The Clemson Dubcast

Being a host for Clemson's flagship radio station is fine and dandy when the Tigers are winning championships. But what about when they're cratering to 1-3 and 3-5 records in a season that was supposed to usher them back to the rare air of the elite? That's a much tougher and more awkward line to navigate, as William Qualkinbush shares in a conversation with The Dubcast. Qualkinbush and other hosts at WCCP-FM haven't held back in criticizing the Tigers or head coach Dabo Swinney this season, and he says the station has gotten no blowback from the school, athletics department or football office. Qualkinbush hosts a weekday show from noon to 3 on WCCP, in addition to various play-by-play duties for Clemson Athletics.

Clemson graduate Mark Packer returned to his alma mater last week to speak to the Fort Hill Clemson Club and to dot the "i" on the field before the Tigers' victory over Florida State. Packer has been enjoying retirement since stepping away from the ACC Network this past summer. He said working for ESPN the previous three years was highly frustrating in part because he didn't have total control over his show, and he'd get pushback whenever he stuck up for the ACC. He has plans to write a book about his professional life, and he'll include his experiences with ESPN. Packer also looks back on the iconic "Primetime with the Packman" radio show that was popular for more than a decade in North Carolina and South Carolina. He tells the remarkable story of how the 'QCB' became a fixture on the show. He also reminisces about James Brown and his entourage showing up unannounced at the Charlotte-based studios and spending a rollicking hour on the air with Packer and Co. Packer also recalls the wee hours of the Northern California night in January of 2019 when he interviewed Dabo Swinney on the field at Levi's Stadium when no one else was around. Packer thinks Swinney has to do some significant adapting to move past this disastrous season and put Clemson back on footing with the best in college football.

Tim Bourret is a Clemson icon and will be inducted into the school's athletics Hall of Fame on Friday night. Bourret also was a member of Dabo Swinney's inner circle when Swinney was ascending from interim coach to permanent coach to Hall of Fame coach. Swinney said Bourret has always provided him valuable counsel. "He tells the truth to me. He's tough and firm when he needs to be." Bourret joins The Dubcast not just to reminisce about all the behind-the-scenes history with Swinney, but also to give his take on the current state of the football program with the Tigers at 3-5 entering Saturday night's game against Florida State.

Brett McMurphy spent many years in the newspaper business, and before the Internet took hold his deadlines were once a day. Now there's a deadline every minute when your job is breaking news in the ultra-competitive world of national college football media. One summer a few years ago, there was supposedly nothing going on and McMurphy thought he scheduled a good time to play golf at the iconic Pebble Beach. Turned out not so much. The bombshell of USC and UCLA joining the Big Ten came out of nowhere, and McMurphy found himself playing the Pebble Beach Par 3 course with a phone glued to one ear. He ended up typing out his story on his phone while sitting on a bench before he played the 18-hole course. McMurphy, part of the On3 Network, joins the podcast to talk the life of always being plugged in and always trying to find the next scoop.

Once upon a time, Pete Nakos wrote about Clemson for On3 when the network first began covering the Tigers. Nakos has risen to the top tier of breaking-news coverage in college football, using his work ethic and vast array of connections to be on top of just about all the developments during a chaotic time in college athletics. Nakos lives in the Nashville area and commutes to the On3 offices every day. He gives his thoughts on the current state of the coaching industry, and a likely unprecedented number of openings during this coaching cycle. Could there be a vacancy out there that catches the eye of Dabo Swinney? Nakos says don't rule it out.

After 17 years at ESPN, Chris Low made the move to On3 this summer. Low is known for his relationships with high-profile college football coaches, and he has spent the early stages of his time at On3 traveling for in-depth sit-downs with them as he tries to give readers behind-the-scenes stories and insight they can't get anywhere else. Last week Low was at Oregon sitting down with Dan Lanning two days before the Ducks' showdown with Indiana. This week he traveled to Oxford to visit with the inimitable Lane Kiffin. Low also reflects on Dabo Swinney's attempts to get Clemson back to the top. Once upon a time, in 2007, Low left a highly successful job at the Nashville Tennesseean newspaper for the Tennessee Rivals site Volquest. He was only in that position for a small time, though, as ESPN came calling soon thereafter. Low participated in the podcast while on his way to Athens to cover Saturday's Ole Miss-Georgia game.

