But joining us live from Tigertown right now. He covers the Cleinson Tigers of
course for all Clinson Tigers dot com. He's the co host of the Believing
Clemson Football Podcast with our good buddy Levon Kirkland. It's a noted Steelers fan,
Will Vanderford. Will, how things going? You excited for another NFL
season? My friend? Yeah, excited that football season officially began today for
us in the Upstate, and uh, pretty pretty excited about that. It
was kind of good to see everybody's When when Davo has his media out and
he does this every year, it always feels like the first day of school.
You know, it's like you see everybody, you haven't seen him in
like four or five weeks, six weeks you know in some cases, and
you know you're like, oh, how you doing, how's your summer?
What is it gonna do? And you catch up with everybody. It's crazy.
It's that same nostalgic feeling that you got back in the old days.
Um So, yeah, it was good. It was good to see everybody.
Was good to see the coaches and talk to them and of course see
coach Tweeney and always gracious to host us every year with this out here.
Not every coach does this, that's what. Yeah, you know, it's
not a normal thing that every coach does, and so Debo. He always
starts it off with I like to talk to you guys before I talk to
the national media. I feel like I need to talk to my local guys
first and give y'all the you know, the questions first about what's going on
in the program before he chose uptse you see media days and talks to the
national media. And also we appreciated as local media that coach Sweeney does that
every year. Force Now he's he's a good dude in that regard, and
I think he appreciates not only your coverage, but the coverage that all of
us try to provide here locally for this program. It's nothing but not fair.
And I do mention the Steelers because we're gonna talk about them later.
I got some thoughts on your Steelers. We picked our division winners, and
I think you'll be pretty happy with where they ended up. But I do
want to ask you about these Tigers. The big day down there. As
you mentioned, school is kind of back in session now, and obviously you
get a chance to speak to Debo Sweeney. I saw some postings of yours
at all Clemson Tigers dot com about Gared Riley. Let's start there his thoughts
on his new quarterback k club Nick. Is there you beginning their marriage,
so to speak, in terms of the quarterback coordinated relationship. What's the overall
takeaway you got from speaking with this offensive coordinator down there? Yeah, he's
he's been very pleased with the progression that his young quarterback has made since the
spring. Says, you know that the you know, just from what he
could see that because you remember, coaches can't really be involved in the practices
or anything like that, but from what they can see and then what being
reported back to him, sounds like they're sort of getting used to the offense,
like it's becoming second nature now, sort of like a muscle memory,
if you will, with how they do things, which is what you want.
That's why it was so important for him to those first week of spring
practice to put basically the entire offense in and get the entire offense in that
first week so that the guys could have another week of going through it,
getting used to it and mean that way that goes into the sun and they
know what they need to work on, and so I think that's helped a
lot for them, and it seems like he's paying off. He's been really
pleased with not only Garrett, I mean, excuse me, with not only
Kate Clubney, though also with the other quarterbacks as well, and the offense
as a whole. He thought this has been a productive summer for them.
Talk about the offensive line a little bit. Obviously, the left tackle has
moved on and their vive was he reloading there? What's the overall outlook for
this starting five up front and what's the coach's perspective on that. Yeah,
they're they're gonna be primary. It sounds like Tristan Lee's gonna be the guy
there, or at least going into campus that guy there. There's gonna be
some competition, so it's not like it's his job. He's gonna have to
earn it, but he's gonna get first shot. The other force positions are
pretty set and stable at Thomas Austin actually said that they that's the offensive line
coach for Clempson actually said that this is the deepest the offensive line has ever
been in his years. Not only now, he's only in the second year
coaching the offensive line. But you remember he's been an analyst for several years
prior to so he's been he's been a coach at Clemson on Dabo's stats since
like twenty sixteen, and you know, he's saying, this is the this
is the deepest he can remember the deep offensive line being says they're about probably
eight to eleven guys that they can count on. They definitely know they got
eight guys that can count on, which is really good, but they feel
like they can probably get up to eleven this year. So if that's the
case, guys, that's going to help them because they'll be able to spell
some of those guys early in the game, like maybe second quarter or so,
and then that allows them to be a little bit stronger down the stretch
of the game and maybe they need it there in the fourth quarter. Well,
Vanderford joins us here. He's the co host of I Believe in Clemson
Football podcast with Levon Kirkland. What about injuries. I'm reading that Miles Oliver
Trey Williams are dealing with some injuries that might hold them out of camp.
And then you posted something about Tyler Venables. Unfortunately, he's having surgery on
his hip. He just had surgery. Looks like maybe late in the year
he might be back. Well, what's the status on those guys? Are
any other injuries that are sort of lingering right now for the upcoming Tiger's team,
Well, those are the three major ones, um, and it will
start with Tyler Venables. He as you mentioned, it's a hip labrom tear
um. He had surgery yesterday to repair it. They talked about maybe,
you know, and and he could he could, but he could go through
the year and not and and fight through it and then just had the surgery
at the end of the year. But they felt like Tyler felt like,
you know, it'd be best for him to you know, and clips is
very deep at the safety position. Yeah, and so that felt like it
was better for him to go ahead and get the surgery. Now sit out
this season. He's got two years, he's got three years to play two
UM, so he'll come back. He'll use this as a ret shirt year.
