Dabo Swinney reveals another major concern for Clemson offense

The Clemson offense has been anything but good in the first three games of the season and it’s clear that Dabo Swinney and Co. are searching for answers.

QB D.J. Uiagalelei has struggled to get anything going, the Tigers have had drops and the wide receivers aren’t creating separation, the offensive line has been questionable to say the least and play-calling hasn’t blown anyone away, either.

On his Sunday teleconference, Dabo Swinney revealed yet another concern for this offense: He detailed the balance of constructive criticism with the worry of “killing their spirit.”

"“They’re young players. They’re not video game people,” Swinney said Sunday. “They’re human beings, and the good things is they really, really care. They’re passionate about it. They’re very coachable. So, yeah, you’ve got to correct. You’ve got to challenge. But we’ve got to help them, and you certainly don’t want to kill their spirit or anything like that because this is the best we’ve got. It’s kind of where we are right now.”"

What we read into Dabo Swinney’s comment there is that there is no leadership on this offense

Do you remember in the past a time where Dabo Swinney has come out and said anything about having to be concerned about ‘killing spirits?’

Most of the time he is fairly honest in his assessment, but right now he is attempting to shelter the offense in a way that, honestly, we haven’t seen since many questioned Kelly Bryant.

He talks about how the players are coachable and they want to get better– which is good– but he also mentions the youth of the unit and paints a picture that the Tigers are stuck between a rock and hard place as they attempt to find the balance between gently making corrections and not going too far to completely kill the confidence of the offense altogether.

Do you know what that tells me? There is no leadership on this offense.

Honestly, you could’ve seen that without the comment but this is just another sign that no player has taken the role of respected leader on that unit. D.J. Uiagalelei hasn’t taken control of the offense. Other veterans like Justyn Ross and Matt Bockhorst haven’t stepped up to fill that void.

I understand that there are more types of leadership other than that ‘rah-rah’ vocal guy, but the offense is missing this right now. There are too many players who want to try and lead by example and not enough of them are stepping up to the plate to be a vocal leader who the unit can place their trust in.

This might be a complete exaggeration, but right now it’s apparent in my mind that the lack of leadership looks like a real problem and is certainly contributing to why this offense looks so discombobulated when they take the field.