‘It’s Not Him’: Clemson safety Khalil Barnes says Tigers’ issues don’t lie with Swinney
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After limping off the field with a hamstring injury during Clemson’s 17-10 loss to LSU, junior safety Khalil Barnes returned to action Saturday against Syracuse. What should have been a welcomed boost for the Tigers’ secondary was quickly tempered by frustration, as the defense surrendered a seven-play, 75-yard touchdown drive on the Orange’s opening possession in a 34-21 loss.
It was a continuation of a troubling trend for defensive coordinator Tom Allen’s unit. Georgia Tech gashed Clemson for 468 total yards a week earlier, including a decisive final drive that set up the Jackets’ game-winning 55-yard field goal. Against the Orange, Clemson gave up 435 yards, with 303 of them coming in the first half.
Barnes, who had been a vocal presence on the sideline while recovering, admitted the defensive lapses were less about scheme and more about players trying to do too much.
“For me personally, with the play, where Will Heldt got the sack. On that play, just formation tendencies. I knew Bang Eight was coming to the field, and I'm middle read. But basically I'm trying to do someone else's job,” Barnes said Tuesday. “I just think that's kind of what happened last Saturday. We get so hungry on defense, because everybody wants to go out there and make a play.”
In short, the Tigers’ safety said the defense has been pressing instead of trusting the scheme.
“Because if I do my job, that play still probably ends up coming my way, [even] if Will Heldt doesn't do superhuman stuff," added Barnes with a smile. "Just stuff like that."
The players and coaches maintain that effort is not the problem on defense, raising the question of whether Allen’s new system might be contributing to the unit’s lapses and early struggles.
“I don’t think it is that. We had the whole spring ball to learn it, had the whole fall camp, [and] most of that summer,” Barnes noted confidently. “So, I think we know it good enough to where it's not a knowledge thing. It's simply executing it, getting back to fundamentals. The bye week came at a good time. If you really sit back and reflect on these last four games, it hasn't been things that we're getting outschemed or outcoached, and we're not in the position to win. We just simply got to execute.”
The timing of the bye week may help. Clemson (1-3, 0-2 ACC) has a chance to regroup before traveling to Chapel Hill to face North Carolina on Oct. 4. But before shifting into preparation mode, head coach Dabo Swinney led what he described as a “powerful” and emotional team meeting on Monday.
Barnes echoed that sentiment, painting a picture of a meeting less about X’s and O’s and more about perspective.
“Coach Swinney just put out his heart. The thing I respect most about him is in that situation, he could have came in there and put up all the bad plays of the first four games and said we gotta get this fixed," said Barnes. "We didn't talk about football at all. He came in there, and the first thing he told us was scripture. When things get tough, he's the same person y'all see on TV. It's not an act. His foundation is his faith."
Barnes said the emotion came from Swinney’s perspective as a coach, a former player, and a member of the Clemson community.
“So he's feeling it from all of that, and he's feeling it, obviously, for the community. I think more than anything, it wasn't frustration, it was just kind of his emotions and letting us know he's sorry,” Barnes continued. “At the end of the day, he's our coach. Yes, he has to technically take the blame, but it's not him. They put us in the right spots, and we just generally got to go do it.”
The Tigers will need to find those answers quickly with ACC play heating up.
