When the ACC decided earlier this summer it was going to change its 2020 football calendar and delay the start of the regular season, Dabo Swinney took his first plan for the new season and ripped it up.
“I feel like I have my PHD in planning,” the Clemson head coach said jokingly after Tuesday’s situational scrimmage at Memorial Stadium.
The Tigers broke camp after Tuesday’s practice with more than three weeks before their season-opener at Wake Forest on Sept. 12.
Why did they break camp so early?
They start classes Wednesday and they begin their 20-hour mandatory weekly football schedule required by the NCAA.
“I did three schedules because I did not know when we were going to start for the longest and if our first game was going to be the 12th, 10th or the 7th,” Swinney said. “So, I did three different practice plans, three different calendars. Of course, the original calendar, I ripped it up. So, it has been different, very, very different.
“Last year, for example, we broke camp and started school on a Wednesday, and we played ten days later. So, this year, we are breaking camp and we start school (today) and we still have three and a half weeks. So, it is good. We have a great plan. I am thankful we have that time because we are not where we need to be.”
Swinney said he tweaked camp to reflect where the Tigers are at right now in their developmental. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the players have had a lot to deal with. They lost their May and June workouts and they did not get to train together like they normally do.
“I spread our camp out over a long period of time,” he said. “Typically, when we start school, we have already had two scrimmages and a situational scrimmage and a few other things we have to get done between now and next Wednesday.”
Clemson, so far, has had one full scrimmage and Tuesday’s situational scrimmage. Swinney said the goal is to have their final scrimmage before the start of the season next Wednesday.
“So, again, just kind of spread it out. We have a good plan to kind of pace ourselves and make sure we are ready to go when we head up to Winston-Salem,” he said.
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