Dabo Swinney on Clemson’s kicking situation, ‘real close’ to making a change
Dabo Swinney and the Clemson football team showed much improvement in their Week 3 win over Florida Atlantic, but the team’s kicking issues were still evident and concerning.
Robert Gunn remains Clemson’s placekicker, though things could change sooner rather than later. If Gunn doesn’t start hitting his kicks, Swinney and his staff must look in another direction.
Through three games this season, Gunn is 1-for-4 on his field goal attempts and has made 14 of his 15 PAT attempts. Two of these field goals were blocked but also low kicks, allowing an easier block for defenders. Dabo Swinney addressed the issue during his media call on Sunday when asked if the Tigers were close to making a change.
“To answer your question, we are real close,” Swinney said. It is frustrating, for sure, but we just have to keep going. The next guy up would be Aidan (Swanson).”
The Tigers have other kickers on the roster, but it seems Swanson is the next man up. According to Swinney, the punter has looked solid kicking in practice.
“The other two guys (Quinn Castner and Hogan Morton) have not seized the moment, and Aidan has,” Swinney said. “He is a punter who can kick, but he has gotten a little bit more confidence and has done a little better job than the other couple of guys. When they have had opportunities these past couple of weeks, they have not taken advantage of it.
“Hopefully, Robert will get this thing turned around and get out of this little funk he is in. As I have said many times, he is as talented of a guy as I have ever been around, but sometimes guys can get in a little bit of a bad spot mentally or in a slump.”
This issue needs to be fixed for the Tigers to be a successful team this season. Kicking is crucial, and this is a situation to monitor.