He'll have two more seasons after this. UM. So he hasn't you
burn his redshirt yet, so this will be his first time burning his redshirt.
So it's a win win for Clemson in the sense of, yes,
they would love that type of Nables this year, no doubt. But now
they're guaranteed to get him back. Dabbo sat for the next two years and
he'll be healthy and he doesn't have to about coming back and stuff like that.
Now they said they're getting a pinch later in the season and they need
somebody, then you know that he could possibly come in and help. Remember
the new rule now with college football, I guess it's not a new rule
anymore. It's been in for several years now. You could play up be
four games. Yeah, so he could play the last four games of the
season and still keep that red shirt. So that's going to be the plan
right now. It's the red shirt them good stuff. Will Vandervoort covering the
team for all Clemson Tigers dot Com, the receiving Corps. What do you
make of what they have right now in front of them? I mean,
obviously Clemson's trying to get back to the glory days of what they've had the
better part of the last decade. Who's number one, number two right down
on that depth chart, and obviously they're losing one of their key see roost
to the game of baseball. Talk about that a little bit, and I
think you and I both agree it's probably the best choice for him, right
yeah, and real fast. I forgot to update with the other two injuries,
Trey Williams and Miles Oliver. Oliver it's just a lingering injury from last
year. Probably gonna miss a good part of camp, but he'll be back.
They think he'll be ready by the season starts. And then Trey Williams,
he had a shoulder issue going back to his high school days. They
just wanted to get that cleaned up. He'll miss the first couple of weeks
of camp, but they said he'll be ready to go in a couple of
weeks. Get to your question, though, you know, obviously Will Taylor
decided a few weeks back he's gonna go and just focus on baseball only.
I guess I would be. Last week he came back from the Cape to
talk to Dabo about it, and they both mutually agreed that this was the
best thing for Will and that he, you know, focused on baseball.
He's got a chance to have a really special career in baseball. We know
that he loved football, that's his favorite sport. But he's but you know,
as we all know, sometimes you get a favorite sport that does means
your best sport. Right, Baseball is, without a doubt, his best
sport. And he loves playing baseball too, don't get me wrong, but
they feel like it it's better for both parties that he focused on baseball and
Clemson you know, you know, they end up you know, now they're
down. They're one scholarship down, which is good. So you know they're
gonna end up giving that scholarship somebody here in a few weeks. But to
get to the eighty five limit. But so it was a win win for
everybody. Somebody's gonna get a scholarship out of it, and Will Taylor's gonna
you know, he's gonna be able to focus on his baseball career. What's
the biggest challenge for this team this year? Obviously, you know it's going
to be competitive. I think you look at the conference that lot has been
made of Florida State. In fact, Ebba was asked about FSU and he
was nothing but complimentary about Mike Norvell. And there's some history there, we
know that back through the COVID year. But what's the biggest challenge not externally
necessarily, but internally with this team in terms of either position groups, coordination
of the operation. Is there anything you look at and see you know what,
this team is gonna be very good. But here's something I'm looking at
to say, maybe like last year is the secondary. Perhaps what stands out
to will Vandervoort is a possible spot of bother for this team, if any.
Yeah, there's two concerns. One I think the obvious one is wide
receiver. Um, you know, they they just really don't know. Gett.
Ridley was asked about his receivers today and he's very honest. He's like,
I don't know because the guys they got coming back, I haven't seen,
you know, he hasn't seen, you know, what Adam Randall can
really do. He hasn't seen what Bo Collins can do. So he's sort
of in a fluxive. We don't know, we don't know what we got
at wide receiver yet and that and that's so that's a little bit of concern.
No surprise there. I think everybody understands that Clemson has had injuries use
the last couple of years and they just haven't mean good at wide receiver.
You know, the other area of concern to me is only mainly from an
experience standpoint, because I do think they have talent at this position. But
at defensive end. You know, Clemson's got Xavier Thomas and they got Justin
Maskell. That's it as far as experience goes. And you know, I
think Xavier Thomas has more snaps than anybody else in the position room. And
you gotta remember he's played hurt the last several years and he's still got more
snaps anybody can buy. So it's a it's a concern from an experienced standpoint
there. It'll be interesting to see if they make it. He moves in
camp or not. We'll find out. But the coaches they like, you
know Lemanski Hall, you know, he says he likes the guys he's got
there. He thinks he's got talent. It's just a matter of they got
to get some experience and right now, you know, there may be some
growing pains early in the year, but they think that can be better as
the season goes long. Well, you know West Goodwin pretty well, the
defensive coordinator, and we've talked about Wes. He's a fascinating character. If
you will, just a word on entering into another season here as this coordinator.
