Swinney says Clemson's roster 'battle-tested' heading into spring camp

On starting spring football:

"These guys have worked really, really hard since January and really proud of how they worked. This team's got a great vibe to it already, which has been really, really fun-- proud of them. What they're doing in the weight room. What they did in are all in drills-- just ready to get on the field and get started. It's been a busy and fun offseason. Really excited about how our staff has come together, that's been a lot of fun."

On the early enrollees: 

"Excited about our signees that are here, nine mid-years, have really done a nice job kind of getting going-- it can be a little overwhelming in the beginning, for anybody, but they've done a really, really good job and I know they're excited about getting on the field for the very first practice of their Clemson career."

On the makeup of the team:

"This team is battle-tested. This is a mentally and physically tougher football team than we were this time last year, just a more experienced group. We've got 37 guys that have started for Clemson at some point in their career. That's a lot of guys. Then we got another 13 guys that have been starters on special teams have been offensive or defensive starters, but they've been starters force on special teams. That's a lot of experience coming back that we didn't have last year, so I'm really, really encouraged by the leadership that comes with that type of experience. The best teams we've had been built inside out and I think that's how this team will be."

On Hunter Rayburn:

"I know you all know about Hunter Rayburn. We knew that was a possibility. He really wanted to play one more year and many was really just coming into his own and really becoming a heck of a player-- really proud of what he was able to do for us last year and how he finished, but the rescan of his neck area he and his family just made the decision that it was time to shut it down. He's going to be here every day, he'll be coaching and stepping into a different role, but that's a that's definitely a loss for us. We're going to miss him."

On the injuries:

"From the other injury standpoint, guys that you're probably interested in, you'll see Lannden Zander's out there in green today, you'll see Fred Davis in green, you'll see Dietrick Pennington in green. Lannden will probably spend most of the spring in green and really in a good spot. He looks great. He's doing good. Our protocol for green jerseys, they're close to being full speed and full go. So they're working their way into that so they do all the individual they do all the teams separate but we just keep them out of the full speed collision type stuff-- good on good type stuff."