Dabo Swinney‘s Clemson Tigers won two national and nine ACC titles since 2008, and the coach himself has three Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant awards. With this type of resume in your bag, can he be hailed as one of the greatest coaches of all time? Well, yes… but what happens when you fail to deliver success in recent years? Will your legacy and status shield you from criticism?
Clemson’s season in 2024 had its problems. An upsetting loss against the 22nd-ranked Louisville Cardinals and then to South Carolina at home surely have raised alarm bells. The problem? Defense. Their defense under their DC Wes Goodwin faltered year after year and Swinney seemed to have remained ever more indifferent to the fact. Just in the last year their rushing yards conceded per game are 150.8, taking them 60th nationally. Their pass completion conceded per game ranks 92nd and points conceded per game ranks 47th. So, how can you dream of beating teams like Ohio State and Texas – who have their defenses ranked 1st and 2nd nationally (points conceded per game)?
Solution? Now it seems Swinney has finally moved away from Goodwin and has hired a master defensive coordinator whose arrival has just changed the fortunes of Clemson. Yes, we are talking about Tom Allen. The former Penn State and Indiana DC has just joined Clemson. But it wasn’t cheap as Allen has signed a 3-year deal worth $6 million that also includes an immediate bonus sum of $903,150. This will essentially see Allen earning close to $1.9 million in 2025. At first instance this looks like a costly gamble, but is it?
J.D. PicKell of On3 provided the reasoning as to why this move looks great for Clemson Tigers and Dabo Swinney. “During spring practice at Clemson, they tried to give Tom Allen a microphone to speak above the volume of the practice… Tom Allen said keep that (microphone). I’m good I’m just going to go ahead and let my voice boom. He says that they’re going to make sure they’re the best-tackling team in America is the Clemson Defense… I know there there still a long way to go till fall camp but if your DC is talking like that and making that a point, [then] you pair it with what they have on the roster – that is very very good news“. The news certainly is good for more than one reason.
For starters, this is a defensive coordinator with a ton of experience under his belt. The man has been coaching since 1992 and has coached some of the best teams like Ole Miss, Indiana, and Penn State. At Indiana, his influence and achievements were so pronounced that within his first season, he made them the best-improved defense in the country. They ranked top in total defense improvement which was close to -170 yards per game compared to their previous season. Then their passing defense saw massive improvement as they had almost 135 yards less conceded per game than previous. So the numbers most definitely show that Allen would turn around the falling Clemson defense. An improved defense with Clemson’s hopeful quarterback and O-line situation can significantly improve the prospects of the program in 2025, and their prized QB Cade Klubnik is on the rise.
Cade Klubnik has NFL scouts drooling over him after Pro Day
We all know the season Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik had last year. I mean this was a guy breathing fire all over the field. His passing and offensive prowess was actually one of the few things that didn’t disappoint as he improved over 1,000+ yards compared to 2023. He finished not only with 3,639 passing yards but also had 500 rushing yards to seal that ‘dual threat’ tag. No wonder, this season he has parked his NFL dreams for a while and is coming back to Clemson to lead them to the natty final. That being said, his exploits are still turning the heads of prominent NFL scouts.
Clemson had its Pro Day in recent week and Klubnik just showed why he deserves to be in the headlines. He performed effortlessly in front of several NFL scouts present there. He initially missed a few throws, but that happens, right? However, there’s a beauty in his signal calling, when he fakes the handoff and drops the beauty swerving effortlessly 60 yards in the air in the hands of his tight end. This has ignited headlines all over the internet and broadcasting media.
Clemson rising senior QB Cade Klubnik missed a couple throws in this pro day session with TE Jake Briningstool. But he finishes with a nice 55/60 yard-ish throw downfield in front of dozens of NFL scouts pic.twitter.com/AlJNNoHOkA
— Chapel Fowler (@chapelfowler) March 13, 2025
PFF has since listed him as one of the very top recruiting QBs present in the ACC as they said, “There might not have been a more improved quarterback in college football this past season than Klubnik.” That is an incredible news for Clemson supporters. The cherry on top? You’ve got world-class wide receivers like Antonio Williams who had a 904 yards last season. Then there’s Bryant Wesco Jr. who achieved 708 receiving yards and lastly last year freshman T.J. Moore who had 651 receiving yards at an impressive average of 14.5.
Surely, both Clemson and Klubnik now have all the ingredients to make that dream a reality. They now have Tom Allen too in their defense and he is determined to make them ‘world-class’, so there’s optimism all over in the Clemson air.
The post Stance on Dabo Swinney’s $6M Clemson Gamble Clarified After Cade Klubnik’s Pro Day Act Turned Scouts’ Heads appeared first on EssentiallySports.
