The Clemson Dubcast

Wes Goodwin and Garrett Riley

We present the uncut audio from Wes Goodwin and Garrett Riley visiting with the Clemson media earlier this week.

Goodwin shares what it was like to be thrown into the defensive coordinator fire with no previous play-calling experience.

He said the 2022 season provided sobering and difficult lessons that make him better entering his second season in charge of the defense that Brent Venables left in December of 2021.

Riley reveals how much he's fallen in love with Upstate South Carolina after leaving TCU to join Dabo Swinney.

This is Riley's second new job in as many years; last year at this time he was still getting used to his new position at TCU after two years at SMU.

 

K’Von Wallace

K'Von Wallace is back in Clemson this summer training. 

He says most players don't go back to their alma maters to work out. But his love of Clemson, coupled with the resources the football program makes available to its former players now in the NFL, makes it a no-brainer to come back home.

Wallace, who is preparing for his fourth season with the Philadelphia Eagles, reflects on the differences between the college and professional game.

He also goes back to his difficult upbringing, part of which was spent living with his mother in public housing in Richmond as gunfire and drugs were common outside the home.

Wallace wore the same pair of shoes from eighth grade to 11th grade. Each year he’d take two brushes and a cup full of soapy water and wash the shoes to keep them fresh.

Wallace's Clemson career didn't get off to the best start. He said he was a loner, and had there been a transfer portal at the time he was a freshman (2016) he probably would've considered going elsewhere.

He ended up winning two national championships and going to four consecutive playoffs before he was selected in the fourth round of the 2020 NFL Draft.

He now looks back at his college career as the time he grew into a man, and he treasures his relationship with Dabo Swinney.

 

 

 

Brad Brownell

It’s been a busy summer for Brad Brownell, who’s preparing for his 14^th season at Clemson.

He and assistant Billy Donlon pulled off the coup of landing Syracuse guard Joe Girard out of the transfer portal.

Then Brownell waited anxiously as a fully-healthy P.J. Hall turned the heads of NBA scouts who were evaluating him during various combines and workouts.

Hall recently elected to return to Clemson for the 2023-24 season, and his pairing with Girard gives Clemson the ACC’s top two returning scorers in conference play from last season.

Even amid the still-lingering pain of narrowly – and controversially -- missing out on the NCAA Tournament, and despite the loss of vital program figurehead Hunter Tyson, there is optimism for further high achievement this season. Justified optimism that the Tigers can successfully resolve unfinished business and put their imprint on March Madness.

Brownell recently sat down in his office for a lengthy interview with Tigerillustrated.com to reflect on a number of important topics surrounding his program.

This is the full audio of that conversation.

 

Melanie Hall

Melanie Hall, mother of Clemson star basketball player P.J. Hall, joins the podcast to tell the story of her son as he grew up in a family of high-level athletes.

Melanie, who played college basketball at College of Charleston, reflects on the recruiting process that ended with her son choosing Brad Brownell and the Tigers.

At one point during his childhood PJ had his room decked out in all things Gamecock. Years later he found himself in love with everything Clemson had to offer.

Hall recently pulled his name out of consideration for the NBA Draft to return for his final season at Clemson. His mother said it just would've felt incomplete had he not returned for another season and anther year of college life before earning his degree.

Hall is fully healthy for the first time in a long time, and he has his mind set on better days after a difficult year that included not just a return from two surgeries last offseason, but the death of a close family friend.

 

 

Nick Eason, Part 3

In March, Clemson assistant coach Nick Eason shared his life story in full for the first time when he sat down with Tigerillustrated.com for three-plus hours.

The six-part series was published in April and featured an almost breathtaking series of life struggles Eason has fought and overcome -- from overt racism as a high-schooler in his hometown of Lyons, Ga., to watching teammate and friend Brandon Rouse die of a heart attack at Clemson, to almost losing his own life when as a Pittsburgh Steeler he was hospitalized for weeks with complications from a ruptured appendix.

Over the last week we've presented Parts 1 and 2 of the conversation. Today we present the third and final part.

Nick Eason, Part 2

In March, Clemson assistant coach Nick Eason shared his life story in full for the first time when he sat down with Tigerillustrated.com for three-plus hours.

The six-part series was published in April and featured an almost breathtaking series of life struggles Eason has fought and overcome -- from overt racism as a high-schooler in his hometown of Lyons, Ga., to watching teammate and friend Brandon Rouse die of a heart attack at Clemson, to almost losing his own life when as a Pittsburgh Steeler he was hospitalized for weeks with complications from a ruptured appendix.

Last week we presented Part 1 from the uncut audio of that conversation.

Today is Part 2, and the third and final part will be published Thursday.

 

Nick Eason, Part 1

In March, Clemson assistant coach Nick Eason shared his life story in full for the first time when he sat down with Tigerillustrated.com for three-plus hours.

The six-part series was published in April and featured an almost breathtaking series of life struggles Eason has fought and overcome -- from overt racism as a high-schooler in his hometown of Lyons, Ga., to watching teammate and friend Brandon Rouse die of a heart attack at Clemson, to almost losing his own life when as a Pittsburgh Steeler he was hospitalized for weeks with complications from a ruptured appendix.

Today we present the uncut audio of the first hour of that conversation.

Parts 2 and 3 will be released next week.

 

Garrett Riley, Wes Goodwin and Thomas Austin

The full, uncut audio from recent press-conference interviews with first-year offensive coordinator Garrett Riley, second-year defensive coordinator Wes Goodwin, and second-year offensive line coach Thomas Austin.

 

 

Grace Raynor

One of Grace Raynor's first experiences covering Clemson was for a football game some folks might remember -- in Tampa, featuring the Tigers and Crimson Tide playing for the national championship.

Raynor still shudders at her harrowing experience writing on a tight deadline late that night for The Post and Courier newspaper. It was such a traumatic experience that she called her mother the next morning and told her she didn't think she was cut out for this sportswriting thing.

As it turned out, Raynor was more than cut out for it. She established herself as an excellent storyteller over the years, including when she moved to The Athletic in 2019.

Over the last year Raynor has moved away from covering Clemson and carved a new and exciting world for herself: Unearthing interesting stories from the always-interesting world of recruiting.

Raynor, who will soon move from the Upstate to Virginia, visited with The Dubcast as she was preparing for that move -- plus an upcoming vacation to Italy.

She reflects on her years covering Dabo Swinney and the Tigers, and she gives her take on how the football program is positioned in a new era of the transfer portal, NIL, and a conference that appears in serious danger.

 

Chopping it up with Grayson Mann

Grayson Mann is a rising senior at Clemson and an aspiring sports journalist.

In addition to working for Tigerillustrated.com as an intern, Mann has his own podcast on which he's interviewed various Clemson football and basketball players.

On this episode, Clemson Dubcast host Larry Williams drops by Mann's podcast and we talk what it's like for a middle-aged man to cover one thing year after year after year while remaining motivated and curious.

How should the expectations for Clemson football be defined as the Tigers try to get back into the playoff picture?

With Florida State ascending and South Carolina on the rebound -- not to mention the team in Athens having become dynastic the past two years -- is it fair to say it's a disappointment if this program doesn't return to the top?

Has the addition of Garrett Riley given this program the jolt of energy and motivation it needed after six losses over the past two seasons?

After DJ Uiagalelei fell far short of the 5-star expectations, is Cade Klubnik ready to give Clemson its next transcendent presence at quarterback?

No ironclad answers to those questions, but a lot of good conversation.