You think he's getting his footing a little more comfortable. And how they
trended last season. I know they had some situations that were an ideal in
the secondary, but I was impressed with some of the things schematically they did
to hold down the fort if you will, just a word on West Goodwin
is he coordinates this defense as well as with Mickey conn and many other members
of this staff. Yeah, he said that, you know, last year
he felt like he was just kind of thrown into the fire, it was,
and he was, I mean, it was his first year being a
coordinator and being a coach at the same time, so there's a lot kind
of coming at him. And he said he had a lot to learn,
and you know, sometimes the only way to learn is through experience and you
get better and when you do that, and he felt like, you know,
when he went back and self evaluated himself and he had others evaluate him,
you know, he learned a lot about what to do, not only
as a coach, but how to also make sure that doesn't affect things at
home with the wife and the kids, Right and so you've got to look
at that too, And so he said it was a big learning experience all
the way around last year. You know, not one of those things you
would wish on anybody, but it's definitely something that when you go through it,
you're glad you did because it gives you so much knowledge of what not
to do. And I think that's where he's at. He learned a lot
of things as a play caller as a coach that this is, this works,
this doesn't work. You know, maybe I need to do these things
instead of this. And I think you're going to see that with this defense
this year. I think it's gonna be a much better defense and you're going
to see the players, I think, trusting more of what he's calling as
well. And I think last year there was some miscommunication there and things of
that nature during the course of the season. I think that's what led to
them being so inconsistent at times. Well. Vandervoort's got you covered on the
Clemson front at All Clemson Tigers dot com. He's also the co host of
the Believing Clemson Football Podcast with our good buddy Levon Kirkland. Speaking of a
Levan and the Steelers. Would you be surprised if we told you that Trey
and I both have picked our division winners and we don't have Pittsburgh winning that
division, but we have going to the playoffs. Did you share our optimism
as long as Cincinnati is a team that you picked to win that division?
I'm okay with it. Okay, they could not. Not that I like
that either, but it makes more sense to me because I do think Cincinnati
is the better team in that division. UM I think their ceiling is a
lot higher, though I think the Steelers could win up. You know,
you look at that schedule and you look at Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh got the best
defense in NFL. Think when you look at all three UM levels, I
think they got the best defense because they can get after the pastor they can
stop the run. They've improved a linebacker, and I think they got the
best secondary they've had since the days of Troy Polomano and Troy Palomalo, Ike
Taylor and Ryan Clark back there, right. I really believe, I really
believe that, and so I think that's going to give them a chance to
win some games. And they made the improvements on the offensive side, you
know, they ran the football. There were number two in the NFL last
year the last eight games of the season running the football, averaging nearly one
hundred and fifty yards a game rushing. Now they can run the football like
that and the playmakers they have. They're getting Austin back, the kid I
believe from oh Man, help me out here was a West Virginia. Yeah,
and so he h they're getting him back. You know, he didn't
play it all last year. He was a third round pick last year that
got injured in camp. They're excited about what he can do and how you
can stretch the field. You gotta think Jante Johnson's gun catch a touchdown this
year, and you would hope and then you know, you looked at Pickings
there. I think he's set to have a all pro caliber China season and
he's gonna really surprise people. I think he's not getting the fantasy pick that
I thought he would get. And maybe that's because of Kenny Pickett. People
just don't know to trust Kenny Pickett yet or not. Yeah, but I
think with the running game, if they're running the football, well, I
think you can see Kenny pick it take that next step and become a better
passer, and that he doesn't have to do it all. He can rely
on his defense in his running game to win football games for him. So
all that said, I think this team can win a ceiling of thirteen games.
I think the floor is ten. Yeah. With that said, they
can win eleven games, guys, and still finished fourth in that division.
It is. That's what I was like. I sized it up in Baltimore
and Cleveland could still be very good, but I got them below Pittsburgh right
now is it stands just to let you know, not that it means anything,
but it's fun to sort of project this stuff I've got In the first
round of the playoffs, the wild card, it would be Pittsburgh at Jacksonville.
And breaking news, Trey Falco did not know that Jacksonville and their home
stadium has a pool. So I'm already imagining a sea of terrible towels and
the pool watching the game. And then Falco here has a matchup that would
be near and dear to your heart. How about a two thousand and five
rematch and a twenty fifteen rematch of Steelers at Cincinnati. I mean that that
would be pretty cool, right, Yeah? That would be cool. I
will be able to go to that one obviously, but if they but if
the Steelers are playing Jacksonville and Jacksonville, I'm gonna find my way to make
down there. Yeah. I know the people in Jacksonsville. I think he
gets the tickets that uh so I can make that happen more than Will Will
will be Will will be in the pool with his terrible towel and then do
like like Bruce Arian says, win or lose, we booze. It's a
win win for you because if your Steelers win, great, If not,
you're going under the waffle house with Trevor Lawrence. It's all good. Yeah,
it's a win win either way. Right now, I don't mind going
to the waff out every Will you too, kind of make time? Man,
We'll see you soon. I can't wait to get you in here in
studio again, my friend. Be well, all right, all right,
guys, we'll talk to you a letter thing. All right, There is Will Vanderford