Dabo Swinney makes strong prediction when previewing Clemson's offense in 2023

Buckle up, Clemson fans. After finishing 30th in offense last season, the Tigers made some significant changes to their personnel and scheme on that side of the football. Now, what Dabo Swinney said yesterday should be music to everyone’s ears in Death Valley.

Swinney sang the praises of his new and improved offense during an interview on ACC PM on Thursday. He declared that this year’s team would get back into the Top-10 when it comes to offense by being able to do everything you could want it to do. He also mentioned the growth already of sophomore quarterback Cade Klubnik as a reason why things are going to be so much better in 2023.

“I think we’re gonna get back to being one of the top-scoring offenses in the country. 10 out of the 12 years? That’s what we’ve been. I think, last year, we finished 30th in scoring. And we’ve always been a Top-20, Top-15, Top-10 type scoring offense,” Swinney said. “So I think you’re gonna see an offense that’s going to score. An offense that’s gonna be explosive, that’s gonna be able to run the football. Playing fast, dictating the tempo as we need. But it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

“It’s awesome to see how (Cade’s) been able to grow and mature in every area in the one year that he’s been here. And I think his future is really, really bright,” continued Swinney.

Clemson scored 33.2 points per game in 2022, which isn’t bad considering all things. Still, it felt like a grind for the Tigers to get going on that end at times. They found a way to score more than enough in 12 of their 14 games but, in their two losses, they scored just 14 points in each.

In the end, Swinney just wanted to find more consistency there and get back to what Clemson had been accustomed to in years past. That started with the quarterback change as DJ Uiagalelei ended up transferring, leaving Klubnik to take the job for himself. Then, Swinney made one of the more significant hires of the offseason by poaching Garrett Riley from TCU.

To pull back the reins a little bit, Swinney did say there’s still a ways to go. That’s more so due to injuries and players missing reps than anything else. Even so, come the fall, Swinney fully expects to be back in the conversation nationally after making the necessary updates and getting Clemson’s offense back up to snuff.

“It’s been a great spring but we’ve got to go do it,” said Swinney. “We’ve been able to get a lot accomplished this spring foundationally but we’re incomplete because we’ve had some guys out. Several scholarship receivers that haven’t been able to go, a couple linemen, Will Shipley’s been a little limited. But once it all comes together? And we get this team complete and we build on the foundation we put in place this spring? I think it’s gonna be fun and I do think we’re gonna be explosive.”