Sometimes you watch a team and think, “Man, they’re just one piece away.” That was Clemson in 2024. Ten wins, an ACC title, and an offense dropping nearly 35 points a game. But their defense? Let’s just say it was like a door with a busted lock. Looked fine until someone gave it a real push. Dabo Swinney knew it too. If 2025 was gonna be the year for a natty run, he had to fix that leak. He went out and put $6 million on the table for arguably one of the best defensive minds in the college football world.

Swinney went and poached one of the best in the game: Tom Allen from Penn State. The guy’s 2024 Nittany Lions unit? Filthy. Seventh in total defense, eighth in scoring defense, giving up just 16.5 a game. They were stingy against the run, around 102 yards per outing, and vicious in the backfield, finishing second nationally in tackles for loss and fifth in sacks. Basically, they lived in opponents’ nightmares. Compare that to Clemson’s 2024 defense, which ranked 51st in points allowed and got gashed on the ground. The hire makes perfect sense.

Allen’s arrival in Death Valley wasn’t quiet. From day one in fall camp, he’s been about one thing: accountability. Clemson insider Grayson Mann dropped a nugget on X saying, “Tom Allen really holds every player on the defense accountable. The players hold each other accountable.” Tristan Smith says Tom Allen has the Clemson defense “locked in” and that there’s some “dudes” on that side of the ball.” And he’s simplified the scheme. Fewer plays, tighter responsibilities, and zero excuses.

Even defensive end Cade Denhoff spelled it out: “With the accountability of everybody knowing what their job is and the simplicity of the defense, everybody is in the right gap most of the time. Honestly, it’s harder for us to be out of the gap than to do something the right way.” Just gap-locked football. The urgency comes from last season’s embarrassment against the run. Mid-70s nationally in rush defense. Worst yards-per-carry allowed since 1975.

And that Texas game? A 77-yard playoff TD run by the longhorns that might as well have been a track meet. Injuries like Wade Woodaz’s hurt, sure, but there were too many missed tackles, bad pursuit angles, and busted coverages to just blame the injury bug. Clemson’s pressure on quarterbacks? Inconsistent at best. That, in turn, cooked their secondary in high-leverage spots.

Allen steps into a dream roster. Pro Football Focus has Clemson’s defense ranked third in the country, paired with the No. 1 offense. The D-line? Straight-up unfair. T.J. Parker and Peter Woods might as well be NFL players moonlighting as college kids. Parker had 19.5 TFLs, 11 sacks, and a school-record six forced fumbles in 2024. Woods is the immovable object in the middle who’ll wreck your whole blocking scheme. PFF also has the secondary ranked fourth, and linebackers inside the top 10. If Allen can marry that talent with his gap-obsessed scheme? That’s championship DNA.

Swinney’s gamble is clear. Allen is the firewall between Clemson and another playoff letdown. With that offense already humming, all they need is a D that doesn’t crack under pressure. And if Allen turns this crew into a top-five unit? Well, six million might end up looking like a bargain.

Cade Klubnik is putting in the extra reps and hours

It’s rare Swinney gets to yell at Cade Klubnik. So when it happens, he takes the shot. “I did get a chance today,” he joked after Wednesday’s practice. “I take every chance I get to yell at him.”

That’s because Klubnik’s wired different. Same energy every day. Never too high, never too low. Swinney calls him a guy who just loves the grind. And the grind’s been paying off. After a bumpy sophomore year, Klubnik exploded in 2024 with 4,102 total yards and 43 touchdowns, slicing his turnovers to just six picks and two lost fumbles.

His work ethic bleeds into everything. Freshman receiver Bryant Wesco Jr. says he’s always one of the last to leave practice. Transfer wideout Tristan Smith sees it up close: “Cade stays after practice and we work on certain throws that he wants to work on,” Smith said. “Work on anything that he wants to work on, over the shoulder, things like that. Cade (lives) right by me. So, I see him every day when we come in to do weights, come into practice or into the facility, so I just talk about life with him every day. I am really just building up that relationship with him and that will make the relationship more impactful on the field just by building that relationship off the field.”

PFF’s got Clemson’s offense pegged as the best in the country heading into 2025, with five of six O-linemen who logged 500 snaps last season back. The only question mark is at running back. But even that’s a five-star, Gideon Davidson, ranked No. 4 nationally in his class. If Klubnik keeps cooking and Allen’s defense locks in? Clemson might be bringing that natty trophy back to Death Valley.