“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” – Henry Ford

It’s one of Clemson coach Dabo Swinney’s favorite quotes, and it aptly applies to the clean slate Swinney is looking forward to as spring practices begin in Death Valley. After suffering the program’s first losing season in 11 years, Clemson started spring practices on Friday with a new offense, a new quarterback, and the same expectations –- win the school’s first ACC championship since 1991.

“That’s really what it’s all about,” Swinney said. “Teams have good years, have bad years. We forget the year before we were in the championship game. We go have a great year this season and you quickly forget we had a tough year last year."

This is somewhat of an unusual spring for Clemson because the Tigers signed such a large recruiting class (29), the majority of which won’t arrive on campus until this summer. Many of those true freshmen will have an opportunity to compete for playing time, which means what fans see this spring won’t necessarily look like what they see in the season opener against Troy. Clemson also redshirted a majority of its young players last year, so this spring will be a good opportunity for the coaching staff to evaluate rookie talent.

At the top of the priority list, though, will be learning the new up-tempo offense under first-year coordinator Chad Morris. Swinney is familiar with most of the elements in the offense, but the entire staff and team has to learn the new terminology and the way in which the plays are called.

“There’s a uniqueness to this system,” Swinney said, “and I think it’s going to be really good.”

“We’re not going to be in a major rush to overload everybody,” Swinney said. “We just want to get the core fundamentals in place of the system, teach them how we’re going to operate.”

Swinney said he wants to see first-year starting quarterback Tajh Boyd become assertive in his leadership role, and that overall, leadership was lacking last season.

“That’s one of the things I’m really anxious to see, can he assert himself as the leader of the offensive side?” Swinney said. “He’s done all the right things to this point. I think he’s picked it up well, but we have to go see him do it on the field.”

How Boyd fares in his first season as a starter will be critical to Clemson’s chances of winning the Atlantic Division. While there should be some leeway given to the staff this year because of the offensive transition under a new coordinator and first-year starting quarterback, Swinney is probably the one coach in the ACC with little margin for error. Back-to-back losing seasons in Death Valley usually mean one less “opportunity to begin again.”

“I’ve always grown so much from the tough times,” Swinney said. “It’s easy when things are going good. I think we’ve learned a lot about ourselves as coaches, our team. It’s just getting back to the basics, our core fundamentals of offense, defense and special teams -- just having a new beginning and a fresh start.”