The Clemson defense was a nightmare last season. Dabo Swinney still managed to finish the season with double-digit wins, but just barely. That defensive show caused them to be knocked out of the playoffs in the first round. So, Swinney fires Wes Goodwin, and the new man in is Tom Allen. What the Tigers’ new DC does will be interesting to follow, because he comes to an inferior defensive side after building one of CFB’s best in his last stint.

The program’s playing ground, Memorial Stadium, is aptly nicknamed ‘Death Valley’ in light of the state of its defense. It wasn’t easy for fans to stomach a show like that, mainly because of the dominance it enjoyed during the years when Brent Venables was DC. Allen arrived at a program that finished No. 69 in the nation in total defense. Last year at Penn State, he was a Broyles Award finalist. But now that he’s here, Allen is a relentless force, dedicated to changing things.

“Tom Allen is kind of the biggest hype right now for Clemson. That Clemson defense is what everybody’s talking about,” revealed Locked On Clemson’s Morgan Thomas. “He’s not your typical defensive hire. He seems to have made such a huge splash, a big wave of energy, and a very intense guy.” And intense he truly is. On Day 4 of the Tigers’ Spring Practice, Allen’s voice was constantly heard from the sidelines. Athlon Sports also described it as being “gravelly and strained,” which shows how dedicated he is to the task at hand.

“Bringing that aggressiveness and that versatile system that he has, I think, will help Clemson become even better in 2025,” Thomas noted. Last year, under James Franklin, Allen helped the defensive side end up among the top-10 teams in scoring and total defense. The Nittany Lions under him also secured the 9 spot in rush defense. All of those numbers sit toweringly above those of Clemson’s: 50 in scoring and 84 in run defense.

“We got to get this defense fixed,” Allen said after that practice, “It’s not been to the standard”. When Venables was in charge of things here, the Clemson defense was nearly unshakeable. It featured in the top-10 teams in total defense six times. Clearly, that zeal was absent from last season’s performance. This year, that is among the many things Allen and Swinney will be fixing to get the Clemson show back on the road.

Tom Allen is working hard at preventing a repeat of 2024 for Dabo Swinney

What the defense needs at the moment is an absolute overhaul. The defense struggled to tackle, had impaired gap vision and edge integrity, and a whole slew of other problems. The rushing defense was the poorest it’s been since 1975 –  a whopping gap of 49 years! The defense gave up 4.7 yards per rush last season, and gave up an overall total of 160.6 yards per game – the highest after 2011.

That’s just a few of a long, long list of problems. Before the season began, the Tigers’ defense looked promising. But the depth proved unreliable. The starters who were good at what they did were substituted by poorer ones when they missed out. Pressuring the quarterbacks was another area where the defense struggled. All in all, there was not a lot of good that came out of that side last year.

But Allen is delivering upon what he was hired to do, in a much-needed relief for Swinney. There’s no time to waste, and Allen has taken it seriously in just the three or so months he’s been with the program. Spring practices are showing promise, according to Ben Villalobos of Athlon Sports. Tackling looks to be on the upside, and throws were being met by players. Despite its disastrous 2024 season, there are ample reasons to be excited about Tom Allen’s re-energized defense that’s bringing results.

The new DC still has a long, long way to go in presenting a Tigers defense ready for action. Yet, going by the way he’s pursuing change and improvement, Dabo Swinney can surely hope 2025 will be a better season than 2024, with Tom Allen in charge.