Clemson Football: Assistants who need a big 2023

Wes Goodwin

Swinney, like many others, respects Goodwin. He promoted him over options that had more experience as on-field coaches.

Goodwin’s first season wasn’t bad. He coached the linebackers, and while things weren’t perfect, they probably had the best season of any of the defensive units.

The one flaw was the plan to move Trenton Simpson to the WILL position so Barrett Carter could play the SAM. When injuries required the lineup to be flexible, it was discovered that Simpson was much better at SAM where he had played the previous two seasons. Carter was very good at the WILL.

They gave the plan a try. It didn’t work as well as they hoped. No big deal. The linebackers still had a good season.

It’s Goodwin’s bigger responsibilities – defensive coordinator and defensive play caller – which are the areas where he needs to show improvement if he wants to be sure he will retain those jobs beyond 2023.

The defense as a whole took a step back from their performance in 2022, and most people think there are fair reasons for that. You can’t realistically replace Brent Venables with someone as good as Brent Venables. The on-field leader of the 2022 defense, James Skalski, also graduated from the program, as well as NFL players like Andrew Booth Jr. and Baylon Spector.

I don’t think the step back was unexpected, but I doubt that the status quo of 2022 is the plan for 2023. Swinney proved that making a high-level change on his staff doesn’t intimidate him if he feels the change is necessary – the program is more important than any one individual.

The defensive side doesn’t need to be record-setting, but there does need to be an improvement, and that responsibility belongs to Goodwin.