Darien Rencher's last act as a Clemson football player was being a part of a team that had a dramatic turnaround in 2021 after a 4-3 start. That team closed by winning six consecutive games, including a 30-0 suffocation of South Carolina and a victory over Brock Purdy's Iowa State team in the Cheez-It Bowl. At that time, 10-3 felt like a jarring low point. Four years later the Tigers are 1-3 and Dabo Swinney is desperate for answers as he tries to keep this from turning into a wreck similar to Florida State's 2-10 disaster last year. Rencher remains close to the program, and he remains a devout Swinney loyalist. He communicated with his former coach this week and Rencher says he still has not just hope but confidence that the team can get it back on track and close with a flourish. Rencher also goes deep into his latest venture: Traveling for in-depth video interviews with high-profile figures including Fran Brown, Carson Beck, LaNorris Sellers, Gunner Stockton and Ryan Williams. The goal is getting these figures to open up in ways that they do not during regular press conferences, and Rencher seems to have firmly checked that box thus far.

What's wrong with Clemson? What's wrong with Dabo Swinney? What's wrong with Cade Klubnik? What was wrong with the widely popular notion that this team could be the best in the nation? Why are the Tigers 1-2, and what are the reasons fans can be hopeful of a turnaround? Longtime radio voice Mickey Plyler joins The Dubcast to explore it all, and much more.

What in the world is going on with Clemson? Eric Mac Lain and Ellis Johnson have some thoughts. Mac Lain, who played offensive line for Dabo Swinney, is quite critical of the offensive line play he's seen thus far. He's also not sure what to make of Cade Klubnik's jittery presence over the first two games. Johnson, a former assistant at both South Carolina and Clemson, now lives in Clemson so he can be close to his son, a walk-on tight end for the Tigers. Johnson thinks the issues this team has shown thus far on both sides of the ball can be solved over the course of the season But he's not sure they can be resolved Saturday against Georgia Tech, a physically and mentally tough group that can make life extremely difficult on some of the inexperience Clemson has in the secondary. "Georgia Tech has been playing to their level of talent, and Clemson has not," Johnson said. "Hopefully they can get it turned around, but I think it's going to be a tough test for Clemson. I really do. "If they don't find a running game that they can lean on in critical times of the game, they're going to be in trouble."

Every summer, Tigerillustrated.com sits down with Brad Brownell for a lengthy interview in his office. This year's interview came in early July when Brownell was still in the formative stages of assimilating an almost entirely new roster after significant attrition from last year's team that went 18-2 in the ACC. The Q&A originally appeared as a multi-part series at Tigerillustrated.com. This is the full, uncut audio from a sit-down that lasted almost 80 minutes.

Dave Clawson and Dabo Swinney became good friends over the course of Clawson's 11 seasons as head coach at Wake Forest. Clawson came agonizingly close to beating Clemson but never did, and he says he's particularly haunted by the 2022 game the Tigers won 51-45 in double overtime on the Deacons' home field. Clawson has great respect for not just the program and culture Swinney has built, but for the 2025 team that he believes looks a lot like the powerhouse that won two national titles and advanced to the playoffs every season from 2015 to 2020. Bryce Koon covers LSU for The Bengal Tiger of the On3 network. He joins the podcast to share what Brian Kelly is like behind the scenes and says it's quite a lot different from what is perceived from afar. How many LSU fans will trek to Clemson, even those who aren't going to get into the stadium? How much pressure is on Kelly to win big this year? And what can Clemson fans expect a year from now when Swinney's Tigers return the favor and visit Baton Rouge?

Matt Luke and Nick Eason recently sat down for lengthy interviews to preview the 2025 season. This is the uncut audio from those sessions. Luke is entering his second year as Clemson's offensive line coach after two years away from the game. He says there's no other job at any other school that would have pulled him away from his sabbatical. Eason, entering his fourth season at his alma mater, has a stacked group of defensive tackles including Peter Woods and DeMonte Capehart. Clemson opens its season Aug. 30 against LSU.

