And will strip away freedoms from citizens, local governments, and states. Yeah, Biden’s old, but how could anyone think this plan is good for America?

A guide to Project 2025, the extreme right-wing agenda for the next Republican administration​

Project 2025 aims to roll back civil rights and destroy the federal government, among other proposals
WRITTEN BY SOPHIE LAWTON, JACINA HOLLINS-BORGES, JACK WHEATLEY & JOHN KNEFEL
PUBLISHED 03/20/24 11:40 AM EDT
Project 2025, a comprehensive transition plan organized by right-wing think tank The Heritage Foundation to guide the next GOP presidential administration, is the conservative movement’s most robust policy and staffing proposal for a potential second Trump White House — and its extreme agenda represents a threat to democracy, civil rights, the climate, and more.
Project 2025 focuses on packing the next GOP administration with extreme loyalists to former President Donald Trump.
The plan aims to reinstate Schedule F, a Trump-era executive order that makes federal employees fireable at-will, stripping tens of thousands of employees of civil service protections. Both Trump and others in the conservative movement have said they will clear out the federal government if he is reelected. The project has even set up online trainings and loyalty tests to narrow down potential hires to those who will commit to follow Trump without question. As Project 2025 senior adviser John McEntee has said, “The number one thing you're looking for is people that are aligned with the agenda.”
The Heritage Foundation’s nearly 900-page policy book, titled Mandate for Leadership: A Conservative Promise, describes Project 2025’s priorities and how they would be implemented, broken down by departments in the federal bureaucracy and organized around “four pillars that will, collectively, pave the way for an effective conservative administration: a policy agenda, personnel, training, and a 180-day playbook.” Written primarily by former Trump officials and conservative commentators connected to The Heritage Foundation, these proposals would severely inhibit the federal government’s protections around reproductive rights, LGBTQ and civil rights, climate change efforts, and immigration.
The initiative is backed by a coalition of over 100 organizations and individuals, at least two-thirds of which receive funding from the Koch network or conservative philanthropist Leonard Leo. The project is also heavily promoted by MAGA-connected media figures such as Steve Bannon, who has called it the “blueprint” for Trump's second term on his War Room podcast.
The Trump campaign has attempted to distance itself from efforts to promote or speculate about “future presidential staffing or policy announcements.” However, Project 2025 is significantly more developed than the Trump campaign’s analog initiative, called Agenda47. And given that the Heritage plan has the backing of virtually the entire conservative movementand links to numerous former Trump officials and advisers, it appears all but inevitable that Trump and his allies will rely on the policies and personnel assembled by Project 2025 if he is reelected in November.
This resource outlines the specific policy and personnel priorities of Project 2025 for the next Republican administration.

Select an Issue​

• Personnel and staffing​

• Project 2025’s goals for staffing the next GOP presidency reflect Trump’s idea to gut civil service staff and replace them with potentially tens of thousands of MAGA loyalists. The New York Times describes this plot for a second Trump administration as an “expansion of presidential power over the machinery of government” that would reshape “the structure of the executive branch to concentrate far greater authority directly in his hands.”
  • One of the key elements of Project 2025’s administrative goals is to reinstate the executive order known as Schedule F. This would reclassify thousands of federal employees as “at-will” workers and give the administration the ability to fire employees who don’t agree with or follow the extremist policies suggested by Project 2025. [PBS, 8/29/23]
  • Project 2025 has created a training “academy” for potential employees of the next administration, which “provides aspiring appointees with the insight, background knowledge, and expertise in governance to immediately begin rolling back destructive policy and advancing conservative ideas in the federal government.” The goal of the training, which currently consists of four online courses on subjects such as “Conservative Governance 101” and “The Administrative State & The Regulatory Process,” is “to prepare and equip future political appointees now to be ready on Day One of the next conservative Administration.” [Project 2025 Presidential Administration Academy, accessed 3/18/24]
  • Project 2025 makes it clear the Department of Justice is not independent from the executive branch and implies the agency will be used to take legal retribution against whoever Trump decides to investigate.[The Nation, 2/8/24]
  • Project 2025 Director Paul Dans recently appeared on Steve Bannon’s War Room and encouraged viewers of the far-right broadcast to send in their resumes and participate in Project 2025’s trainings in an effort to recruit extreme loyalists to the next GOP administration. [Real America’s Voice, War Room, 2/29/24]

