In Defense of Robbie Caldwell

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney sang the praises of long-time offensive line coach Robbie Caldwell, and the job that he has done developing and recruiting talent to the Tigers.

When people think of offensive lineman NFL draft machines, the schools that generally come to mind are USC (the real one in California), Ohio State, Notre Dame, Alabama, Texas—just to name a few. One of the schools that is not thought about is Clemson.

But head coach Dabo Swinney isn't upset about his teams, perceived, lack of respect in getting the best recruits or having the NFL knocking down his door for linemen. Instead he believes it is a testament to offensive line coach Robbie Caldwell finding the diamonds in the rough.

"I mean Brandon Thomas was a third-round draft pick got a nice career. Tyler Shatley still playing. You know, we just kind of took what we got that was the area where our recruiting has transformed over the last...probably three years," Swinney said. "I think it's a credit to Robbie Caldwell's credit to what we've been able to do, to win the type of games.

"If you go back and look at our average recruiting ranking over, you know, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 those classes 15and we were probably an average of about 13 in the country but yet we beat teams that were the average of one and so I think that's the credit...to what we've been able to do and the job that Robbie's doing."

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