Garrett Riley and Tyler Grisham recently sat down for lengthy interviews to preview the 2025 season. We present the uncut audio from both sessions. Riley is entering his third year as Clemson's offensive coordinator after Dabo Swinney lured him from TCU following the Horned Frogs' run to the national championship game. Grisham, a Clemson grad, has arguably the top receiving corps in college football with Antonio Williams, Bryant Wesco, TJ Moore, Tyler Brown and transfer Tristan Smith. Clemson opens the season Aug. 30 against LSU.

Tom Allen and Ben Boulware recently participated in media interviews in advance of the 2025 season. We present the uncut audio from both of their interviews. Dabo Swinney pulled off a coup in landing Allen after the firing of Wes Goodwin, who lasted three years as the Tigers' defensive coordinator. Boulware, who is in charge of the linebackers, spent the previous year in a support-staff role for his alma mater. Clemson's defense is poised to make a major rebound from the group that struggled mightily to stop the run last season.

What does it do to the mind of an 18-year-old college athlete to have hundreds of thousands of dollars in his bank account? "I pray for them all the time," Tremayne Anchrum said. "Because I had a great upbringing. I had great parents. I had a great support system. And you know what? I still did a lot of stupid things. So I can't really imagine people with no support system and who have bad influences, listening to everyone who DM's them. They might not have the best decision-making process. I definitely feel for them, because it's hard being young in this time period. And I don't think people give enough grace when they see people mess up. You're a product of your environment, and a lot of people don't come up in the best environment. So now you add money to that mix, and things might not be perfect." The collegiate model was totally different when Anchrum was an offensive lineman for Clemson from 2016 to 2019. Since then he has been in the NFL and seen what it's like behind the scenes at the professional level. Anchrum, currently a free agent, is back in Clemson this summer training at the Tigers' football facilities. He joined The Dubcast to talk about life after football, what to make of the current state of the college game, and his enduring love for Dabo Swinney.

In 2019, Marcus Lattimore was inducted into the University of South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame and it looked like one of the happiest moments of his life. Instead, he was at a major life crossroads as he battled the trauma from trying to figure out his identity away from football. Soon thereafter, Lattimore and his wife moved to Oregon and he basically scrubbed every trace of football from his existence. For so long, Lattimore was universally recognized and beloved back in his home state. People felt like they knew him because of what he did in a No. 21 jersey and what he said in press conferences after games. Turned out they didn't know much about him at all. Turned out he didn't even really know himself. Lattimore, who has been in Portland for the last five years, has made a whole new life for himself as a spoken-word poet and a speaker at drug and alcohol rehab centers. He recently published his first book titled "Scream My Name," a story of how one of the most prominent names in Palmetto State sports history found his true self and transformed his life. Lattimore's football career basically ended when he suffered a devastating knee injury in 2012 against Tennessee. "It's been a grueling experience, but it's definitely been worth it," Lattimore said. "I was dealing with a lot of uncertainty and a lot of existential questions that I wanted answers to. Like: Who am I outside of football? And what do I do outside of football? If you keep throwing those questions into the atmosphere, it's going to lead you somewhere." These are the same questions, and the same trauma, that confront high-profile athletes from all over when the cheering stops and they look in the mirror. Former Clemson star Tajh Boyd battled years of depression when his NFL aspirations were cut short and he tried to carve a niche in the real world. Lattimore is speaking for Boyd and many others when he reflects: "From a very early age, I thought that football was who I was as a human being. So when it's stripped away, there's a dying in a sense. Part of you dies. The old me died and I had to figure out how to go about life, how to resurrect as Marcus Lattimore without a football. Those were questions that I couldn't run from. "When you're 18 years old and you hear 60,000 people screaming your name, your brain changes forever. Pleasure was around every corner for me. You need a balance, and I couldn't find that balance at home." Lattimore also shares something that has never been revealed publicly: He committed silently to Clemson assistant Jeff Scott in the summer of 2009 before his senior year at Byrnes High School. He later signed with South Carolina, but he said he has a deep respect for Dabo Swinney and the culture he's built over 16 seasons as the Tigers' head coach.

