Behind the Cold-Mind of Dabo Swinney is the 'Freezer Package'
CLEMSON — There may not be a more exciting play for Clemson fans than seeing all of the big boys running onto the field for a short-yardage play on the goal line.
The previous three years, the Tiger fans have risen with excitement when they saw the likes of former defensive linemen Dexter Lawrence and Christian Wilkins running on the field for an offensive snap.
After nearly four years of calling it the "jumbo package," "fridge package" or many other iterations, Tiger fans now have the official name of the package from the man who created it, head coach Dabo Swinney — the "Freezer Package."
"We work on it every year. We've had it several years here now,” Swinney said. “Those defensive guys, big, strong, athletic guys ... sheer mass and athleticism. We want to take advantage of that in certain situations. This year we were transitioning a little bit but we have been working on it as far as who we wanted in our heavy package.
"We haven't had to use it much. It's not just goal line. We can do it in short-yardage as well. It's a nice, little package we have developed over the years."
While the package had been reserved for the defensive side of the ball, an injury to defensive end Xavier Thomas opened the door for offensive lineman John Simpson to become the first Tiger offensive lineman to score on a designed play.
"Xavier Thomas is our big back and is unbelievably fast but he got hurt," Swinney said. "We didn't really block it right last night, but John Simpson is 330 pounds. It's a way for us to get a couple of dirty yards. That's the idea behind it.
"We've been repping John there for the last three weeks in what we call our freezer package. We just had to have the right opportunity. It just worked out last night. Our guys do get excited and take a lot of pride in it. To see John score was awesome. Now all the linemen are lobbying for their chance."
While Simpson had been secretly repping and preparing for the moment that the call came in from Swinney, nothing could prepare him for the moment that he found the end zone for the first time in his life.
“Yep, I’ve never scored a touchdown, so that’s big news,” said Simpson with a huge grin after the game. “First time in my life. You don’t get too many opportunities to run the ball when you’re an offensive lineman. When I scored, I was trying to keep my composure as much as I could, but I was going crazy inside.”
Swinney admitted that seeing the excitement on Simpson's face was "cool."
“We’ve been waiting for the right situation to use him,” said Swinney. “When we got the ball at about the 1-yard line we were going to put John out there. He probably can’t run it much further than that. It was awesome. He’s been playing football for a long, long time. He’s never scored a touchdown in his entire life. He’s always been the big guy, playing on the line, always too heavy to run the ball so that was a pretty cool moment.”
While some around the country may see the Freezer Package as a gimmick or something that is goofy or not real football, for the Tigers, what it shows is you better not bet against Dabo Swinney.
"What I've learned is you don't go against coach Swinney," co-offensive coordinator Tony Elliott said. "When he thinks of something man, more times than not it's going to work. Again, it's a way to reward guys and have a little bit of fun. And it helps me too because I'm a very analytical guy. I have an engineering background and I'm all about numbers and angles, but at the end of the day it's the Jimmys and Joes that make it go.
"So anything you can do to help those guys just have an added edge, and if it's just having a little bit of fun — and actually 320 pounds going north and south is probably the most efficient way to get two yards if you think about it, as opposed to a 190-pound running back trying to slam into a 300-pound guy."
