Dabo Swinney Not Opposed to 'Summer Mini-Camp'

Clemson head football coach Dabo Swinney made his first appearance since the Tigers' pro day Thursday, March 12. And he did so in an unusual way, taking part in a prerecorded Zoom meeting, in which he was asked a series of questions by football SID Ross Taylor

Clemson head football coach Dabo Swinney made his first appearance since the Tigers' pro day Thursday, March 12. And he did so in an unusual way, taking part in a prerecorded Zoom meeting, in which he was asked a series of questions by football SID Ross Taylor

One of the questions Swinney was asked involved the NCAA possibly allowing schools to hold a summer minicamp or an extended fall camp to make up for the time that they lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

While Swinney is not a fan of extending fall camp, he does think that something can be done to make the preseason more equitable for all schools.

"I'm open to whatever. I'm not really for extending camp. I don't like that idea of it, but I would love ... if they said, OK, a team like Clemson got nine days and they said that everybody can have 12 on-field sessions," Swinney said. "So that mean that we are getting only three, just to make it equitable. But some of these schools that got none, they could get 12. But no pads, no tackling or anything like that, but just to be able to get on the field and teach your stuff and have some prep time. Football is really important ... there's a reason why the NFL has OTAs and different phases before they get into camp. 

"So, I don't think that extending camp is the right approach. I think it would be better, in my opinion, if you just gave schools opportunities to go out and have some on-field sessions, no pads, etc. But be able to do some installation, run some full-speed stuff, good fundamentals and teach what you want to do, just to football condition-wise get them a little more prepared for camp."