers took the stage on Thursday afternoon at the ACC Kickoff in Charlotte. The media days are a great time to get a feel for the current mindset each team has going into Fall camp. As the Tigers work to move forward and learn from the disappointment of the 2025 season, they hope to find success in 2026.
Clemson Moving Forward at ACC Football Kickoff
Acknowledging Failure
Dabo Swinney knew he and his players would not be able to escape Uptown Charlotte without acknowledging the failure of the 2025 season. Neither Swinney nor his players at the ACC Football Kickoff downplayed the questions about how they move forward from such a disappointing season.
Swinney said it himself more than once: the Tigers stunk last year. Not because they lacked talent, but because they did not execute well enough. Swinney stated at the podium, “We didn’t win close games. We didn’t finish in the fourth quarter. We didn’t run the ball effectively. We played the worst pass defense in my coaching career.”
He feels all those things can be fixed, and the players are putting in the work to do that. Clemson is focused on truly earning every win in 2026.
Lessons Learned
In order to actually make the improvements necessary, it’s not enough to just acknowledge the downfalls. The next step is to actually learn from the experience in order to grow from it. Sammy Brown understands this, according to his answers at the ACC Football Kickoff.
Brown was asked about how what happened last season will affect the Tigers playing LSU on the road in week one. He responded, “I don’t think you want to dwell on that, but at the same time, you don’t want to completely forget it because there are many aspects of not only the game of football but the game of life you can learn from a season like last year.” Brown also added, “At the end of the day, we are really focusing this offseason on resetting…resetting our goals, resetting our standards and learning from last year, but this is a new season; this is a new team.”
The third-year linebacker understands that there is much to learn when overcoming adversity after facing so much of it last year. Now it’s time to put that season in the past and take the lessons learned into fall camp to better prepare for the 2026 season.
Reaching into the Past to Continue Moving Forward
Swinney admits that much of his belief that his team will improve this season is based on experience. He got a chance to remind a young reporter who asked about the 2011 season of the turnaround the Tigers made after a 6-7 finish to 2010. They won a conference championship in the 2011 season before going on to have 15 straight winning seasons and win 11 total championships.
Just like he did after that disappointing 2010 season, he hired Chad Morris to be the offensive coordinator at the end of 2025. When asked about the decision on the ACC Network, Swinney talked about the synergy he has with Morris. He mentioned the fact that they had very similar mindsets, down to the terminology they used. That’s what made him hire Morris in 2011.
Bringing Morris back in 2026 is about the comfort and relationship Swinney has with him. Swinney knows how Morris will handle certain situations throughout the season, good and bad. He feels this stint will be even better, now that Morris is no longer looking for a head coaching job. That means he is solely focused on being the best offensive playcaller possible for Clemson.
Main Photo: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images
