CLEMSON — Tom Allen’s voice echoed throughout Day 4 of Clemson football’s spring practice on Wednesday.
As Clemson defenders worked on tackling drills, the Tigers’ new defensive coordinator had one challenge for them: to fine-tune fundamentals and technique to be the best tackling team in America.
“We got to get this defense fixed,” Allen said. “It’s not been to the standard. You can go back to the numbers . . . and that’s what I’m here to do, and the players, they understand that.”
Poor tackling, gap vision and edge integrity doomed Clemson’s defense in 2024, when it was 50th in the nation in scoring defense (23.4 points), 69th in total defense (374.1 yards) and 84th in run defense (160.6 yards).
This caused Clemson coach Dabo Swinney to fire former defensive coordinator Wes Goodwin and hire Allen — a semifinalist for the 2024 Broyles Award, given to the nation’s top assistant — away from Penn State.
Last season, Allen had led the Nittany Lions to a top-10 finish in scoring defense and total defense, and a No. 9 finish in rush defense.
Allen said he has viewed all game film from last season, along with film of some of last spring’s practices. He said he was displeased with the team’s energy and toughness, and showed the coaching staff and players the tape to emphasize what has to change for the Tigers.
He acknowledged there is a difference between joining Penn State, a team that was top three in scoring and total defense when he arrived in 2024, to joining Clemson this season.
“You got to rebuild confidence,” Allen said. “There was a ton of confidence those guys already had (at Penn State), and here, you don’t have that. You just call it what it is.”
Allen’s intensity reminds Tigers linebacker Wade Woodaz of an esteemed former Clemson defensive coordinator.
“Stories of what I heard of Coach (Brent Venables),” Woodaz said of Venables, who left in 2021 to become the head coach at Oklahoma. “Coach V recruited me, (but) I never got to experience him as a coach.”
Like Venables, who needed a “get-back coach” because he was so invested in the action, Allen carries similar passion. Woodaz shared that Allen tackled cornerback Corian Gipson after he made a huge pass deflection in a rep during the spring. At previous stints, Allen has had his front teeth knocked out and his face cut open after celebrating with players.
Derrian Carter covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DerrianCarter00
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