Fall camp does not begin for another three months and the Auburn game is still four months away, but that isn’t keeping Clemson from preparing for its Sept. 3 date with the SEC Tigers.

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney told the media during Wednesday’s ACC Coaches Spring Teleconference that as a staff they have already started their prep work for the first four games of the season.

After the trip to Auburn, Clemson will host Troy on Sept. 10 in its home opener and then will host S.C. State the following week in Death Valley before going back on the road to play at Georgia Tech on Sept. 22 in Atlanta.

“We’re in the process of doing all of our season prep work,” Swinney said. “You know, we actually do a little prep work on all of our opponents for the season, but then we’ll really dial in on those first four and be very thorough as if we were getting ready to play them.

“Before we take summer break, we really want to have a great feel for those first four opponents. And after that you have a lot of information once you get the season started as you’re getting into opponent No. 5 because you’ve got some current knowledge based on their opponents that they’ve played. You’ve got a little bit of personality.”

Swinney admits, however, getting ready for a season-opener at a place like Auburn is a different kind of animal. Though the Tigers are 6-1 in season-openers under Swinney, the one loss came at Georgia. It’s the only time in Swinney’s first seven seasons as head coach Clemson opened at an opponent’s venue.

“Openers are tough, no matter who you play, but it’s really tough when you play a great opponent on the road, and there’s always unknowns, and so you try to gather as much information as you can from spring practice and their signing class and all of those type of things,” Swinney said. “They’ve had some coaching changes, but we’re very familiar with a lot of the personnel at Auburn, and they’re a really talented football team.

“Again, we’ve already started the process, our prep work, schematically as far as who they are and what they did last year, but really we are just more focused on ourselves right now.”