The position battle Dabo Swinney wants us to talk about

CLEMSON -- Spring practice is a time of self-evaluation for coaches and a time for players to get a head start on proving themselves on the field once again.

It’s a fresh start. No starting position is handed to anyone at this point in the year, leaving players having to go through the process again and earn it. Younger guys get to come in and immediately show what they are capable of or what they have improved on since the season ended.

“There is a lot of evaluating ‘who can?’” Swinney said Monday night now that the second half of spring practice is in full swing. “Who can do what we want and how we want it done?”

Of course, all eyes on Clemson’s campus this spring have been on the abundance of talented quarterbacks on the roster. And for good reason, too.

Five-star freshman quarterback Trevor Lawrence has been nothing short of impressive so far. It’s still early, but the feeling around here is that Lawrence has been poised and pushing the other quarterbacks to be better, including senior starter Kelly Bryant.

Swinney said Monday he wouldn’t announce a starting quarterback, simply because Bryant is the returning starter who played 14 games for Clemson last fall. Hunter Johnson, Chase Brice, and Lawrence are all continuing to show what they can do on the field as Swinney believes he can win with any of the four.

Even with Bryant back “Nobody is anointed,” Swinney said.

But there is another position battle Swinney said we should focus more of our attention on. A position not as glamorous as the quarterback spot but one that is of the utmost importance after its struggles a season ago.

It’s the kickers. Seriously.

“I’ll tell you what, y’all need to quit asking me about the quarterbacks. What y’all are missing is the kickers,” a grinning Swinney said. “They’ve been unbelievable out there. I mean, unbelievable.”

Alex Spence, who came in for the injured Greg Huegel last season, has been “off the charts” and hit a 51-yard field goal at practice Monday. Spence struggled at times when he was just starting to get his feet wet in live competition but finished the season strong scoring Clemson’s only points in New Orleans.

“He looks like the guy I recruited,” Swinney said.

There’s also an unknown name who has drawn some attention: a transfer from North Carolina A&T named Steven Sawicki. We don’t much about the newcomer except for the fact this kid can do it all apparently. He was the player Swinney and the staff wanted to come out last season but he wasn’t eligible.

That’s when Swinney found Costa.

Sawicki has proven himself so far in the kicking game as well as on kickoffs and punts. He also hit a 51-yarder in practice Monday afternoon and is 80 percent-plus on his attempts.

And then there’s Huegel, who is coming off his torn ACL in September last season that put Clemson in the rough kicking predicament it was in.

© Shanna Lockwood-USA TODAY Sports

Greg Huegel returns after tearing his ACL last season during practice.

Monday afternoon was a milestone day for Huegel. He was able to participate in full-step place-kicking, which was important for the rehab process when he just began getting back to running when spring practice started.

Danny Poole, Clemson’s head athletic trainer, released Huegel to participate in full-steps on Monday so he began kicking balls on his own during practice. That is, until Swinney surprised Huegel and called him up to kick a 46-yard field goal in front of the entire team to end Monday's practice. No pressure.

The snap was good. Hold good. Nailed it.

The team went wild and Huegel felt no pain.

“It was a huge relief to see that ball go in,” Huegel said. “At first my milestone was, ‘okay, just get to full-steps. I got there today so it was like, ‘okay, check that box.’ My next milestone was to get comfortable kicking in front of the team again and just make your first one. Thankfully I did that.”

It’s safe to say that one full-step kick was a major step in Huegel’s recovery, confidence, and competing to be Clemson’s starting kicker once again.

Oh right, we haven’t even mentioned BT Potter’s yet. The No. 6 placekicker recruit in the country hasn’t even stepped on campus to get his foot in on the competition.

So yes, Clemson may have four quarterbacks who are more than capable to perform on Saturday’s and lead Clemson to victory but there might also be four capable kickers who can do the same thing, which is certainly a positive given where Clemson was last October: searching for answers.

Said Swinney: “We’ve got a very, very strong kicking competition, which makes things that much better.”