Dabo Swinney adds kicker from 'off the beach' to start for Clemson against Florida State

In an unusual move, Dabo Swinney added a player to Clemson's football roster three games into the season: Former walk-on kicker Jonathan Weitz is back on the team.

This is Weitz's second stint with Clemson after he was on the roster from 2019-22 behind star kicker B.T. Potter. Weitz never attempted a field goal and was 3 for 3 on PATs during his Clemson career.

Weitz graduated from Clemson in May 2022 and has been living in Charleston, S.C., while working on getting his MBA from Clemson online. He has a job set to start in New York in October and will graduate with his master's degree in December.

"We went to the bullpen and called him off the beach," Swinney said Tuesday. "We just need a little bit of maturity (at kicker)."

Starter Robert Gunn III missed an extra point and a 31-yard field goal in Saturday's game against Florida Atlantic, bringing the redshirt freshman's season field goal total to 1 for 4 and his PAT total to 14 for 15. He missed field-goal attempts from 41 and 23 yards against Duke in Week 1.

Swinney said Weitz is the likely starter against Florida State despite "not kicking a ball since April." He said Weitz was 7 for 8 in practice Monday.

Swinney insisted he hasn't lost confidence in Gunn and that he would still be the go-to option on long kicks. He expects Gunn to work his way back.

"He's just been in a little bit of a funk," Swinney said. "This is a great kid who really cares a lot, but sometimes you just need to catch your breath."

Swinney had said Sunday that he was "real close" to making a change at kicker after Gunn's early struggles, but he said starting punter Aidan Swanson was next in line. But when he found out Weitz was still in school, he called him, and the former kicker was "just crazy enough to want to do it."

"It's probably going to be great or terrible," Swinney said. "I don't know that it'll be much in between."

Christina Long covers the Clemson Tigers for the Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. You can follow her on Twitter @christinalong00 or email her at [email protected].