Brian Murphy is based in Raleigh and his title is Sports Investigative Reporter for WRAL TV. Of late there's been a lot to investigate at North Carolina's football program as Bill Belichick operates in a shroud of secrecy so thick that his players didn't have jersey numbers during the Tar Heels' recent spring game. In addition, Belichick's 24-year-old girlfriend has taken on a strange role within the football program as she regularly scrutinizes UNC's communications staff for not doing a better job protecting the image of Belichick and those below him (including Bill's son Steve, the Tar Heels' defensive coordinator). Here is an excerpt from Murphy's coverage of a spring game that was not remotely like most spring games: No numbers on the jerseys for any player throughout spring or in Saturday's final practice. No player interviews throughout spring or after Saturday's final practice. No assistant coach interviews throughout spring or after Saturday's final practice. Belichick spoke to the media near the beginning of spring practice ... and not again. Not even at the end of Saturday's event. Didn’t even pick up the microphone to thank everyone for coming out or tell them how important their presence this fall would be. Murphy, a graduate of UNC, is a former newspaper sportswriter who covered Georgia Tech during the Chan Gailey era before moving to Boise and having a front-row seat to the Broncos' incredible rise to football prominence. He was there for Boise State's unforgettable 43-42 triumph over Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl. Before moving back to his roots in Raleigh he lived in Washington D.C., where he covered Congress for the News & Observer of Raleigh.

Joey Batson, Clemson's longtime and iconic strength and conditioning coach, is planning for 2025 to be his final season with the Tigers. In the midst of this news broken today by Tigerillustrated.com, we revisit a 2021 interview we conducted with Batson in his office just months after he underwent open-heart surgery. "Being a coach all these years, you want to push," Batson said then. "You just want to keep pushing. But then you're having to pull yourself back, saying: 'I don't know if that's very smart.'"

At the lowest point of his depression, Ricky Sapp was a recluse who wouldn't even answer phone calls from his mother, father or close friend Da'Quan Bowers. He couldn't sleep and was so itchy that he thought he had bed bugs. Only after he sought help did he learn that there were no bed bugs, but a monster of a battle as he tried to figure out who he was after his football career ended. Sapp found himself by stumbling onto his passion for speaking to kids. It totally changed who he was as a person. Where he once used to be terrified of public speaking, Sapp now loves having the most public persona imaginable as he posts daily inspirational videos that include a lot of dancing and joyousness. "I'm just a naturally happy person, which I learned when I got older," he said. Sapp spent a year-and-a-half at his alma mater, working in Clemson's football strength and conditioning program. But in August of 2023 he made the difficult decision to leave and pursue his all-consuming passion: Traveling the world and helping its youth. On his web site therickysappfoundation.com, Sapp "encourages youth to make positive changes within themselves, their schools and communities." "A single action can make a difference in the community; collective action can greatly impact the world. Ricky Sapp is driven by a single goal: to do his part in making the world a better place for all, one child at a time."

It didn't take long for Viktor Lakhin to become a favorite among Clemson basketball fans after he transferred to the Tigers from Cincinnati. When he was making major contributions to triumphs over Duke, North Carolina and Kentucky, Lakhin was known as the fun-loving Russian. Dabo Swinney even took a liking to him, coining the "Lakhinness Monster" nickname late in the season when Clemson was amassing an 18-2 ACC record. But the deeper layers of Lakhin's story make him even more of a fascinating figure. He joins The Dubcast to talk about hours-long swims as a child in the Black Sea, and 26-mile walks as his father tried to build his mental toughness. Lakhin's journey to America, which took place in 2020 amid COVID shutdowns and growing tensions between Russia and Ukraine, is an extraordinary story by itself. Lakhin is married to an American named Jill, and he hopes to extend his basketball career to the professional level. And if that doesn't work out he'll try to make it big as a comedian.