Predicting ceiling, floor for Clemson in 2024 season

Andy Staples was joined by ACC Network’s Roddy Jones on the latest episode of the Andy Staples On3 show on YouTube, where they discussed the Clemson Tigers.

“Let’s go to a team that everybody wants to talk about. Everybody has takes, and you had an interview with their head coach that went viral,” Staples started. “We ended up doing almost an entire show on what he said. Dabo Swinney, Clemson is one of four teams that did not take a single transfer in the spring window, or the winter window. … This is the thing, and what Dabo said to you was that transfer fall into several buckets.

“Guys who couldn’t play for Clemson anyway, because they’re not good enough, which I buy completely, because they recruit well out of high school. It’s guys who have been tampered with, and already know where they’re going, so that’s obviously you’re not in the mix for those, and then the one that I found the most interesting, basically Dabo said the guys he thinks could help Clemson, Clemson can’t afford.”

Even with Swinney’s lack of transfer additions, Staples and Jones believe Clemson will be a force to be reckoned with in 2024

Ceiling: 10-2/11-2, College Football Playoff Contender

“I think the ceiling for this team this year is 10-2. I think you could talk yourself into 11-1,” Jones stated. “They ain’t beating Georgia, but you could convince yourself that they could go down and beat Florida State in Tallahassee. They almost beat them at home last year.”

Staples agreed, “This is a College Football Playoff team at the ceiling,” he added later, but he made sure to note it’s far from a guarantee for the Tigers.

Floor: 8-4

As for the floor: “I think on the other side, NC State’s on that schedule. NC State beat them last year, and this is a better NC State team, I think this year. And then obviously South Carolina is a coinflip at the end. So ultimately, I think this is a Clemson team that’s probably somewhere between 10-2 and 8-4,” Jones added. “8-4 would be like the sky is falling, but I think it’s a legitimate College Football Playoff contender, and it should be, to be honest with you. … It’s all going to come down to how good can Cade Klubnik be, really in the moments that matter, the biggest moments.”

The transfer portal additions, or lack thereof, frustrate Staples, but he’s still confident that Clemson will be competitive for the most part in 2024.

“This is an 8-4 team at the floor,” Staples stated. “Like, there’s not a ton of drop off. But where the disconnect is for me, is they could be a team that could be competitive with Georgia.

“They could be a team, that if they get in the Playoff, could be teams in the Playoffs. Except they don’t do the things that the other teams do to build their rosters, which means there are holes on the offensive line, at receiver, that they could have been filling all this time, and they’re not.”

Perhaps Clemson could shock some people this coming season. Andy Staples and Roddy Jones believe the Tigers will at least be among the contenders in the ACC, and anything beyond that is in Clemson’s hands.