• Christian nationalism​

• Project 2025 aims to put Christianity at the center of American government and society by turning a biblical worldview into federal law, often employing Christian nationalist talking points and narratives to support its right-wing policy proposals. In his foreword to the book, for instance, Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts claims that “the Left is threatening the tax-exempt status of churches and charities that reject woke progressivism,” adding that “they will soon turn to Christian schools and clubs with the same totalitarian intent.” Project 2025 is partnered with the Center for Renewing America, the primaryChristian nationalist political organization in the U.S., led by former Trump official and Heritage alumnus Russ Vought.
  • Vought’s Center for Renewing America, headed by one of Project 2025’s top advisers, reportedly listed “Christian nationalism” as one of the major priorities of a second Trump term. The CRA is listed among Project 2025’s advisory board member organizations. [Politico, 2/20/24; Project 2025 Advisory Board, accessed 3/18/24]
  • In discussing plans for the “well-being of the American family,” Project 2025 claims that centralized government “subverts” families by working to “replace people’s natural loves and loyalties with unnatural ones,” utilizing the biblical language of natural versus the unnatural. Roberts’ foreword for Project 2025 attacking the “noxious tenets” of “gender ideology” similarly argues, “These theories poison our children, who are being taught … to deny the very creatureliness that inheres in being human and consists in accepting the givenness of our nature as men or women.” [Salon, 3/1/24; Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, 2023]
  • In the chapter on the Department of Health and Human Services, former Trump HHS official Roger Severino advocates for a future conservative executive to “maintain a biblically based, social science-reinforced definition of marriage and family,” while arguing that “families comprised of a married mother, father, and their children are the foundation of a well-ordered nation and healthy society.”Severino specifically objects to “nonreligious definitions of marriage and family as put forward by the recently enacted Respect for Marriage Act,” claiming that “all other family forms” apart from “heterosexual, intact marriage … involve higher levels of instability.” [Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, 2023; MSNBC, 9/8/23]
  • Former Trump official Jonathan Berry’s chapter on the Department of Labor states that “the Judeo-Christian tradition, stretching back to Genesis, has always recognized fruitful work as integral to human dignity, as service to God, neighbor, and family” and claims that Biden’s administration is “hostile to people of faith.” [MSNBC, 9/8/23]

