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Mac & Bone Show - Chapel Fowler Interview · Mac & Bone Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: All right, our next guest, Bone.
• 0:01
  Speaker 2: He's still there.
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Our next guest is not here to talk about Finney's
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: love life or these ridiculous poems. He is here to
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: talk about the Clemson Tigers, the outlook for the season,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: but just this week's game, man. This week's game has
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: so many juicy storylines.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: It is crazy.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Chapel Fowler from the state newspaper in South Carolina, Clemson's
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: beat writer there, joins us on the Mac and Bone show. Chapel,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: how you doing, man? What's going on?
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: What's up, guys? Good to be on with you. I'm
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: excited to finally... be in a press box and cover
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: a football game after all the craziness of this week.
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: But that's what makes college football fun.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Oh, no, we got you on for the court hearings.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we just talked to your– we're going to talk court,
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: and we just talked to your editor. He's sending you
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: to Louisiana for the court case.
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: 1 p.m.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: Today.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: He said he's going to bring you home before the game.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: No need to be at the game. Anyway, but obviously
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: the backdrop of Lane Kiffin and the controversy of him
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: wanting to bring guys– Back from the NFL is a
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: big part of this. Dabo Sweeney, as he always does,
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: spoke from the heart about it, called it embarrassing, had
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: his little no pun intended, stay in my lane joke
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: as well. And sure enough, the national media the next
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: day is debating. Is it fair or foul for Dabo
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: to say all that stuff? What did you think about it?
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: There's also a theory of people, oh no, he made
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: Lane Kiffin mad now, look out on Saturday. Were you
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: kind of glad Dabo spoke like that? Did you think
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: maybe he shouldn't have? What did you think about that?
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: I was happy he did because it was interesting and
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: gave me something to write about. I wasn't sure if
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: he was going to, though. This offseason has been... really
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: relatively quiet for Clemson. Kind of just, you know, working
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: the dark underdog status. You know, there's no preseason expectations
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: like there were last year. You know, on his radio show,
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: he kind of danced around that topic. I didn't know
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: how much he was going to dig into it on Tuesday. But,
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: you know, I asked him if he's frustrated and he
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: tells me he's at a loss for words and then
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: proceeds to deliver a perfect two-minute soundbite with lots of
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: quotable nuggets and obviously that no pun intended. We stay
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: in our lane, calm it at the end. So, He
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: obviously had a lot of thoughts on it. I don't
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: think it's going to affect anything too much. I mean,
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: that distraction is going to, if that's going to impact
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: one team in this game, it's going to be LSU, right? So,
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: you know, I appreciate him teeing off on it and
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: giving his true thoughts. I think given kind of how
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: outspoken he's been about some of the changes in college
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: football and what he likes and doesn't like, it probably
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: is true to form and would have been Tough for
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: him to not, you know, speak out against this stuff
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: because it goes against everything he kind of believes in
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: as a college football purist. But I was pleasantly surprised
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: he went there. I didn't know if he was going to. Yeah.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: This state of college football, though, it's easy to see
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: where Chappell, this has to be driving him nuts, right?
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: Because he was already not liking the way it was before.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: Then it got about 20 times crazier. So right now, Dabo,
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: like internally in private moments, has to be thinking, what
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: in the world happened to this sport that I already
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: didn't love where it was going earlier?
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, as he joked to us, he was at
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: a Browns practice in early June as a guest of
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: Deshaun Watson, obviously his former Clemson quarterback and Daquan Wright
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: was on the field that day. So he said he
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: was probably going to get turned in for tampering because
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: he was out there watching Daquan Wright.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: And maybe he should.
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: Have paid more attention to what was going on on
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: the field. Um, but I mean, I think it's easy
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: fodder for people to poke holes in. Um, I've tried
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: to keep in mind that, you know, these guys, even
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: if they're made eligible today by whatever court ruling we
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: get or don't get, um, like they might not even
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: play against Clemson. I don't think any of those guys
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: are really going to swing, you know, Saturday's game one
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: way or the other. I think if LSU wins, it's
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: just going to be because they're more talented than Clemson
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: across the board. Not because they added Daquan Ryder, the
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: Notre Dame edge rusher, who was just okay as a
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: senior or that defensive tackle from Ole Miss. Um, But,
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: I mean, it's very much a firestorm topic across the country.
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: I think it's very much a one-year issue because it
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: just applies to Class of 2022 guys. But I don't know.
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: I mean, lawsuits get thrown out everywhere now. So maybe
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: I think people don't want to see it become a trend.
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: So I understand why there's such a reaction to it,
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: even though it's not like they're plucking a five-year NFL
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: starter out of the league and putting them on the roster.
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: It's a little bit more muted than that in terms of–
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: The talent, they're returning, but it's still pissing a lot
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: of people off.
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: Definitely.
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: Chapel Fowler is with us. He covers Clemson for the
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: state newspaper. All right, Chapel, I swear we're going to
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: actually start talking about this very interesting game. But I
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: have one more soap opera.
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: Game?
