Dabo Swinney Details Clemson's Off-Week Plan

The No. 5 Clemson Tigers have community service, rest and early Notre Dame prep scheduled during their open date.

Jason Priester/All Clemson

No. 5 Clemson's open date will include self-evaluation, healing bumps and bruises, catching up on sleep and getting an early start on Notre Dame prep.

But there's one other element to the week off that head coach Dabo Swinney takes very seriously: community service. 

"I think half of our team is gonna go to the AIM campus in Anderson, the Anderson Interfaith Ministries, and just really serve them. That's an amazing organization that does a lot of great work in the community there and really helps a lot of people," Swinney said. "To be able to go in there and and and do a lot of the work that they need, whether it be the food pantry or just things on the campus that need to be fixed or cleaned up or stocked, whatever it is. They'll have a whole list. 

"Then the other half is going to work on a habitat home. When you've got 135 players and staff, that's a lot of manpower that can really make a difference in a day." 

That is Clemson's plan for Tuesday during what's normally their practice time. The team practiced Monday, and the Tigers will have team meetings and more practices on Wednesday and Thursday. 

Then the players will get Friday and Saturday off while the staff continues work on the next game and recruiting. The team reconvenes on Sunday and begins normal game prep next Monday. The Tigers take on Notre Dame at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 5.

"We'll work on Clemson, work on some of the basics and really study," Swinney said. "Self-evaluating a lot of the things that we really need to improve on from these first eight weeks. We've learned a lot through eight weeks, so let's apply the lessons that we've learned and let's correct that because what people see on tape, they're going to continue to test you on that."

Swinney said he was really encouraged by the health of the team coming out of the Syracuse game last Saturday. The Tigers were in a completely different position last year, he noted, and since they got several players back the last two weeks from injuries, they're in a good place. 

He also mentioned sleep. Back-to-back road night games earlier this month made for some early-morning home arrivals, so this is a welcomed opportunity to rest and get his staff and players on a normal schedule. 

"They'll have a nice break," Swinney said.

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