• Reproductive rights​

• Project 2025 aims for the next conservative administration to attack reproductive rights from several angles, including by removing the term “abortion” from all federal laws and regulations, reversing abortion pill approval, punishing providers by withdrawing federal health funding, and restricting clinics that provide contraception and STD testing. Project 2025 has collaborated with extremist anti-abortion groups such as Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, Students for Life of America, and the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
  • Project 2025 suggests the next conservative administration strike any mention of abortion from government laws, policies, and regulations. In the foreword of the Project 2025 policy book, Heritage President Kevin Roberts writes that a pro-life administration starts by removing the terms “abortion, reproductive health, [and] reproductive rights,” among others, “out of every federal rule, agency regulation, contract, grant, regulation, and piece of legislation that exists.” [Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, 2023]
  • Project 2025 suggests the next conservative administration reinstate the Comstock Act to ban and track and limit “mail-order abortions.” The New Republic report explains that right-wing groups see the Comstock Act “as a way to ban abortion nationally because it outlaws the use of the mail for the purposes of sending or receiving any object that could be used for an abortion.” [The New Republic, 2/8/24; Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, 2023]
  • Project 2025 would have the next GOP administration restructure Medicaid to avoid providing reproductive health care and penalize providers who do.The policy book instructs the Department of Health and Human Services to “issue guidance reemphasizing that states are free to defund Planned Parenthood in their state Medicaid plans” and “propose rulemaking to interpret the Medicaid statute to disqualify providers of elective abortion.” It also recommends withdrawing Medicaid funding from “states that require abortion insurance or that discriminate in violation of the Weldon Amendment,” which “declares that no HHS funding may go to a state or local government that discriminates against pro-life health entities or insurers.” [Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, 2023]
  • Project 2025 also suggests restoring Trump-era “religious and moral exemptions to the contraceptive mandate” through the Affordable Care Act that would allow employers to deny coverage. The policy book also proposes requiring education on “fertility awareness-based” methods of contraception and family planning and suggests eliminating condoms from Health Resources & Service Administration guidelines because they are not a “women’s” preventative service. [Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, 2023; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, accessed 3/19/24]
  • The policy book directs the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to eliminate any programs or projects that are deemed pro-abortion. In a report detailing Project 2025’s proposed crackdown on reproductive and LGBTQ rights, The New Republic writes that Heritage recommends the next conservative administration direct the CDC to “eliminate programs and projects that do not respect human life and conscience rights and that undermine family formation.” This includes ensuring the CDC “is not promoting abortion as health care” and instead pivots to “a research agenda that supports pro-life policies and explores the harms, both mental and physical, that abortion has wrought on women and girls.” [The New Republic, 2/8/24]
  • Heritage directs the administration to roll back Biden-era policies that allowed abortion access “in some circumstances at VA hospitals.” In its chapter on the Department of Defense, the book recommends reversing policies that allow “the use of public monies … to facilitate abortion for servicemembers.” [Politico, 1/29/24; Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, 2023]
  • Project 2025 intends to undo Title X protections for reproductive health care, which currently provide low-cost contraception, STD screenings, and prenatal care to low-income people. Though Title X funding has “never been used for abortion services,” restrictions sought by Project 2025 would prohibit “comprehensive counseling” on all of a pregnant person’s options. The policy book also calls on Congress to pass “the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act, which would prohibit family planning grants from going to entities that perform abortions or provide funding to other entities that perform abortions. This would help to protect the integrity of the Title X program even under an abortion-friendly Administration.” [Politico, 1/29/24; Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, 2023]
  • The policy book subtly promotes anti-surrogacy positions, writing that “all children have a right to be raised by the men and women who conceived them.” [Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, 2023]
  • Project 2025 aims to reinstate an expanded, Trump-era version of a longtime Republican presidential policy barring nongovernmental organizations receiving U.S. aid from providing abortion services or advocating for legal abortion. The Mexico City policy was rescinded by the Biden administration in 2021. [Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, 2023; KFF, 1/28/21]
  • The policy book would reverse a Biden administration policy that requires hospitals to offer abortions in medical emergencies regardless of state bans. [Politico, 1/29/24]
  • Project 2025 aims to end all fetal cell research and “ensure that abortion and embryo-destructive related research … become both fully obsolete and ethically unthinkable.” [The Hill, 2/26/24; Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, 2023]