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: Oh, yeah, there's a game. Are they going to actually
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: play a game or just keep doing pressers and stuff?
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: One more soap opera question. So John Talti has written
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: this book about Lane Kiffin. And he's putting out all
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: these different excerpts, and Vanity Fair kind of has the
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: excerpt from the article. And John Tulte is reporting that
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: Lane Kiffin played a role in Clemson, I guess, being aware—
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: of the way that Ole Miss went about tampering on
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: linebacker Luke Farrelly after he signed with Clemson in the
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: portal and was going to classes and stuff. And I
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: guess Talty also points out that Lane was kind of
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: involved in kind of pushing Clemson towards turning in Ole Miss.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: What do you know about this? Have you kind of
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: found any evidence that Lane played a role in that?
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's another interesting one. Again, another one that I
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: wasn't sure Dabo was going to tee off on like
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: he did last night. I didn't think it was a
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: huge deal. And I think the truth probably lies somewhere
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: in the middle. Dabo did tell us last night and
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: kind of responding to this story that, yes, Lane Kiffin
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: was among the coaches who reached out to him after
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: Farrelly left. left for Ole Miss. You remember at that point,
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: you know, Devin didn't call him out until about a
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: week after this whole thing went down, but it was
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: really obvious what had happened. There was a lot of
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: reporting out there. College football world was kind of in
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: an uproar the second he left for Ole Miss. So
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: there was about a week of kind of brewing before
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: Devin went public with his complaints. So he did tell
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: us that Lane was among the coaches who reached out
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: after that, but he was one of many. I mean,
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: you can imagine if someone gets busted for something, the
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: first thing other people do is chime in, you know,
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: with their own experiences with something that happened. I'm sure
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: he had a mid-major coach reach out and say, oh
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: my gosh, Ole Miss was so annoying, so crazy, trying
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: to tamper with one of our players last year. All
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: sorts of information like that. And I don't doubt that
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: getting those stories probably didn't motivate him, but probably made
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: him more confident in what he was thinking about doing.
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: But he told us last night, and I do believe this,
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: you know, Clemson kind of had– Ole Miss dead to rights.
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: As soon as the guy left, they had text messages
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: and this whole timeline, and they had kind of been
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: keeping track of everything and didn't really need any additional
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: motivation to go public with it. I think probably hearing
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: from other coaches chiming in and saying, yeah, man, you
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: got to do this, probably didn't hurt Dabo's logic, but
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: I do think at the end of the day, it
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: was a Clemson and Dabo decision. I mean, he was
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: sitting up there with his athletic director, and that's, you know,
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: if you're going to get a sign off from anybody
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: to do that. It's your AD. It's not Lane Kiffin.
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: So I think he was in the mix there, but
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: I don't think he was the sole cause of everything.
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: So Dabo, again, didn't exactly shoot down that report. I
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: don't think it's totally inaccurate. But again, truth probably somewhere
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: in the middle on that one. It was mostly a
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: Dabo decision.
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: Chappell, as far as the Clemson team itself goes, where
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: do you think they'll be most improved from a year ago?
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: And what's the biggest question you still have about this team?
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: I think their secondary is going to be a lot better.
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: Just ridiculous number of coverage busts and 50, 60, 70-yard
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: touchdowns allowed at various points last year. They've overhauled their
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: coaching staff a little bit. Tom Allen, they promoted his son,
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: Thomas Allen, into kind of a defensive pass game coordinator
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: analyst role late last year, actually. And that kind of
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: improved back in communication and help them kind of seal
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: up some of those coverage at the end of the year,
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: the last four or five games. So I think with
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: that scheme in the second year and some of the
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: transfers they brought in, Corey Myrick is a safety from
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: Southern Miss. Jerome Carter from Old Dominion. Ashton Hampton is
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: a junior corner that came back from last year. And
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: it's probably going to be an NFL, you know, top
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: two or three round draft pick next year. I think
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: that group will be tighter. Questions at quarterback, obviously Vazina
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: will start. We know that. Tate Reynolds will probably play,
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: so we'll have to see how that plays out. That's
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: a big one. I think linebacker and offensive line are
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: two positions where they're going to be breaking in some
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: new guys that we haven't really seen play on a
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: super big stage consistently before. So I think they have
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: to replace around 14, 13 or 14 starters from last
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: year between offense and defense who's gone, who transferred and
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: went to the league. I mean, you lose nine NFL
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: draft picks. You're going to have to fill some holes,
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: so I think it starts with quarterback, but there's a
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: lot of other positions that I'm really interested to see
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: on Saturday to see how they fare against a big-time opponent.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: Chapel, let's talk about how they'll fare on Saturday. My God,
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: I would love to see Dabo and the Tigers bounce back.
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: I'd love to see Lane Kiffin take an L, quite frankly. But,
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: you know, you brought up the talent level that Lane
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: has assembled there. What are your feelings? Can Clemson go
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: down there and win this game? And if so, how
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: do they do it? What do you think?
