10 Reasons Clemson Football Will Make the CFB Playoff in 2017

6. Sometimes unknowns are a good thing

If you think Clemson’s inexperience is a bad thing, you may be right.

But you may be proven to be really, really wrong.

Clemson loses a lot of key players off of last year’s team including Deshaun Watson, Artavis Scott, Wayne Gallman, Jordan Leggett, Ben Boulware, and Carlos Watkins.

"“Last year we were a really, really young team,” Swinney said via Will Vandervolt of The Clemson Insider. “We were mostly freshmen and sophomores. This year we have a lot of sophomores and juniors and they are just a little older. That means we have really good depth, which is something I anticipate, and I hope that we can have just great functional depth on both sides to where we can play a lot of people,” he continued. “I’m very encouraged by everything I have seen.”"

While it’s easy to get hung up on who left, there are a lot of returners and those young guys that didn’t get to play due to seniority are itching to play. That means the team is going to be more motivated and excited to go each and every week.

The Tigers will have to replace Gallman in the running game, but it’s not like there aren’t options in the backfield.

As a matter of fact, Dabo Swinney believes that the guys who were behind Wayne Gallman are happy he is gone. Not because they weren’t good enough to compete, but because it gives them the opportunity to prove themselves.

"“The good news is they all know what it looks like,” Swinney said via Scott Keepfer of the Greenville News. “Those three guys, they love Wayne Gallman, but they’re so happy he’s in New York somewhere now and not here. It’s a bigger opportunity for them.”"

Guys like Tre Lamar, Tavien Feaster, Trayvon Mullen, Tanner Muse, and others are ready to make a splash and they’re not going to disappoint.