• Department of Justice and federal law enforcement​

• In the eyes of pro-Trump Republicans and their right-wing media allies, the Department of Justice and the FBI have long been corrupted by left-wing ideology and the bureaucratic “deep state.” Now, Project 2025 seeks to radically reshape federal law enforcement for the benefit of a conservative strongman; its chapter by former Trump DOJ official Gene Hamilton states that “anything other than a top-to-bottom overhaul will only further erode the trust of significant portions of the American people and harm the very fabric that holds together our constitutional republic.” These views reflect the various conservative legal organizations that have partnered with Project 2025, such as former Trump adviser Stephen Miller’s America First Legal (where Hamilton currently works as vice president and general counsel), Carrie Severino’s Judicial Crisis Network, and the American Center for Law and Justice.
  • Project 2025 claims that “the DOJ has become a bloated bureaucracy with a critical core of personnel who are infatuated with the perpetuation of a radical liberal agenda and the defeat of perceived political enemies.”Instead, the policy book states that “litigation decisions must be made consistent with the President’s agenda.” [Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, 2023]
  • Citing the FBI’s handling of “the Russia hoax of 2016, Big Tech collusion, and suppression of Hunter Biden’s laptop in 2020,” Project 2025 calls for a future GOP administration to immediately review all major FBI investigations “and terminate any that are unlawful or contrary to the national interest.” It also calls for prohibiting “the FBI from engaging, in general, in activities related to combating the spread of so-called misinformation and disinformation by Americans who are not tied to any plausible criminal activity,” referencing federal law enforcement’s response to January 6 insurrectionists and far-right domestic actors. [Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, 2023]
  • Project 2025 also suggests eliminating the FBI director’s 10-year term limit established by Congress, claiming the position “must remain politically accountable to the President in the same manner as the head of any other federal department or agency.”[Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, 2023]
  • Complaining that federal law enforcement agencies spend too much time going after parents, Project 2025 calls for a renewal in the department’s focus on violent crime. Hamilton’s chapter claims: “The FBI harasses protesting parents (branded ‘domestic terrorists’ by some partisans) while working diligently to shut down politically disfavored speech on the pretext of its being ‘misinformation’ or ‘disinformation.’” The false talking point about the DOJ targeting parents was spearheaded by the conservative movement after the National School Boards Association issued a memo detailing “acts of malice, violence, and threats against public school officials” in response to false information about critical race theory and mask requirements. [Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, 2023; Media Matters, 9/27/22]
  • Project 2025 calls for initiating legal action against progressive prosecutors, citing local government officials who supposedly “deny American citizens the ‘equal protection of the laws’ by refusing to prosecute criminal offenses in their jurisdictions.” It adds, “This holds true particularly for jurisdictions that refuse to enforce the law against criminals based on the Left’s favored defining characteristics of the would-be offender (race, so-called gender identity, sexual orientation, etc.) or other political considerations (e.g., immigration status).” Heritage and its president, Kevin Roberts, have previously called for “crushing the rogue prosecutor movement.” [Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, 2023; The Heritage Foundation, The Kevin Roberts Show, 7/26/23]
  • Project 2025 proposes the next conservative president should “enforce the death penalty where appropriate and applicable.” The policy book also euphemistically calls for “the next conservative Administration” to “do everything possible to obtain finality for the 44 prisoners currently on federal death row.” During the final months of his administration, Trump rushed 13 federal executions in 2020 — “an unprecedented clip” compared to the combined total of three federal executions in the preceding 60 years. [Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, 2023; Rolling Stone, 1/27/23]
  • Project 2025 claims that the Biden administration “has enshrined affirmative discrimination in all aspects of its operations under the guise of ‘equity’” and vows to “reverse this trend” by attacking “so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) offices that have become the vehicles for this unlawful discrimination.” The Heritage policy book suggests that the DOJ’s “Civil Rights Division should spend its first year under the next Administration using the full force of federal prosecutorial resources to investigate and prosecute all state and local governments, institutions of higher education, corporations, and any other private employers who are engaged in discrimination in violation of constitutional and legal requirements.” [Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, 2023]
  • Project 2025 calls to reassign election-related offenses to the Criminal Division of the DOJ rather than the Civil Rights Division, claiming, “Otherwise, voter registration fraud and unlawful ballot correction will remain federal election offenses that are never appropriately investigated and prosecuted.” This change would allow a second Trump administration to provide more resources for investigations into bogus claims of voter fraud and bolster efforts to overturn future election results. [Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, 2023; Mother Jones, 9/14/24; Media Matters, 3/5/24]

