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Clemson Tigers: A Declining Program
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The college football season has officially kicked off. I want to discuss Clemson’s head coach, Dabo Swinney. He’s had a lot of success at Clemson but the current era of college football seems to have passed him by.
Clemson traveled to Baton Rouge to face #11 LSU recently. After that performance, LSU looks like the best team in the country. They beat up on the other Tigers, 51-10. This was Clemson’s worst loss since falling 41-0 to Syracuse in the 1996 Gator Bowl
“The best thing about that game is it’s over,” Dabo Swinney said. “Just really poor performance, not what we worked for or expected.”
They played in front of a sellout crowd of 102,000 at Tiger Stadium. The game was delayed almost two hours due to a weather delay.
Clemson did tie the game 3-3 in the first quarter. They briefly looked like they had a chance. LSU finished with 644 yards of offense. Clemson finished with 145 yards.
That led to LSU head coach Lane Kiffin taking shots at Clemson. “I didn’t expect their offense to be that dysfunctional,” Kiffin said after the game. “Our [scout] team scored more than they did against us.”
“We got our asses kicked,” Swinney said. “We gotta go win next week. It’s an embarrassing performance, coaching and playing. We’re going to have to own that. We can’t let that lead to another loss.”
LSU rushed for 309 yards. RB Dilin Jones, who transferred from Wisconsin, rushed for 113 yards and two touchdowns. Arizona State transfer QB, Sam Leavitt, rushed for 113 yards and two scores. He also passed for 230 yards and a TD.
“You’re not going to win if you can’t stop the run,” Swinney added. “We just did a really poor job of setting the edge, especially versus the quarterback run, which really killed us.”
The Tigers (Clemson) struggled so much on offense they pulled starting QB Christopher Vizzina out of the game for freshman Tait Reynolds late in the second quarter.
“The start of the game was great for us, but we couldn’t truly capitalize on it,” Vizzina said, referring to his offense’s stumbles. “We’re not helping our defense at all.”
I have to start with the good things Swinney has done. He took over as the interim head coach in 2008. Since then, he’s gone 187-55, which includes two national championships in 2016 and 2018. He turned the Tigers into an elite program.
He’s competing against what he’s previously done. In the new era of college football, which includes NIL and the transfer portal, he’s been slow to adapt. He went several years without having a player transfer to Clemson.
He’s been adamant that he only wants to build his team through high school recruiting. That blueprint worked about 8-10 years ago.
They have been on a steady decline. After 12 consecutive seasons with double digit wins, they were 9-4 in 2023. They did bounce back in 2024, going 10-4 and making the College Football Playoff.
That season started with a 34-3 loss to #1 Georgia. That showed the talent gap between the Tigers and an elite program. #5 Texas beat them in the CFP 38-24 and the final score makes the game seem closer than what it was.
Last season the Tigers started the season ranked #4 in the AP poll. They returned senior QB Cade Klubnik and several starters from the previous year. They went 7-6, with one of the losses in the Pinstripe Bowl to Penn State.
The next game is against Georgia Southern. I think this will be another long season.
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Mercer Bears 2026 Preview
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
There is one overlooked FCS football program in the state of Georgia.
Mercer reinstated their football program in 2013 after a 72-year hiatus. The Bears have been pretty successful since returning.
They won the Southern Conference championship the last two seasons.
In 2024 they finished 10-2, with one of those losses at #10 Alabama. The Bears were ranked #8 and they won their first-round playoff game against #10 Rhode Island.
The following week they were beaten by powerhouse, #3 North Dakota State. Of course, NDSU went on to win another FCS national championship that season.
Last season they finished 9-3. One of the losses was at Auburn, which is expected. They were ranked #7 and hosted a playoff game against #11 South Dakota. They were beaten 47-0.
They are looking to build on that momentum and win the SoCon again.
This season they are led by 6’4, 210 lbs. senior QB, Jaylen King. He’s from Folkston, GA and he attended Charlton County High. He’s attended a different college every season. He started at Gardner-Webb, then transferred to East Tennessee State and Florida State.
He redshirted last year at FSU and played in one game. As a sophomore at ETSU in 2024, he started 10 games. King threw for 1,536 yards and 9 touchdowns on 116-for-221 (.525) passing with 11 interceptions. He also carried the ball 105 times for 422 yards and five additional scores. As you can see, he’s a dual threat quarterback.
Senior WR Brayden Smith is a Macon native. He’s attended Mercer all four years, which is rare in the transfer portal era of college football.
He’s been named the Southern Conference Preseason Offensive Player of the Year. He’s also one of 30 players named to the Walter Payton Award watch list.
