'Get-back guy' among numerous Clemson football departures

It was challenging enough when Clemson coach Dabo Swinney recently lost defensive coordinator Brent Venables and offensive coordinator Tony Elliott to head coaching jobs at Oklahoma and Virginia, respectively.

Now he’s lost Venables’ “get-back guy,” too.

Adam Smotherman, who was Clemson’s senior associate strength and conditioning coach assigned to restrain Venables along the sideline, has been plucked by Elliott — his first staff hire after becoming the coach at Virginia on Friday.

“I lost my get-back guy, too,” Swinney said. “What an opportunity for him to go be the head dude at Virginia.”

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Depending on the excitability level of Virginia’s new defensive coordinator, Smotherman’s duties as the head of the Cavaliers’ strength and conditioning program are expected to focus more on weights and workouts rather than using belts and bear hugs to prevent a coach from entering the field of play.

At Clemson, Smotherman faced a weekly 3½-hour tug-of-war with Venables along the Tigers’ sideline and performed his duties with purpose for years. TV cameras often were trained on Smotherman as he attempted to keep Venables corralled in order to prevent an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for entering the field of play.

“It started in the season-opener game at Georgia in 2014,” Smotherman said. “The officials were getting on Coach Swinney, and I assumed they were talking about keeping Coach Venables off the field and (Swinney) turned around and looked at me and said, ‘You’re keeping him back, Smoth! If we ever get a penalty, it’s on you!’

“From then on, that was my responsibility on game days.”

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Venables went the next eight years without a flag being tossed in his direction thanks to Smotherman.

“I just grab him and yank him on back,” Smotherman said during an interview prior to the 2016 National Championship Game. “But he’s got me figured out. He knows when I’m coming in (to grab him), so he’ll swipe at me. He’s got the hips, the swipes, the rips – he’s got all he moves, so I’ve got to be strategic with it.”

Smotherman, a Vanderbilt graduate who was a four-year letterman and multi-year starter at defensive tackle for the Commodores, spent 10 seasons at Clemson, serving one year as a graduate assistant and nine as a full-time coach with the title senior assistant strength and conditioning coach. He also worked as assistant director of strength and conditioning at Furman from 2012 to 2013.

Smotherman is among multiple Clemson football staffers to depart recently. Miguel Chavis, a defensive player development specialist, Ted Roof, a defensive analyst, and Thad Turnipseed, who was director of player development at Clemson, all have joined Venables at Oklahoma.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Clemson football: 'Get-back guy' among Tigers' numerous departures