• LGBTQ rights​

• Project 2025 takes extreme positions against LGBTQ rights, seeking to eliminate federal protections for queer people and pursue research into conversion therapies in order to encourage gender and sexuality conformity. The policy book also lays out plans to criminalize being transgender and prohibit federal programs from supporting queer people through various policies. The project partnered with anti-LGBTQ groups the Family Policy Alliance, the Center for Family and Human Rights, and the Family Research Council.
  • Project 2025 calls for the next secretary of Health and Human Services to “immediately put an end to the department’s foray into woke transgender activism,” which includes removing terms related to gender and sexual identity from “every federal rule, agency regulation, contract, grant, regulation, and piece of legislation that exists.” The Trump administration proposed a similar idea in 2018 that would have resulted in trans people losing protections under anti-discrimination laws. [Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, 2023; The New Republic, 2/8/24]
  • Similarly, the policy book calls for HHS to stop all research related to gender identity unless the purpose is conformity to one's sex assigned at birth. The New Republic explains: “That is, research on gender-nonconforming children and teenagers should be funded by the government, but only for the purpose of studying what will make them conform, such as denying them gender-affirming care and instead trying to change their identities through ‘counseling,’ which is a form of conversion therapy.” [The New Republic, 2/8/24]
  • The policy book’s foreword by Kevin Roberts describes “the omnipresent propagation of transgender ideology and sexualization of children” as “pornography” that “should be outlawed,” adding, “The people who produce and distribute it should be imprisoned.” Roberts also says that “educators and public librarians who purvey it should be classed as registered sex offenders. And telecommunications and technology firms that facilitate its spread should be shuttered.” [Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, 2023]
  • Roberts’ foreword states that “allowing parents or physicians to ‘reassign’ the sex of a minor is child abuse and must end.” Echoing ongoing right-wing attacks on trans athletes, Roberts also claims, “Bureaucrats at the Department of Justice force school districts to undermine girls’ sports and parents’ rights to satisfy transgender extremists.” [Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, 2023; TIME magazine, 5/16/22]
  • Dame Magazine reports that Project 2025 plans to use the Department of Justice to crack down on states that “do not charge LGBTQ people and their allies with crimes under the pretense that they are breaking federal and state laws against exposing minors to pornography.” [Dame Magazine, 8/14/23]
  • Project 2025 also calls for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to repeat “its 2016 decision that CMS could not issue a National Coverage Determination (NCD) regarding ‘gender reassignment surgery’ for Medicare beneficiaries.” The policy book’s HHS chapter continues: “In doing so, CMS should acknowledge the growing body of evidence that such interventions are dangerous and acknowledge that there is insufficient scientific evidence to support such coverage in state plans.” [Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, 2023]
  • Going further, Project 2025 also demands that the next GOP administration “reverse policies that allow transgender individuals to serve in the military.” The policy book’s chapter on the Defense Department claims: “Gender dysphoria is incompatible with the demands of military service, and the use of public monies for transgender surgeries … for servicemembers should be ended.” [Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, 2023]

• Climate change​

• Project 2025 would eliminate environmental protections and further delay climate action. In the foreword, Heritage President Kevin Roberts calls environmentalism a “pseudo-religion,” claiming “environmental extremism is decidedly anti-human” because it promotes “population control and economic regression” by “regarding human activity itself as fundamentally a threat to be sacrificed to the god of nature.” Project 2025 is supported by climate change-denying organizations The Heartland Institute and the Institute for Energy Research.
  • The Department of Energy chapter in the policy book, written by former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission head Bernard McNamee, calls for “eliminating three agency offices that are crucial for the energy transition” and reducing funding to different agencies related to renewable energy. McNamee also calls for cutting the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, and the Loan Programs Office. [The Guardian, 7/27/23; Politico, 7/28/23]
  • An entire chapter dedicated to the Environmental Protection Agency, written by former Trump EPA chief of staff Mandy Gunasekara, calls for shrinking the agency by firing new hires and eliminating the environmental justice department.The policy book supports reviving Trump-era EPA provisions and investigating grants to ensure money is going to organizations that support the administration’s policy agenda. [The Guardian, 7/27/23; E&E News, 2/26/24]
  • In a chapter on the U.S. Agency for International Development, Heritage research fellow and Trump’s former chief operating officer of USAID Max Primorac suggests the next administration “rescind all climate policies from its foreign aid programs” and shut down any offices or departments connected to the Paris Climate Agreement. Project 2025 also suggests eliminating or curtailing funding to dozens of federal programs or offices related to climate change. [Heatmap News, 2/15/24]
  • The policy book recommends reopening the Arctic for oil drilling, expanding other drilling projects, and leasing land in western states for coal mining. [Heatmap News, 2/15/24]

