Adam Randall thankful to shed knee brace entering 2023 season

Clemson Tigers sophomore wide receiver Adam Randall missed all of last year after suffering an ACL injury during the previous offseason. Randall has been present and active at the Tigers’ fall camp as he is now more than a year removed from his injury and subsequent surgery to repair the ACL.

Clemson’s sophomore wide receiver recently shared his thoughts on his overall feeling at fall camp. Randall also expressed gratitude now that he’s finally removed his knee brace.

“Yeah, I feel like I was 100 percent physically,” said Randall. “The mental aspect of it, just not being able to go out there and practice with the team for an entire fall camp. I’m forever thankful to be out there and go out there in the heat and run around a little bit.

“Just with the team and being able to gel with the quarterback at that. I feel like throwing the brace to the side and not having that on my leg made me get back up to my top speed and get in and out of my break faster. So, I feel like just not having that brace on my leg has really helped me out a lot. And just going out there and being able to play free.

“I feel like coach Riley has brought that mindset to the offense where we can go out there and really play free and just do our thing like we’re back in high school. Just go out there and make plays like the ballers that we are.”

Clemson has more depth and speed at wide receiver than they’ve had in recent years. And Randall is likely to play a crucial role in their offense their season under new offensive coordinator Garrett Riley. It’s a good thing that he is fully recovered from his ACL injury both physically and mentally and is ready to give the 2023 season a go without any brace.

Swinney jokes about ESPN grading his hire at Clemson a ‘D+’ in 2009

The mood around the Tigers’ fall camp must be contagious, as their head coach Dabo Swinney was announced in a cheery mood when discussing a topic from nearly 15 years ago.

When Swinney was named the next head coach of the Clemson Tigers football program in 2009, ESPN believed it was a step in the wrong direction for the program. The mega sports media outlet originally gave his hire a grade of a ‘D+.’

Nearly 15 years later, Swinney is still calling the shots at Clemson, which is considered one of the top programs in college football. Looking back on the grade he received in 2009, the Tigers headman shared a few jokes on the subject while explaining how it was a part of the fuel equation that drove him as Clemson’s head coach all these years.

“I’m almost a C-. I’m moving up,” said Swinney, laughing. “Yeah, that’s in my office. But also you, right beside that, is the reminder, ‘as a man thinks it, so am I.’ You know, it’s not, ‘as other people say it, so am I,’ if you will. And that’s a foundational principle for everybody — to live your life from the inside out. We limit ourselves in life by how we think and by living our life from the outside in.