CLEMSON – So I didn’t anticipate Tuesday’s press conference devolving to paternity testing for the father of Clemson’s offense, but I digress.

So, let’s go over this bizarre sequence for a final time, mainly because I have no other material for a blog post at the moment.

An anonymous blog entry (though, apparently credible as anonymous blogs go) reports Swinney and Billy Napier had a heated verbal altercation last week at practice.

Asked about the situation, Swinney said he and Napier did have an exchange. But Swinney added he “got a piece” of every coach and player – not just Napier.

Swinney says the verbal “encouragement” was part of motivational stratagem, after all, he says, Clemson just lost Maryland.

(The verbal altercation doesn’t do much for me – unless we know more about what was actually said. .... Two coaches screaming at each other is hardly shocking, or newsworthy. These guys are ex-football players. They are intense and competitive. About every coach on the ACC teleconference Wednesday says staff meetings are often heated)

What is more interesting, what is soap opera-like stuff that is the claim Swinney is vetoing 15 to 25 Napier play calls per game. That number is roughly 30 percent of his calls.

While anonymous sources are sketchy sources of news – the idea seems plausible.

Napier is one of the youngest coordinators in college football. Swinney seems to signal in the majority of plays. Swinney is very hands-on, and comes from an offensive background. Swinney said during the summer he had ideas he wanted to implement, that he promoted Napier in part because of familiarity and philosophical similarities.

While, Swinney denied the extent of his reported veto usage, saying he has only vetoed 3-5 plays this season, Swinney said he “manages” games.

He might not veto a specific call like Red Right 88 – but he will tell Napier to call a down-field pass or run power. So then it becomes a matter of semantics, what is a veto, what is an override?

And in general how often do head coaches override OC play calls – or steer them toward a certain package of plays like ‘chuck it deep here.’ Even if Swinney is managing, directing, overriding say 15-25 plays per game – Napier’s still making roughly 70 percent of the calls.

Napier didn't specially address the 15-25 number when ask, rather saying: “it’s not a problem” and Swinney "manages the game well." Napier goes on to say the game-scripting, game-planning process is “collaborative.”

Is there is a growing rift in the relationship? The parties involved deny it. And we'll leave it alone, unless more evidence arises.

Clearly, not everyone out there is buying the United Front.

After all, it’s a common audible from the institutional playbook, and it's good to be skeptical. Just watch seasons 3 thru 5 of The Wire.

Clearly, the band will not be invited back to observe practice.

(But someone did invite this band to Littlejohn Coliseum last night, which was a freaking shock)

What didn’t occur to me initially was the communication issues related to protections that might arise from last-second overrides – The report claims a protection was blown on the last play of the Maryland game, but Swinney has said the ball had to be out of Parker’s hand regardless of protection.

So all this is plausible. There is E-smoke. But should such an offensive arrangement really be surprising?

Didn’t we know this was to be “collaborative” effort?

Swinney hired Kevin Steele to be the defacto head coach of the defense, where Swinney would provide little oversight. Swinney’s eyes were to be focused on his offense, young quarterback and young coordinator. Swinney said he would reserve the right to change play calls.

What I'd like to know more about is macro philosophy and personnel decisions. For instance, Napier seems to be much keener on the idea of playing Dwayne Allen. I guess we'll see who wins out on that Saturday.

Anyways, enough is enough.

I know everyone is looking to assign blame to the 102nd ranked Clemson offense. I know Clemson Nation is restless. And you have to believe people are getting frustrated in the coaching offices.

Certainly having a young offensive staff opens itself to criticism if things aren't going well. But I think these two numbers are most important to consider: 5 and 11

Five is the career number of starts by Kyle Parker.

Eleven is Clemson’s strength of schedule.

What does Clemson Nation expect of Parker this season? What is fair? Why is quarterback play so improved across the league? – the common answer on the ACC coaches teleconference Wednesday: experience.

Thaddeus Lewis (40), Riley Sinner (37), Tyrod Taylor (21) all have a ton of starts …. Russell Wilson and Jacory Harris are in their second years starting. ACC quarterbacks have already recorded more 300-yard games (16) than all of last season.

If you're a member of Clemson Nation you just have to trust/hope Napier when he says Parker can make a jump in productivity and in the second half, and with it Clemson’s offense.

Maybe more important than how, or how often Napier calls plays, is how quickly he can develop Parker.

• TS

Copy and paste the link:

Comments

Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.

Postandcourier.com is pleased to offer readers the enhanced ability to comment on stories. We expect our readers to engage in lively, yet civil discourse. Postandcourier.com does not edit user submitted statements and we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted in the comments area. Responsibility for the statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not postandcourier.com. If you find a comment that is objectionable, please click "report abuse" and we will review it for possible removal. Please be reminded, however, that in accordance with our Terms of Use and federal law, we are under no obligation to remove any third party comments posted on our website. Read our full Terms and Conditions.

Users can now build user-to-user connections, follow friends' recent posts, add an avatar that fits their personality, and more. If you have posted here before you'll need to sign up again, or if you've never posted before, start now by signing up!