Clemson Football: Aidan Swanson must work on becoming consistent

Clemson football punter Aidan Swanson has an opportunity to compete for playing time, but he must becoming more consistent to have a chance.

The 2019 Clemson football freshman class was one of the biggest in the past decade for the Tigers. The coaching staff signed a total of 29 prospects, with 17 of them enrolling early.

One of those early enrollees was punter Aidan Swanson, a 4-star from IMG Academy.

Swanson is the highest-rated punter to sign with Clemson in the Dabo Swinney era and has an opportunity to compete for playing time as a freshman.

Today, let’s continue our series analyzing the Clemson football freshmen with a look at Swanson.

Talent Analysis:

It doesn’t a professional analyst to figure out that Swanson has potential to be an elite punter. He has had times where he has booted the ball 60-plus yards. As a senior in high school, Swanson averaged over 40 yards per punt and has an extremely strong leg.

The freshman punter is a lefty, and he has also come along as a kickoff specialist and field kicker, as well.

Swanson’s main issue- like many other young specialists- is consistency.

Finding a way to consistently boot the ball on punts is something that is not easy to do, though it would seem so from the outside looking in.

One of the perfect examples of this was the Clemson football spring game.

Swanson had a couple of perfect punts that turned the field, but then he also had a short punt that didn’t travel as far as anyone would’ve liked to have seen.

Consistency will be the key for the young freshman.

Immediate Impact?

Swanson is entrenched in a battle with Will Spiers for the starting job at punter. Though Spiers has been the starter the past couple of seasons, he has been far from consistent. Spiers doesn’t have the power that Swanson possesses, but right now it would seem that the veteran still holds the edge over the freshman.

The battle will continue through fall camp and, most likely, the regular season.