Despite his pass catchers dropping several of Cade Klubnik’s throws in Monday’s loss to Duke, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney is not worried.
“I did not watch a single game across the country where there were not some drops,” Swinney said following Wednesday’s practice. “I did not watch a single game. Yes, we caught the ball well. Yeah, we had a couple of critical drops. We had one third-and-eight there with Antonio [Williams] on a competitive play.
“Again, we threw for 200-plus (yards). For our first game, we did a lot of good things. I thought Beaux Collins played outstanding.”
Klubnik finished the Duke game completing 27-of-43 passes for 209 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Clemson (0-1, 0-1 ACC) threw just one deep ball all night and freshman Tyler Brown had the longest reception – a 21-yard catch in the third quarter.
Besides Williams’ drop, Collins, Cole Turner and running back Will Shipley also dropped passes. Shipley’s led to an interception.
“Yeah, we had a couple of little things,” Swinney said. “We had the one that Shipley should have caught, and that is really just a fundamental thing of him finding the route instead of drifting in the route and kind of running before he catches it.
“When you watch the NFL, you are going to see some drops. Was it an epidemic? No. Are you happy and satisfied with any drops? No. Is there anything alarming? It was actually a pretty good start with this group. We definitely have room for improvement.”
The 25th-ranked Tigers will get an opportunity to improve this Saturday when they take on Charleston Southern in their home opener at Memorial Stadium.
“These are human beings. These are not robots. This is not artificial intelligence running around out there. These are young people,” Swinney said. “I thought for the first game, it was a good start and is something we can build on.
“We were certainly not perfect, but nothing alarming or anything like that.”
The Tigers and Buccaneers will kick off at 2:15 p.m., on Saturday. The game will be televised on ACCN.
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