• Immigration​

• Project 2025 proposes to severely roll back both legal and unauthorized immigration through a number of untested, novel approaches that extend far beyond the policiesof Trump’s first term. The plan would potentially make hundreds of thousands of people vulnerable to deportation through the loss of temporary protected status, and could ensnare their families, those they live with, and other members of their communities. Extreme anti-immigration organization the Center for Immigration Studies has partnered with Project 2025 in supporting these radical immigration policy ideas.
  • Project 2025 aims to severely restrict legal immigration to the United States by dismantling the DREAM Act and restricting the DACA program, limiting temporary work visas from countries not on the current eligibility list, and increasing processing and application fees for migrants. [Niskanen Center, 2/20/24]
  • The policy book also suggests restricting T visas, which are temporary visas for certain victims of human trafficking, and U visas, which are given to victims of crimes that occur in the U.S. [Niskanen Center, 2/20/24]
  • Project 2025 suggests adding a citizenship question to the national census, something that the Trump administration attempted in 2019 but which was blocked by the Supreme Court. As NPR noted, “The plan also calls for aligning the mission of the government agency in charge of the next tally of the country's residents with ‘conservative principles.’” [NPR, 10/28/23]
  • Project 2025 calls on the DOJ to “pursue appropriate steps to assist the Department of Homeland Security in obtaining information about criminal aliens in jurisdictions across the United States, particularly those inside ‘sanctuary’ jurisdictions.” [Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, 2023]
  • Project 2025 calls for a massive increase in the authority of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations. ICE deportation officers should prioritize “the civil arrest, detention, and removal of immigration violators anywhere in the United States, without warrant where appropriate, subject only to the civil warrant requirements of the INA [Immigration and Nationality Act] where appropriate.” [Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, 2023]
  • Even people who are simply adjacent to unauthorized immigrants could be punished. Project 2025 would “bar U.S. citizens from qualifying for federal housing subsidies if they live with anyone who is not a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident.” [Niskanen Center, 2/20/24]
  • Under Project 2025, “The next Republican administration … would also strip hundreds of thousands of individuals, many of whom have been in the U.S. for decades, of their legal protections by repealing all Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designations.”The Niskanen Center writes, “Nearly 700,000 individuals would lose legal protections and work authorization by repealing all active TPS designations.” [Niskanen Center, 2/20/24]

• Education​

• Project 2025’s proposal for America’s education system would be one of the most extreme plans yet, calling for eliminating the Department of Education, getting rid of all teachers unions, and tearing down regulations on education spending. Far-right “parental rights” organization Moms for Liberty and the anti-union Institute for Education Reform have partnered with Project 2025 to create these proposals.
  • The first sentence of Project 2025’s chapter on the Department of Education simply states: “Federal education policy should be limited and, ultimately, the federal Department of Education should be eliminated.”[Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, 2023]
  • Citing “the path outlined by Milton Friedman in 1955,” Heritage’s Lindsey Burke advocates for American education through school vouchers, claiming, “Ultimately, every parent should have the option to direct his or her child’s share of education funding through an education savings account (ESA), funded overwhelmingly by state and local taxpayers, which would empower parents to choose a set of education options that meet their child's unique needs.” [Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, 2023]
  • Project 2025 seeks to eliminate the National Education Association’s congressional charter, which allows for the existence of teachers unions, calling it “a demonstrably radical special interest group that overwhelmingly supports left-of-center policies and policymakers.”[Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, 2023]
  • The plan also wants to remove federal oversight for funds under Title 1, “which provides support for low-income districts,” instead handling them as “no-strings-attached” state grants “with no regulation or oversight.” Federal education funding for students with special needs would “also be converted to unregulated block grants.” [Bucks County Beacon, 11/20/23]
  • The proposal also aims at eliminating any policies implemented under the Obama administration that support diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives or so-called “critical race theory,” arguing that CRT specifically disrupts “the values that hold communities together such as equality under the law and colorblindness.” [Bucks County Beacon, 11/20/23; Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, 2023]

A couple of throwback clips to that crazy 2003 season when Tony was a senior captain and a young commercial realtor was coaching him.

