Dabo Swinney marvels at the effective tenacity of Clemson’s fifth-year student, a veteran who was part of two national championship football teams with hopes of a third.
Jacob Maloney is not a player.
But the graduate assistant helps Clemson win games as a member of one of college football’s best and biggest support teams. The group of outside analysts includes 15 people, a mix of nine salaried employees who earn a total of $ 846,600 this year and six unpaid graduate assistants paid for scholarships.
It is an impressive group sprinkled with intelligence, versatility, Clemson’s experiences and external visions.
JP Losman, a 39-year-old Tulane graduate from Venice, California, appeared in 45 NFL games as a defender for the Bills, Raiders and Dolphins. In his first year on the team, Losman is married, has three children and two master’s degrees.
Chansi Stuckey, Miguel Davis and DeAndre McDaniel are among the former Clemson players with a salary.
Bill Spiers, 54, is a former gambler and baseball player for Clemson (he called him “Billy Shortstop” Danny Ford football coach). He played 13 years in the Major League Baseball. Her son Will Spiers is Clemson’s gambler.
And Jacob Maloney, a graduate of Daniel High School in Clemson, whose younger brother Matthew Maloney is a fresh-faced linebacker in a red shirt.
Jacob Maloney is a graduate student at Clemson in his fifth season as an analyst on Dabo Swinney’s football team. Maloney is paid a scholarship, as are Clemson’s other five graduate assistants. Clemson Athletics Department / Provided
“Just guys who love the ball,” said Swinney, 137-32 as Clemson’s head coach. “We have a lot of grinders. These guys do an incredible job. “
Although the official teams on the field are limited in number, the NCAA does not regulate much about the team outside the field, except to say that these assistant coaches’ assistants cannot train in practice or games.
But they give Clemson a huge advantage – from recognizing Miami’s defense trends to recruiting polls to aggressive and opponent-friendly theft. It is an advantage this coronavirus season or any other season against almost any enemy.
The most prominent exception is Alabama, where Nick Saban transformed the concept of analyst into an art form.
He rises above the modest South Carolina analyst team assembled by Will Muschamp, who was fired on Sunday.
The contrast will certainly make a difference on Saturday, when fourth-placed Tigers play in Florida State and Gamecocks host Missouri.
Former South Carolina football player Kiel Pollard is one of four graduate assistants on the Gamecocks football team for the 2020 season. Archives / Travis Bell / Sideline Carolina
And the Gamecocks
Despite all SEC money for television and the bowl being dumped annually in Columbia, the Gamecocks’ salaried football support team is basically two people: Landon Martin on the attack (paid $ 81,600 a year) and Demarco McNeil on defense ( $ 84,252).
List of South Carolina graduate assistants: Danny Gordon and Kiel Pollard in attack, Nick McGriff and Jackson White in defense.
They are all fantastic, for sure.
And the entire team of analysts can fit Will Muschamp’s SUV.
“More is not always better,” said Muschamp when asked in 2019 about the small Gamecocks team.
Questioned again this season, Muschamp noted improvements in the team’s strength and condition and an emphasis on recruiting on his watch, a 28-30 period over more than four seasons.
South Carolina’s next head coach will almost certainly have a bigger support team.
Bill Belichick won six Super Bowls in New England with contributions from low-paid and underpaid employees. Some of these people became NFL coaches and general managers.
Saban, the former defensive coordinator of the Cleveland Browns of Belichick, this season has 13 employees listed as analysts in Alabama. Brain power includes former Texas coach Charlie Strong, former Tennessee coach Butch Jones and former Houston coach Major Applewhite.
Of course, this is getting out of hand.
But there is a middle ground between Alabama and Clemson, on the one hand, and South Carolina, and losing on the other.
Roderick McDowell, a 2010-2013 Clemson runner, is in his second season as a full-time support team member, specializing in player development in attack. Clemson Athletics Department / Provided
Theft of plates 101
Swinney saw the support team as a major weakness for Clemson when he took over the program full-time shortly after a victory over South Carolina at the end of the 2008 season.
With the blessing of Terry Don Phillips, the then sports director, Clemson went from two senior assistants to five – earning $ 20,000 each without benefits.
“I just needed boots on the floor,” said Swinney.
They started working on game plans, self-recognition, cross-recognition and other recruiting stuff.
When Dan Radakovich took over as AD in December 2012, Swinney was allowed to raise analysts’ salaries to $ 40,000 with benefits.
“It was a big step,” said Swinney.
Tyler Grisham, a former Clemson and NFL receiver in his first season as a receiver coach, was a 2016-19 Clemson analyst. And a graduate assistant for two seasons before that.
Spiers helps in defense and special teams. Stuckey, a former NFL receiver, focuses on the attack.
Wesley Goodwin, a senior defensive assistant, was a student manager in the state of Mississippi before coming to Clemson, left after six years for three seasons in the NFL with the Arizona Cardinals and returned in 2018.
About that plaque theft …
Swinney has long recognized Clemson’s ability and willingness within the rules to steal moves. Employees do this by reading hand signals and signposts during games and cataloging TV sockets of opponents ‘and previous games’ signals.
It seems that a larger team is useful when trying to crack codes.
“Clemson is the best in the country at stealing signals,” an anonymous ACC coach recently told Sports Illustrated.
Perhaps the South Carolina program has better financial prospects for football.
Maybe Clemson spends too much.
But the return on investment works and it is certainly better than trying to negotiate a purchase agreement worth more than $ 13 million for a fired technician.
Follow Gene Sapakoff on Twitter @sapakoff