Return of the Fighting Tigers

Note: This blog was originally published on the Bleacher Report under the headline "Destiny in Sight: Clemson Football Primed for '08."

Destiny is an elusive beast in sports. Some people believe you wait for it. Some set out to find it.

Me, I tend to favor William Jennings Bryan, who said that "destiny is no matter of chance; it is a matter of choice: It is not a thing to be waited for, but a thing to be achieved."

This year, Clemson senior CAT safety Michael Hamlin coined this year's team motto:

"Let's get it."

Safe to say which side of the destiny coin the Tiger football team falls on, eh?

By most accounts, the 2008 edition of Clemson football could be a team to remember. For the right reasons. It boasts the most talented tailback tandem in all of college football in James Davis and CJ Spiller, the "Thunder and Lightning" of coordinator Rob Spence's "Perfect Storm" offense. The Tigers return Cullen Harper, a year wiser, more experienced, and ready to set the ACC's passing stats book on its ear. They have a gamut of game-breaking wideouts in All-American candidate Aaron Kelly, Tyler Grisham, and Jacoby Ford. Newcomer Marquan Jones is set to make an impact, and Brian Linthicum anchors the tight ends.

They have perhaps the deepest defensive line in all of coach Tommy Bowden's nine years with the program. Under past coordinators Reggie Herring and John Lovett, the line held promise, but the two-deep drop off was vast. Not so this year. Even Rashaad Jackson's tendon tear, which will sideline him at least until the pivotal contest with Wake Forest in October, rang few alarm bells around Tiger Town. Not with Jamie Cumbie and Jarvis Jenkins, logging plenty of rotation snaps between them, around to take up the slack.

They flash a toothy secondary in All-ACC picks Michael Hamlin and Chris Chancellor. Brandon Maye and Kavell Conner lead a stable of talented, but inexperienced up-and-comers at linebacker. Ricky Sapp was a He-Man at defensive end in spring and fall workouts. Oh, and some guy named Da'Quan Bowers is but a snap away from chewing up offensive tackles with the blistering speed and power that made him ESPN's No. 2 recruit in the nation.

Perhaps the best news? Bowden finally wised up and named a special teams coordinator. A sure step in the right direction for a much-maligned unit that has dropped the ball in several key contests in recent years. Under Andre Powell's eye, the only place to go is up. With kicker Mark Bucholtz free to focus on football and talented Dawson Zimmerman pushing Jimmy Maners at punter, things can only improve from last year.

With so many weapons lined up buffet-style, how can the Tigers possibly lose?

Well, they can. Quite easily, in fact.

I'll go out on a pretty dangerous limb and say no team on the 12-game schedule is more talented than Clemson. That means the only ones that can beat the Tigers are...well, the Tigers themselves. This season is one long head game for Bowden's ball club; Clemson can either realize its full potential or be its own worst enemy. And, unfortunately, Bowden has a reputation of snatching gloom from the jaws of glory.

Ask Boston College last year. Ask Maryland the year before. Or Georgia Tech in 2005, or the improbable four-game slide of '04 that left Tigers fans wondering whatever became of the team that capped '03 with wins over the likes of No. 3 Florida State and No. 6 Tennessee.

Clemson's ability to rise from the shadows to rattle the heavyweights is not in question. What has yet to be determined is whether the Tigers can stay in the ring. After so many years of disappointment, do they finally have what it takes to stamp their mark among college football's elite? Can they get up week in, week out with the same killer instinct that drives them to unlikely wins over the big guns, yet seems to let them down versus lightweights, leaving them prone to stub a toe against a lesser foe (looking at you, Jackets).

Who can say? But darned if I'm not hopeful.

Hopeful Harper's arm is back to full strength after arthroscopic surgery. Hopeful Davis and Spiller can get the carries they crave to boost a young, inexperienced offensive line that features only one returning starter in center Thomas Austin. Hopeful the red zone is nicer to Clemson this year, and the team can get it done in the trenches when it counts most (the addition of power-back Jamie Harper could go a long way to making this happen). Hopeful the team doesn't have a special teams collapse the likes of which had Virginia Tech salivating halfway through the first quarter in a 41-23 beatdown last year.

No question, 2008 can be Clemson's year for the right reasons. But it can just as easily be remembered for the wrong ones.

And if Harper can be believed, the team is certainly mindful of where it stands.

"Our motto this year...applies to the BCS, the ACC championship game, beating Alabama—which is most important right now," Harper told The (Columbia) State.

Waiting in the wings won't cut it this year. For Clemson, it's put-up-or-shut-up time. From the Tide to the Gamecocks, every game is a call to action.

Let's get it.