Dabo Swinney Excited About Potential of Young Clemson Linebackers

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney is really liking what he is seeing from his young linebackers this spring.

Very few teams across the country have the kind of experience returning at linebacker that Clemson will have next season.

James Skalski and Baylon Spector, both starters for the Tigers, have combined for more than a decades worth of experience. Now the coaches are trying to get some of the younger players at the position more experience this spring.

Spector is going to miss the entire spring recovering from an injury, and Skalski, while still participating in all of the individual work, will not receive any live reps. Head coach Dabo Swinney wants to give those reps to the talented, younger linebackers on the roster, with Skalski acting more like a coach and helping the youngsters grow.

"We're not letting (Skalski go)... when we do go live, that's the only thing he's not getting right now," Swinney said. "But all the other team stuff, he's in there. It's good to see him directing everything, staying sharp."

Swinney made note of the fact that all but one of his linebackers have now been in the program for at least a year and the head coach is fully confident in their ability to take that next step in their development.

"They've all been here, they've all had at least a full year under their belt," Swinney said. "You got those guys, that group, that redshirt freshman, redshirt sophomore group last year that, you know, were really... Kane (Patterson) and (Keith) McGuire, Vontae (LaVonta Bentley). You know, Vonta showing a lot of strides. Trenton (Simpson) is a guy that we've been working inside as well, you know, he's been working the WILL, working the SAM also, so it's been good."

Swinney detailed how having so much talent at one position makes everyone better, and that he is already starting to notice a difference.

"It's very, very competitive right now," Swinney said. "And (Kevin) Swint, you know, Swint is as good a player as we got and we're kind of cross-training him a little bit. He's a natural football player. That freshmen group last year, Simpson, Swint and Sergio (Allen), three really good young prospects, along with those guys that have been around here for a couple of years. They've gotten some experience, they've had some success, failure, and starting to see a little bit of transformation. And again, LaVonta, Kane, Maguire, Jake (Venables), that whole group is really showing some promise."