For what seems like at least the past two seasons, Dabo Swinney took the podium during the fall to talk about how close Clemson was to being an elite football program so often that it became frustrating to the Clemson faithful who just wanted results.
After winning national titles in 2016 and 2018, and losing in the national title game in 2019, Clemson has either made the playoff field and suffered a first round exit (2020-21 season 4-team playoff and 2024-25 12-team playoff), or missed the playoff cut entirely.
Once considered a staple among college football's elite, fans initially thought the sky was falling during Clemson's 2023 season that finished with 9-wins, and then this past fall Clemson had to battle their way to bowl eligibility after starting the season ranked among the top 5 before opening their season with losses in three of their first four games (home against LSU, at Georgia Tech, and home against Syracuse). They would go on to finish 7-5 before a loss to Penn State in the Pinstripe Bowl prompted some staff changes for Dabo Swinney.
Among those changes was the parting of ways with offensive coordinator Garrett Riley, who was hired away from TCU back in 2023 after helping the Horned Frogs to a national title appearance, and while the hire was nearly universally applauded, the Tigers offense never met those lofty expectations.
That led to Dabo Swinney bringing back Chad Morris, who ran the Tigers offense from 2011-14 before going on to serve as the head coach at SMU and then Arkansas.
While the presser announcing Morris' official hire went viral for Dabo's comments accusing Ole Miss of tampering with a Clemson linebacker already on campus taking classes instead of the Dabo-Morris reunion, Morris got the opportunity to talk about the new direction of the Tigers offense recently with a few practices under their belt, and was asked to elaborate on why he felt Clemson had struggled on offense in recent seasons.
Inheriting an offense that led the ACC in dropped passes last year, after watching a bunch of Clemson's game the last several seasons, Morris agreed with Dabo's unpopular notion the Tigers were close, and their focus this spring and their attention through the spring and fall will be on the fine details and letting nothing slide.
"I can't speak to why...I mean they were so close, I know [Dabo] has mentioned that, they were just so close to being completely different. Three or four plays here or there, and then things change. But why didn't those three or four plays happen? It was the little things, the little, intricate details that might have been overlooked, or something that maybe happened during fall camp or spring ball and just somehow got overlooked, and maybe it was a progression that maybe we knew it and didn't get to it - I can't speak to that part from just watching."
"There was a series of things, but it was the little things, and it's those little things each day that add up over time. So that is my challenge. We are not letting anything slide. Nothing slides. Nothing is going to slide...from the staff, to the players, nothing slides."
"Sometimes I have to be ugly to get my kids attention. They really respond, Chandler and McKenzie really respond when I have to get ugly at times, and I tell our players, sometimes I just have to get ugly. I don't like to get ugly, but sometimes that's the best way to get someone's attention."
"But nothing gets overlooked. Everything we do has a purpose. Everything has a purpose."
Morris goes on to share player are doing a great job, and reminds them that "hungry cats hunt best," while the fat cat sitting on the porch isn't real hungry when food crosses the road.