Clemson football has been firing on all cylinders through its first two days of fall camp. During Thursday’s press conference, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney mentioned that by treating January as the start of the season, the team’s able to jump right into practice while minimizing the preporation phase. On the other hand, having the most veteran team in the country doesn’t hurt either.
Now, after doubting Swinney’s strategy over the last few seasons, people are coming out of the woodwork on their knees with their palms up, asking for forgiveness. One such media personality is Aaron Torres of The Aaron Torres Podcast.
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Aaron Torres apologizes for Dabo Swinney criticism
Torres has been hypercritical of Swinney’s ‘old-fashioned’ philosophy, but after the Tigers’ impressive finish in 2024, the former Fox writer is singing a different tune.
“I’m wearing my Clemson Orange today just to show Dabo Swinney how terrible I feel for all the criticism of the last four or five years,” said Torres on Thursday’s episode while wearing the poorest excuse for Clemson Orange.
He’s not the only one who’s been critical of the Tigers in recent months, and to be fair, the skepticism may have been earned. It did look like Swinney and the Tigers were slipping after their 9-4 finish in 2023—the program’s first single-digit win total since 2010—but perceptions turned on a dime after last season.
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“Up until last year, it felt like the wrong way in this new world to do things,” said Torres. “Well, all of a sudden, Clemson beats SMU in the ACC championship game. They go to the college football playoff. I think it’s easy to forget. They move the ball about as well as anybody in college football on Texas last year.”
Looking forward to this season, Torres is about as high as anyone on Clemson. He cites the returning production as well as having a third-year quarterback in Cade Klubnik leading the offense as reasons why the Tigers will be a top-five team when the Associated Press releases its top 25 poll in the coming weeks. What’s more, Torres doesn’t see the Tigers falling for the foreseeable future.
This season marks Clemson’s second straight opportunity to open against a top-tier SEC opponent, with last year not exactly going as planned. The Tigers fell flat against Georgia in 2024, but Clemson has a chance to prove LSU head coach Brian Kelly wrong when he called Baton Rouge’s stadium the true Death Valley.
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“I’ve said it. Clemson’s beating LSU in week one…,” said Torres. “What I think is interesting about that game is Clemson, I think, can make [the LSU game] a statement for the entire ACC that could carry weight all year, and I think could carry weight into the playoff.”
Torres speaks about Clemson around the 8:30 mark:
Kicking off the week one lineup, Texas and Ohio State are perhaps the Tigers’ only competition for viewership. However, Clemson and LSU are the nightcap in a primetime spot on ABC at 7:30 EST, so the game will likely receive the attention it deserves.
This article originally appeared on Clemson Wire: As Clemson kicks off fall camp, a Tigers skeptic rolls back comments
