Venables sees a ‘sense of urgency’ in Clemson defense

It’s hard to blame Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables for confidence season-to-season now.

In his first year (2012), the Tigers improved incrementally – from 71st in total defense to 64th, jumped into the top-25 in 2013 (24) and then finished in the top-10 each of the last two seasons (1 in 2014; 10 in 2015).

The defensive talent recruited from back-to-back top-5-rated classes has the depth chart reloaded for years to come.

And the early vibe in spring practice doesn’t hurt either.

“I really like our practice effort. We have to do a good job of communicating pre-snap and I’ve been pleased with that so far,” Venables said. “Just very engaged. Our guys recognize we have plenty of things we have to get better at and a lot of eagerness and willingness to get started back this quickly again. Instead of being lethargic and not purposeful. There’s been a great sense of urgency and that’s been incredibly pleasing to see that.

“There’s a certain sense of desperation in every drill we’ve gone through. That shows a sign of maturity and a sign of respect for the game. The attitude has been good. The work has been good. The tempo has been great.”

Five of the Tigers’ top-six tacklers move on, as well as the top-three in sacks and tackles for loss. While a top-10 unit again in 2015, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney identified an issue his staff is keying on for improvement starting this week – building depth to compete for that goal.

“We gave up too many big plays,” Swinney said. “We played (968) defensive snaps and gave up 4,600 yards or so. And over half of that came on 71 plays; 2,500 yards on 71 plays. We’ve got to get that fixed. The best way to do that is to establish that accountability and build the competition to do that.

“We were a little hamstrung a little bit last year. Just by the nature of our personnel.. We’ve got to play more people defensively and the only way you can do that you’ve got to get more people ready and the best way you can do that is have that kind of competition you need.”

Clemson ranked 102nd in 20-plus-yard plays surrendered (71) and 116th in 40-plus-yarders (23).

Focus early in spring has been on the defensive end position, where the Tigers had two move on early to the NFL draft (Shaq Lawson and Kevin Dodd). Venables sees a team effort in the transition for underclassmen starter candidates such as sophomores Austin Bryant and Richard Yeargin or redshirt freshman Clelin Ferrell.

“We’ve got some good young talented guys,” Venables said. “We’ll be fine.”

This story was originally published March 5, 2016 at 7:37 PM with the headline "Venables sees a ‘sense of urgency’ in Clemson defense."