Clemson turns to former backup kicker ahead of FSU

GREENVILLE, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - Clemson head football coach Dabo Swinney spent nearly 20 minutes of his weekly press conference ahead of Florida State talking about kickers.

It certainly didn’t stoke any fires or provide any bulletin board material for the Seminoles ahead of one of the best rivalries in the ACC but it had Swinney smiling as he confirmed the news: he was pulling a kicker out of retirement.

Swinney confirmed he called former walk-on kicker Jonathan Weitz Sunday to ask if he could still kick, and if he had any interest in kicking against Florida State on Saturday.

“We called him into the bullpen and called him off the beach,” Swinney said.

Weitz had left the team after the spring semester and was taking online grad school classes in Charleston before Swinney called him Sunday to see if he’d consider returning to the program.

“I found out he was in school,” Swinney said. “He was shocked to get a call from me on Sunday. It’s either going to be a great story or it’s going to be terrible. It won’t be anything in between. He’s got a boss up in New York pissed off at me.”

The Charleston native will step in to help struggling redshirt freshman Robert Gunn III who has missed three field goal attempts.

Weitz joined Clemson as a “highly preferred walk-on,” according to Swinney.

He didn’t attempt a field goal during his four seasons at Clemson but he was 3-for-3 on extra points and averaged 56 yards per kickoff on 10 kickoff attempts from 2019-22 while backing up B.T. Potter, the school’s career leader in made field goals.

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