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, one of my coworkers, Larry Williams, joked on Twitter
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: that Clemson is America's team right now for the first
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: time in like forever, right? Like maybe even a decade
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: back to when they took on Alabama in that first
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: national title. They are really rarely on the positive side
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: of all this public opinion that they are right now.
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: So I think there is a little juice and momentum there. And,
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: you know, nobody's picking them to win. And they're going
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: to play a little bit more freely because of that momentum.
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: but with all the LSU stuff and their talent alone,
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: like I think about that, but also just Clemson's trend
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: in season openers, man. Oh my gosh. I looked this
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: up and I saw it and I had to calculate
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: it myself. It was so crazy. They have averaged 6.6
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: points per game in their last three season openers. They
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: had seven points in the Labor Day Monday loss at
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: Duke in 2023, three points against Georgia in 2024, 10
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: points against LSU last year. Again, those were all Garrett
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: Riley offenses. So that's not Chad Morris is doing, um,
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: And they've also lost all three of those games. They've
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: lost four or five openers. For whatever reason, just those
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: first games have been really tough for them. And it
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: helps when you're going up against a good team like LSU,
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: like you're not trotting out against the SCS team. But
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: just with everything going on and the pageantry and the drama,
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: I do think over time that they'll succumb to that.
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: You know, it's a ridiculous road game environment. I think
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: they'll lose by, I don't know, roughly two touchdowns, but
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: I think it'll be close for the first half or so.
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: And their goal obviously is to kind of not let
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: that game affect stuff going forward because there's still 11
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: more games after that can still have a decent season.
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: But yeah, I think it'll be close for a while,
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: but ultimately not close.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: Chapel, who's an X factor guy or two. We know
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: some of the main players for Clemson, but who's a
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: guy or two. Do you think that will make a
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: huge difference this year? Kind of flying under the radar
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: a little bit.
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Uh, Elliot Washington is a defensive back. They got
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: from Penn state who might start immediately or will be
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: right in that mix, whether he's a corner or nickel,
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: I'm not sure. Um, but, but him and, uh, Marcus
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: strong and Andy Berberia, those are two transfers on the
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: defensive line that I think might also start and be
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: really good for them. Uh, On offense, obviously you've got
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: Weskill and Moore. Those are two probably top three round, again,
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: NFL draft picks next year. Those are both juniors, super productive.
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: But their starting slot guy is Tyler Brown, who led
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: them in receiving, oh my gosh, it was like three
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: years ago, back when he was a true freshman in 2023,
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: and really has not gotten into that form since then.
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: Part of that is because he was playing behind Antonio Williams.
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: But he's their starting slot heading into this senior year.
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: I think if he can kind of elevate his game,
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: that's a really good starting receiver trio. Uh, and the
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: more weapons Christopher Vazina has, you know, the less Superman
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: stuff he has to do, like just play pick pitching
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: cash and get the ball to your dude. So I
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: think if Brown can kind of step up his game
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: to where he was a few years ago, and we've
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: seen him do consistently, uh, and give them like that
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: clear top three of ACC receivers, that might be among
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: the best in the league. Uh, I think that makes
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: things even easier, uh, for Vazina. So if that can
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: happen and they can rely on their offense a little
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: bit more, I think, um, they'll be a little bit
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: more competitive than they were last year. All right, chapel.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: We got like a minute, but I can't get you
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: out of here without asking about the quarterback position, the
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: quarterback situation you mentioned. And I know Dabo mentioned it
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: this week to the possibility of Tate Reynolds playing some
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: two with his Zena starting. Do you kind of feel
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: like this season could head towards where Tate Reynolds takes
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: that job away? Or do you think I shouldn't, you know,
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: rush that? What do you think?
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: I think there's definitely a chance of that because Dabo
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: was notably forthcoming on all things quarterback on Tuesday. In
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: a way, he usually is not heading into a game
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: week with any specific position. Vazina will start. Reynolds will
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: probably play. I think the biggest takeaway for me is,
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: you know, they have practiced a lot and Vazina has
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: come out as the number one out of all that practice.
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: But now you have to go play games. And I
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: think this is an ongoing competition that will continue to
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: pretty much every week until someone truly separates themselves. And
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: then maybe even after that. So I'm going to be
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: watching that position with magnifying glass all season, um, knowing that,
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: you know, Reynolds is going to play and that this
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: job is not business for the full season. Devo said
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: there's no lifetime contracts, uh, I think makes it that
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: much more interesting. And I think a ton of people
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: are excited, uh, to see what Reynolds can do on
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: a field, myself included. No doubt.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: It's going to be fun. That game on Saturday is
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: going to be fun. Have fun covering it. And if
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: you're a Clemson fan or just interested in all these storylines,
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: follow Chappell on Twitter, at Chappell Fowler, and read his
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: stuff at the state newspaper, thestate.com. Thank you, Chappell. We
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: appreciate it. Enjoy the game Saturday. Congrats on the engagement, too, man.
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: That's awesome.
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you guys. I really appreciate it. I'll have
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: fun down there in Baton Rouge for you on Saturday.
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: All right.