In 2025, Smith accounted for 1,267 all-purpose yards, leading the team in return yards and finishing second in receiving yards (712 yards). He had seven games where he accounted for more than 100 yards.
The coaches also picked the Bears to win the SoCon. They received six first place votes from the ten head coaches.
They also have a few more players that were named to the 2026 Preseason All-Southern Conference First Team. They are OL Brody Balliew, OL Tyler Murray, DL Kobe McInnis and LB Jyarius Carter.
Mercer started the season ranked #21. Week 0 for FBS is the opening weekend for FCS. The Bears played East Texas A&M on ESPN. They won the game, 23-15. They had a 23-0 lead going into halftime and held on to win.
King threw a 12-yard touchdown to TE Jackson Kostmayer. Senior CB Cameron Goggins returned an interception 38 yards for a pick-6. Sophomore K Simon Zeidan made 3-of-4 field goal attempts. After the win Mercer has moved up to #19.
King passed for 177 yards and a touchdown, completing 53.6% of his passes. Smith had 9 receptions for 131 yards. RB Zahmari Palode-Gary had 8 carries for 87 yards.
The remaining schedule is:
9/5 vs Presbyterian*
9/12 vs Furman
9/19 @ Georgia Tech*
9/26 @ #20 Abilene Christian*
10/3 @ VMI
10/10 vs # 24 Western Carolina
10/17 @ Samford
10/31 vs The Citadel
11/7 @ Chattanooga
11/14 @ #12 Tennessee Tech
11/21 vs East Tennessee State
Non-conference games are indicated with an asterisk.
I think the best-case scenario for Mercer is finishing 10-2. One of those losses will be against Georgia Tech since they are a power conference FBS team. The schedule is pretty tough in addition to that, with three ranked opponents.
I think the more likely outcome is eight, maybe nine wins.
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Georgia Players Commitments To Georgia Schools
By: Joseph Stuckey
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
As we are less than 100 days away from Early National Signing Day on December 2nd, I thought it would be a good time to examine the recruiting rankings of the 5 FBS teams in the State of Georgia.
To start with, the Georgia Bulldogs sit at number 14 in the country with two 5-stars and eight 4-stars.
Their class is highlighted by the #1 running back in the country, Kemon Spell, and the #1 tight end, Jaxon Dollar.
They also have a local verbal commitment from Abram Eisenhower, who is a consensus 3-star offensive lineman from Lowndes County.
Next are the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, who posted an impressive 9-4 record last season under head coach Brent Key. They currently have the number 26 overall recruiting class, which is headlined by nine 4-star recruits.
They do have local standout offensive lineman Jordan Dillon from Effingham County verbally committed to them; he is a 3-star. Also, 3-star wide receiver Antwan Lockett from Colquitt County is verbally committed to the Yellow Jackets.
Next, I will dive into the three Group of 6 Schools in the state. It is always interesting to see which of these 3 finishes on top each year. I say this because they are all in some of the highest recruited areas in the country.
Georgia Southern is in the 912 area code, which has produced a top-3 overall recruit for the past 2 recruiting cycles. Both Kennesaw State and Georgia State are in the Metro Atlanta area, which produces a top-25 overall recruit basically every year.
First is the Georgia Southern Eagles, who have the highest average recruit rating of the three. They do have a couple of local wide receivers verbally committed to them: 3-star MJ Knight (Calvary Day) and 3-star Billy Crider (Bulloch Academy).
They also have verbal commitments from 3-star tight end Elan Jones (Ware County) and 3-star running back Josiah Gibbons (Brunswick).
Next is fellow Sun Belt school Georgia State, which has the highest-rated overall class of the three schools on both On3 and 247Sports.
Head Coach Dell McGee was able to reel in a verbal commitment from 4-star athlete Justin Murphy, who plays at nearby North Clayton High School.
They also do have a couple of local verbal commitments: 3-star wide receiver Jamarian Mingo (Valdosta) and 3-star running back Donterrius Mincey (Toombs County).
Last but not least is the defending Conference USA Champion, the Kennesaw State Owls.
Right now the Owls are basically tied with Georgia Southern in both overall recruiting class ranking and average recruit rating.
They do have a local verbal commitment from 3-star Braylon Cone (Bulloch Academy), who is the highest-rated defensive lineman in the 912 area code for the 2027 cycle.
There is not much of a surprise with where these teams currently sit in the rankings. If you look at last year’s recruiting cycle rankings, it is very similar to this year’s rankings.
UGA is normally near the top, and Georgia Tech is trying to crack the top 25.
For the G6 schools, they usually finish close together in the rankings, so it will be interesting to see which of the 3 ends up on top this recruiting cycle.
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