“We haven’t played like a Clemson defense should play this whole year.” This was Clemson linebacker Barrett Carter after the team lost to the 22nd-ranked Louisville Cardinals in the 2024 season. It was a huge setback for Clemson as they would go on to lose again to South Carolina and then, finally, in the first round of the college playoff against the Texas Longhorns. Something wasn’t right with Clemson. Despite having Cade Klubnik’s prowess and a decent offense, Clemson couldn’t achieve their ultimate goal of winning the national title. So, naturally, there was to be some shakeup in the Clemson pipeline.
The problem was defense and, specifically, run defense. Teams started to find weaknesses in Clemson’s setup and started to wreak havoc. Defensive Coordinator Wes Goodwin didn’t have any answers when they played Texas. The Tigers conceded almost 300 yards in rushing offense. Goodwin was fired at the end of the season, and the search for a new defensive coordinator started to take shape for Dabo Swinney. It was a pretty big list initially, as the Clemson head coach admitted in a recent interview with On3.
“I had a lot of people to look at and consider and got it down to about 10 or 12 guys, and then I got it down to five or six, and then I got it down to three, and they were just unbelievable candidates. I just felt like (Tom Allen) is a great leader of people, a great leader of men, and I really felt like he was the dynamic leader I needed in the room, not just for the players but also for the coaches, especially with me being an offensive guy.”
The hiring process was undoubtedly quite taxing, as big names like Tim Banks were talked about in the media. The reports even said that Tim Banks, the Tennessee defensive coordinator, had had intensive talks with Clemson personnel. Then there was Tyler Santucci, who was then defensive coordinator for Georgia Tech. He ultimately departed to the NFL and joined the Baltimore Ravens as their linebackers coach. The other candidate who was talked about a lot was Bryant Haines. He was the defensive coordinator at Indiana and just finished his 6th season with the team. However, ultimately, Dabo Swinney landed on his man, the current DC Tom Allen. But, it wasn’t a stroke of luck, as Swinney himself tells further.
“I just kind of did my research. First of all, we’ve never really met, maybe once in passing somewhere. I believe at Indiana. Yeah, he called me during that time and then reached out a few times over his tenure as a head coach, so I always liked him. I loved his background. I love the fact that he was a very successful high school coach as well, and you know, all things just kept coming back to him, but within about 10 minutes of a one-hour conversation, I knew, okay, this is the guy.”
Doesn’t it feel quite satisfying when two great sporting minds meet in a move even they couldn’t have pondered? This was a union that Clemson actually needed. Firstly, Tom Allen is a coach who, during his time at Indiana, had turned the fortunes of the program around. This was a feat that reaped massive benefits as Indiana ranked top and improved in every aspect of their defense just after the first season of Tom Allen being their DC. I mean, this was the kind of turnaround for Indiana that was almost the first in their whole history. Most improvement in total defense (-169.4 yards per game), most improved passing defense (-134.1 ypg), and quite a lot of improvement in points per game conceded (-12.3). Naturally, with this kind of defensive mind, Clemson would benefit from Swimmey’s offensive brilliance and Allen’s defensive ruthlessness.
Cade Klubnik’s redemption arc endorsed by Dabo Swinney
We all know the season Cade Klubnik had in 2024. This was a player showing each and every viewer why he deserves to be wearing that orange and regalia. 3,639 passing yards at a 63.4% pass completion rate with almost 500 rushing yards. This was a real redemption story for Klubnik as he improved over 1,000+ yards compared to his previous season. Swinney, in an earlier interview, provided how the player has been the definition of ‘determination’ for everyone.
“Cade is; he’s just a veteran guy, a veteran leader, very confident. And that can only come from being battle-tested and having the type of experience that he’s got from really good success but also some failure as well.” Even analysts like J.D. PicKell jumped in and declared that redemption was completed for the quarterback. “Cade Klubnik, I apologize. I wasn’t familiar with your game. Because a season ago, I was like, I don’t see it. I don’t love it. I don’t know. I need to see a more upward trend. Right now, all he’s done is improve drastically from year one to year two in the system.”
Clemson will now depend on their ace QB to improve even more in his 2025 season and deliver a Heisman-level performance. Which, if you think about it, isn’t that difficult for the guy, as major media outlets have already declared him at least in the top 5 to win the 2025 Heisman. Surely, the player will be the crown jewel in Swinney’s offense, and we will see more of him in the upcoming spring practices.
The post Dabo Swinney Makes Tom Allen Admission as Cade Klubnik’s Clemson Fate Takes Dramatic Turn appeared first on EssentiallySports.