New Clemson Tigers Defensive Coordinator Receives High Praise From Analyst

The Clemson Tigers may have hit an absolute home run with their new defensive coordinator.
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The Clemson Tigers shook the college football world this week with the announcement of their new defensive coordinator being hired from one of the best units in the country.

Clemson made things official on Tuesday with former Indiana Hoosiers head coach and Penn State Nittany Lions defensive architect Tom Allen to take over the Tigers defense and replace the fired Wes Goodwin.

It was a move that displayed Clemson is not content with being just a solid program and Dabo Swinney is desperate to get the program back to a championship level.

ESPN college football analyst Adam Rittenberg offered high praise to Allen on Wednesday and thinks Tigers fans are going to be happy with the kind of product he produces.

"Knowing Tom [Allen] and Dabo [Swinney], they're very similar in terms of their grounded principles, how they live their lives, high energy," Rittenberg said, adding that Allen's strengths of stopping the run and hard-nosed tackling can fix on Clemson's defense.

"If you're a Clemson fan saying 'hey we gotta get back to who we are' which is one of the top defensive line programs in the country, a great tackling team, a team that's really hard to move the ball against and score points, you're pretty excited with the guy who's coming through the door."

Rittenberg cited the development of Penn State superstar pass rusher Abdul Carter, who Allen made the decision to move out to the edge ahead of the best season of his career and earning a status as a likely top-five pick in April's NFL Draft.

A Tigers program which has prided itself on being a factory for NFL defensive lineman and elite defense as a whole had an Achilles heel this past season of flat out not being able to stop opposing offenses, especially against the run.

Allen's Nittany Lions were one of the best in the country against the run while Clemson was a heck of a lot closer to the triple digits in almost every statistical category on the ground, ultimately leading to the team's demise in all of their losses.

Arriving to Swinney's program with the clearly defined goal of fixing these issues is exactly what Allen is being brought in for, and he certainly seems like just the man for the job.

If the Tigers are going to get things fixed and get back to competing for national titles, fixing the defense is going to be the best way to do it.

It's a high pressure situation Allen steps into, but one he must be ready for out of the gate.


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