Where Clemson football, Dabo Swinney must get answers during spring practice

CLEMSON – Clemson football began spring practice Wednesday, and coach Dabo Swinney took the podium at the Smart Family Media Center to address last season and express his optimism for 2024.

Swinney spoke on what went wrong last season, including red-zone defense, turnovers, poor special teams and lack of "explosive chemistry." Entering this season, Clemson must figure out its depth chart that includes multiple position battles and find a way for the offense to be more explosive, but Swinney is excited to get spring practice going and solve these issues.

"This is a very attentive group," Swinney said. "If their commitment matches up, then they'll have a chance to be a good team."

Here are three storylines to follow through the spring game April 6:

How will QB Cade Klubnik develop in his second season as a starter?

Cade Klubnik was thrown into the fire in his first full season last year. He posted OK numbers (2,844 passing yards, 19 touchdowns, nine interceptions, 63.9 completion percentage) in his sophomore season but made critical mistakes in the clutch last season.

Klubnik made errors that proved costly in overtime losses to Florida State and Miami. The Tigers hope to see Klubnik deliver in clutch situations like he did on the game-winning drive in the Gator Bowl.

Swinney said Klubnik was responsible for eight of the 28 sacks he took last season. He emphasized the junior must take care of the ball and have better pocket and situational awareness to take the next step in his junior year.

"He's got to get bigger, got to get stronger," Swinney said. "… He's got to have a little more collision girth or collision sustainability."

With maturity and another year in offensive coordinator Garrett Riley's system, his growth will be paramount for the Tigers this season.

Two key starting positions are up for grabs

There will be position battles ongoing throughout the spring and summer. One was expected to be the opening at the defensive end position opposite of sophomore T.J. Parker. Swinney revealed "wild card" sophomore Peter Woods will start out at defensive end and play defensive tackle in passing situations. Swinney is confident the team's defensive-tackle depth will allow Woods to roam from position to position.

The key starting position battles will be for kicker (Robert Gunn III, Nolan Hauser) and center (Ryan Linthicum, Harris Sewell, Trent Howard).

Gunn lost the starting kicker job last season after missing three field goals and an extra point in the first three games, which led to Swinney replacing him with former walk-on Jonathan Weitz. The Tigers recruited Hauser, a three-star prospect who holds the national record in career field goals made, to compete for the job.

"The one thing about kicking, there's no subjectivity to it," Swinney said. "Those two guys will battle it out, and we'll see what happens."

Clemson also returned seven offensive linemen. Swinney said Linthicum, Sewell and Howard will vie at center.

"They'll all get opportunities to compete, and we'll go from there," Swinney said.

SPRING FLING:What Dabo Swinney loves about spring practice that Clemson football needs most after 2023

The impact of early enrollees

Swinney has been impressed with how the 2024 early enrollees handled themselves off the field and look forward to seeing how it translates on it. He admitted some players caught his eye in the weight room and during mat drills and applauded the group for not caving in with what they've been tasked to do so far.

"We've got a great opportunity to really set a foundation for our team and not just create depth, not just functional depth, but elite depth," Swinney said. "We've got the ability to get a lot of competition in every single position, and hopefully with that, we create the type of elite depth that we need to have the type of season we want to have."

Swinney is excited to see the 15 early enrollees take the field and battle this spring with seven more coming in the summer. The class is highlighted by five-star linebacker Sammy Brown and wide receiver T.J. Moore, who enrolls in the summer.

If members of that class can take their success from the weight room/mat drills to the field, it could be a strong 2024 for the Tigers.

Derrian Carter covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at dcarter@gannett.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DerrianCarter00