Clemson Football: 5 reasons Tigers are new college football dynasty

SANTA CLARA, CA - JANUARY 07: A.J. Terrell #8 of the Clemson Tigers runs back an interception for a first quarter touchdown against the Alabama Crimson Tide in the CFP National Championship presented by AT&T at Levi's Stadium on January 7, 2019 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /

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3. Brent Venables

For many years, it seemed no matter what issues Alabama ran into throughout the course of their season, the coaching duo of Nick Saban and Kirby Smart always seemed to find the remedy. However, Smart left Alabama to become head coach at Georgia in 2016. With his departure, the best dynamic coaching duo in college football became Dabo Swinney and Brent Venables.

Venables traveled a long road to get to Clemson and has worked for some of the biggest college football names post-turn of the century. He played linebacker at Kansas State during the early years of Bill Snyder’s reign in Manhattan and became an assistant following his graduation. He then joined former Wildcats defensive coordinator Bob Stoops at Oklahoma in 1999 and remained defensive coordinator until 2011, when he left for Clemson.

Venables defenses at Clemson have been consistently one of the best in the nation and has churned out a slew of NFL talent such as Vic Beasley, Shaq Lawson, Grady Jarrett and future NFL talent in Dexter Lawrence and Christian Wilkins. He is the best assistant coach in college football right now and as long as he’s on the staff, Clemson’s defense will always be elite.

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