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I stopped in this week and got a hotdog at Saxon's. The outside is not much to look at, but they sell a lot of hotdogs. It was a little slow at the time so I talked to the guy behind the counter. He said a film crew from ESPN came by a few weeks ago and spent the day filming and doing interviews. He said it would be on a show on the SEC Network. I believe the show is called TrueSouth. He wasn't sure when, but thought it would air sometime in November. I don't know how they knew that place exists but it's on the intersection of 72 and 28. If you are down that way stop in and support them. They seem like good people.

From our South Carolina site here at Rivals.com:

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Anyone else having an issue saving your tickets to your wallet?

Odds that we get the night game on ABC? Ohio state hosts Texas and assume that will be a Fox or CBS? Only other decent game would be bama at FSU. Surely they don’t put us at noon and go Tennessee Syracuse later in the day right? If it were at LSU no doubt espn would put it on at night to protect their brand.

to get blacks back on the plantation. Its backfiring like most everything they have tried...
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the "king of free speech" is literally suing a bunch of companies for NOT ADVERTISING ON HIS PLATFORM.

literally crying because his business cant attract advertisers.

claiming that if these specific companies don't advertise on X, the "long term health of the town square is in question".


lololololoololol.

i can't think of a more beta cuck move than suing companies because they wont buy your product.

lolololololol

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That moment, late in the 4th quarter against UVA in 2009, where the stadium altered its CLEMSON - TIGERS chant with CJ - SPILLER.

Goosebumps. Enjoyed the moment then in college, and am enjoying it now as I get to introduce my oldest daughter to Clemson tomorrow.

So I finally had some time this week to really sit and closely watch some Clemson football. I watched the first half of FSU and first 3 quarters of Wake.

There are a few undeniable facts about this team: 1) The offense is much, much more efficient (dare I say better coordinated?) than it was a year ago. 2) The defense is talented, but the depth concerns are legitimate. 3) we are, ultimately, a team that has bullied a bunch of bad teams and got beat by 4 touchdowns by the only really good team we’ve played.

How good this Clemson team is or can be still remains to be seen. November games against Louisville, Pitt, and South Carolina (and probably Miami in the ACC Championship) will be big tests of just how good we are. If we can roll through those teams, then hey maybe we are ready to get back on the field with an elite, national contender and be more competitive. But watching this team, I just have a suspicion that while we may run the table, win the ACC, and make the playoff (and maybe even win a game there) we don’t really belong in the conversation when it comes to true national title contenders.

But, there’s still a long way to go, and Clemson has certainly benefitted in years past by being able to improve week over week against lesser competition. By time December rolls around, we will probably be a more complete team than we are now - but then again, so will all the other guys.

One thing can be said without a doubt - we’re better than we were in 2023.

Looking at the offense, everything is just working better now, isn’t it? Things are more smooth, we aren’t seeing turnovers, mind bottling mental errors and pre snap issues, and the pace of our play has been consistent. This all starts, of course, with the QB.

Klubnik is remarkably improved from where he was a year ago, playing with much more confidence, avoiding putting the ball in jeopardy, and helping out the OL by not running into pressure.

To be sure, there are still areas of improvement that he can make. His accuracy is still wildly off at times, and sometimes you can still see him get a little jittery in the pocket, although he does a better job of stepping away from pressure now, whereas in the past we’ve seen him literally just run into the arms of an otherwise blocked defender. This confidence and improved calm have allowed him to show off his top level arm strength and has also made him a much bigger threat with his legs, as he’s much better and finding running space when nothing’s open and is choosing to run rather than forcing a bad ball into coverage.

Check out this incredible throw here. I’m not sure he actually needed to roll out here, but he stayed calm, in control, and threw an absolute laser right on target. Klubnik has certainly had his growing pains, but there ain’t that many college QBs who can make that pass with that velocity on it.

And here against FSU. The Klubnik we knew last year starts bailing on the pocket the second he senses that #5 getting around Miller on the right side. Instead he trusts the protection, stays in pocket, and gives his playmaker a chance to make a play. Not a perfectly placed ball, you probably want that a little shorter, but Antonio just gets up there and makes a great play.

