The Clemson Dubcast

Mickey Plyler

Longtime Upstate radio host Mickey Plyler rejoins the podcast to talk about the quarterback situation at Clemson.

With DJ Uiagalelei having shown clear progress and Cade Klubnik having brought a spark in his limited duty, what's the right play right now for Clemson's coaching staff?

What are the pros and cons of giving Klubnik more prominent action to see what he can do?

And how might this play out long-term this season?

Plyler has heard plenty on this from listeners to his WCCP show. He gives his take on a crucial juncture in Dabo Swinney's brilliant coaching tenure.

 

Dustin Fry

Dustin Fry is in no hurry to get back into college football coaching.

He spends most of his time with his wife and two young boys in the hills of North Carolina. He helps out coaching offensive and defensive line at the local high school near Tryon.

He is savoring life, and that's hard to do these days in the coaching profession.

Fry was on the support staff at Clemson under Chad Morris, and then he got his big break when Morris landed the SMU job and asked Fry to come with him to Dallas.

After three years it was off to Arkansas, where the staff jumped into the deep end of the SEC and thought they'd have time to build something.

As it turned out they didn't last two years. Morris was fired after a 2-8 start in his second season.

Fry, who's from Summerville and played offensive line at Clemson, became disillusioned with the soul-sucking, non-stop routine of recruiting and preparing for games.

"It's become so intense in the profession that even when you win a game you only get to enjoy it for a few hours before you're breaking down film and getting started on the next game," he said.

Fry said he was texting just this week with South Carolina assistant Justin Stepp, who he was with under Morris at SMU and Arkansas.

"He asked me: 'Do you miss any of this shit?'" Fry said. "There's times I do. I'm not going to sit here and say college football is over for me. But I really enjoy the time I spend with my boys, picking the oldest up from school and being around him for a few hours every day. Just to have a real life -- I've made some good friends up here and it has nothing to do with football. 

"I've joined the golf club up here and met some great people. It's just awesome because I've never gotten to do anything like that. I've never gotten to be around non-coaching, non-football situations. It has been nice to step back from it for the last few years."

Matt Bockhorst

Matt Bockhorst joins the podcast to talk life after football, and working just a short walk of the beach at Isle of Palms.

Bockhorst also helps dig into the current developments along Clemson's offensive line, which has received a big boost by freshman Blake Miller showing he's worthy of being a starter at right tackle.

Bockhorst revisits the experiment of moving from guard to center a year ago, and recalls when he knew Clemson's offensive line was in trouble against Georgia and Jordan Davis.

Bockhorst spent this past spring around the program and gives his take on the new offensive direction under Brandon Streeter.

Will freshman Cade Klubnik quickly take over for a faltering DJ Uiagalelei, or will DJ reprise the excellent playmaker everyone saw when he started against Notre Dame and Boston College in 2020? Bockhorst gives his perspective on the quarterback battle that everyone is talking about and thinking about.

 

 

Gary Stokan and Kelly Quinlan

Gary Stokan has been one of the major movers and shakers in college football over the past two-plus decades.

As the CEO and president of the Peach Bowl, Stokan has been instrumental in making Atlanta a prominent player in college football.

When he was in his 20s, Stokan worked for shoe companies and helped seal sponsorship deals with Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.

He still kicks himself for letting Michael Jordan get away to a struggling company called Nike. The sneaker business was forever changed when MJ and Nike joined forces.

Stokan gives some insight into why Clemson's opener against Georgia Tech will have a capacity of just 45,000 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

He also shares what it's been like to develop a friendship with Dabo Swinney over the years as Swinney built Clemson from a perennial underachiever, to a really good program, to an elite one.

Kelly Quinlan, longtime chronicler of Georgia Tech football, provides a pulse on the Geoff Collins regime and looks back at the mistakes Collins made starting out. The Yellow Jackets have won a total of nine games the past three seasons, and a rigorous 2022 schedule has enhanced the likelihood that this will be Collins' final season on The Flats.

Quinlan was close with Paul Johnson during the coach's long tenure at Georgia Tech, and he still communicates with him regularly.

Asked if Johnson might be taking some satisfaction in the struggles that followed his departure, Quinlan responded:

"I'm sure he's sitting there with a glass of bourbon and puffing on a cigar and getting a chuckle out of this."

 

Where Are They Now, Part 2

In a continuation of summer conversations with 30 prominent former players, we catch up with the following:

Matt Bockhorst

Jim Stuckey

Willy Korn

Landon Walker

Dustin Fry

Levon Kirkland

Robert Carswell

Woody Dantzler

Each player is asked the same three basic questions:

1) What are you up to now?

