The quarterback isn't playing quite as crisp as he did as a freshman. But three games into the 2019 season and Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney feels this unit is farther along than last year's national championship team.
"Oh, there’s no question. It’s not even close, to be honest with you, after three games," Swinney said.
"First of all, we’ve been challenged more. We’ve played three Power Five teams. Last year at this time, we’d played Furman, Texas A&M and Georgia Southern. Just a different type of deal. We were giving up big plays. We were very inconsistent defensively. And then offensively, I just didn’t think we quite had that killer instinct yet and we were still a work in progress. Justyn Ross was a true freshman. Trevor [Lawrence] was coming on. We were kind of trying to figure everything out. We just weren’t where we are right now. I mean, as an offense, we’re just way ahead. After three games, we’ve averaging more yards and scoring more points than any time in the history of Clemson Football. And we really haven’t played great. There’s so much out there. There’s just no question.
Swinney added that in all three phases, the veterans have blended with the newcomers to create a unit that has shown improvement on offense, defense and special teams.
"Now, will this team improve like that team did? We’ll see," Swinney said.
"That team got better and better and better and they stayed focused. They never got distracted. They stayed locked in. They were hungry. They were really driven and had a will to win. We’ll see, you know? After three games, it’s really not even close where this team is. I really like the energy. I like the focus, I like the discipline, the consistency that we have has been very encouraging. Now, will they make those same strides? Because there’s lots of improving to do, but I’m just really pleased, especially offensively. We’re incredibly explosive, we’re just not quite as efficient as we need to be, and it’s just little things. That’s going to come together quickly. I like where we are. If we’ll stay the course and make the same improvements and stay hungry, we’ve got a chance to be a special group.”