2) What are your thoughts on the state of Clemson's football program?

3) What are your thoughts on the state of college athletics, which is facing major change with the advent of NIL and freer ability to transfer to different schools?

These interviews were conducted for The Clemson 30 series of articles that were published at Tigerillustrated.com.

 

Tavaghn Monts

When Tavaghn Monts decided to return to Clemson in 2019 to complete his degree, he discovered he had a 1.63 grade-point average.

This was the fallout he wasn't aware of from 2006, when he left school to try out with the Cleveland Browns. He neglected to drop the courses, and that left him with all F's at the end of the semester.

After making the President's List during the 2019 fall semester while commuting to Clemson from Atlanta multiple times a week, he made the Dean's List in the spring of 2020 and then the President's List again in the summer of 2020.

In August of 2020, he received his degree in PRTM. And now he works for Clemson as the executive director of Momentum Bike Clubs, a group-mentoring initiative for middle- and high-school students in Greenville and Pickens counties with a mission to transform the lives of young people.

Monts, who played defensive back at Clemson in 2001, 2003 and 2004, joins The Dubcast to reflect on his remarkable journey that includes walking five miles to work as a Waffle House manager in Atlanta.

 

 

Thomas Austin, Mike Reed, Mickey Conn

The raw audio from three assistant coaches' recent visits with the media in advance of the 2022 football season.

Thomas Austin is in his first year as Clemson's offensive line coach, replacing longtime coach Robbie Caldwell. He gives insight into the pecking order at right guard after veteran Will Putnam moved to center and solidified that position.

Mike Reed, entering his tenth year at Clemson, gives progress reports on Jeadyn Lukus, Nate Wiggins and others in a group that lost Andrew Booth and Mario Goodrich from last year's team.

Mickey Conn, elevated to co-defensive coordinator after the departure of Brent Venables, raves about the speed and versatility of not just this safeties group but the defense across the board.

Clemson begins preseason camp Aug. 5.

Wes Goodwin, Lemanski Hall

Clemson's first-year defensive coordinator reflects on his building anticipation of filling the expansive shoes of Brent Venables.

"A lot of excitement, waking up at 4 AM and just a lot of things are running through your mind," Wes Goodwin said.

To outsiders, Goodwin was an obscure name on Clemson's staff until Dabo Swinney made the unconventional move to promote him in the wake of Venables' departure for Oklahoma.

Lemanski Hall welcomes back a load of talent to his defensive end room, but he knows it's likely that he'll lose four guys after this season. Included is Myles Murphy, who will have an opportunity to turn pro early if he has the monster season that's being forecast by Hall and others.

The Tigers begin preseason camp on Aug. 5.

 

 

C.J. Spiller, Brandon Streeter, Nick Eason

The raw, uncut audio from the three assistant coaches' visits with the media earlier this week.

Spiller is entering his second year as Clemson's running backs coach and acknowledges that last year brought a steep learning curve for him as he tries to adjust to new terminology and coaching running backs he didn't recruit.

Streeter, promoted to offensive coordinator after the departure of Tony Elliott to Virginia, discusses the offseason progress of DJ Uiagalelei.

Eason, a Clemson alum, has brightened every room he's been in since joining Dabo Swinney's staff to replace Todd Bates. That includes this week, when he started off his media session by saying this:

"Wait a second and let me sit down and fix my shirt so my man boobs look a little better."

Dabo Swinney is preparing for his 14th full season as Clemson's head coach. The Tigers begin preseason camp Aug. 5.

 

 

Bryson Carter

Bryson Carter has attended 205 straight Clemson football games. That includes the 2020 season when he traveled to Notre Dame, Wake Forest and Virginia Tech and sat outside the football stadiums listening to those games via radio.

At the age of 15, Carter was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa. The rare genetic disorder brings a breakdown and loss of cells in the retina.

Carter lost all his vision when he was a student at Clemson and he stopped attending school.

In 2007, he began a streak of following the Tigers that he plans to extend to 206 games when the Tigers play at Georgia Tech to open the 2022 season.

He has followed Clemson via planes, trains, buses and automobiles. He took a bus to Phoenix in the 2016 season when the Tigers faced Ohio State in the playoff semifinal.

He has developed many lasting relationships during these travels with people who noticed him and offered to help him.

He has spoken to Clemson's football team at the request of Dabo Swinney. He has spoken to Clemson's Tiger Band at the request of band director Mark Spede.

At every home game, people on The Hill part when they see him making his way to his spot next to the band.

For Bryson, the Tiger Band and PA announcer Dale Gilbert paint the picture of what he cannot see unfolding on the field.

He lives in Anderson with his girlfriend Tara, who works at Clemson.