It probably does help with Klubnik’s trust of the OL that the OL has been more trustworthy this year. IMO the most stark difference in the OL from last year to this year is in the pass protection. Things have been much cleaner on that end so far, and our tackles have really taken a nice leap in terms of their pass pro fundamentals. We also see way less confusion from the OL and we’ve generally improved on picking up stunts/twists etc. Again, not perfect, we got beat by a couple stunts against FSU, but in general there seems to be a lot less leakage due to confusion up front.

Fundamentally speaking, Miller is easily the best of the bunch, I don’t think its particularly close. Even in that clip above, he’s got a tough job. He’s got to step forward at the snap to sell the run to the 2nd level, then recover into pass pro, and Miller does this pretty damn well which is what allows Klubnik enough time tom make that pass.

Miller’s game still has some holes. He’s not particularly good when he has to pull, which he is often asked to do in our offense. He struggles with his decision making on whether to turn up inside the kick out or continue on for a seal block. He also gets too high and loses a little control of his body and becomes more of a nail than a hammer.

Here’s an example of him missing the gap when pulling. Parks gets a nice kickout block and Miller should turn up inside of him here and become a lead blocker, you can see that’s what Mafah is expecting him to do. Instead Miller continues outside to try to create a seal block, which just completely wrecks the play.

On the other side, Leigh’s fundamentals aren’t as clean but he’s super athletic and strong and is a really outstanding run blocker. His pass pro is sold but he gets off balance at times. A good pass rusher can beat him with a 2nd move as he over corrects on his techinique, meaning if a guy beats him with a bull rush, he’ll start leaning forward too much and get beat around the edge with speed by the same guy. His feet also get too close together at times. But by and large, he’s a solid player out there.

Here’s the 4th down goal line play from the Wake game. We put Leigh and Miller both on the left side here in a tackle over formation. Watch Leigh just bury his guy while Miller gets just enough (and maybe a tiny hold) on the backer to keep that gap wide open for Mafah. You can also see the defense gets lured inside by Klubnik opening to the opposite side. This is a really nice play well executed by everyone, including Woods on the lead block.

In the middle we are solid, not elite, not dominant necessarily, but solid. I’ve always like Parks’s physicality and general mean spiritedness, but I’ve also always thought he was a better tackle than a guard. I think he’s a better player at 290-300 than he is at 310-320, but he needs that extra bulk inside. But I think we’ve got a really solid starting 5 and 2 really good tackles that we can win with.

The real question though is how much have they been truly tested since the Georgia game? FSU is the only other team we’ve played that has anything close to similar personnel and the offense looke anemic at times there, though I’d lay the blame for that on play selection in the red zone more than I would poor OL play.

On defense - look man, I love Peter Woods, dude is a baller and a great player, but he’s not a defensive end. He can play end and be successful, but he isn’t as athletic as Christian Wilkins and is a more true inside player and he just lacks some of the athleticism/speed that we really need out on the edge at times. But when you look at the depth chart, it also makes sense that he’d be the guy they push out there because Capehart and Page are monsters inside.

This is how you stop that slow mesh play Wake Forest runs. And that center for Wake didn’t fare any better when Page was lined up across from him either, dude had a bad day all around.

I have a lot of questions about our secondary and our overall depth on defense. They got pushed a bit more by Stanford than what I think most of us anticipated, and there will come a game where they have to make a big play for us to win and I have some concerns about their ability to deliver in a big situation late in the game against a quality opponent.

Overall, we’ve got a good team. Certainly a much better team than we had a year ago. The turn around on offense has been impressive. But, we have to remind ourselves that we have played exactly 1 elite team, and they beat us by 31 points. So while there’s reason to be excited, I’d pump the brakes on any dreams of holding up anything beyond the ACC championship trophy this season. Crazier things have certainly happened, and with the expanded playoff we’ll at least have a chance.



Go Tigers!

With us playing UVA this week who remembers when they had Shawn Moore at QB, Hermon Moore at WR , and Terry Kirby at Rb. Those dudes were studs

Don't know much about sports or even Clemson University, but can anyone point me to some good information concerning the local City of Clemson mayor election?

Preview: UVa faces long odds this weekend as they travel to Clemson
By: Kenton Griffin - CavsCorner

Head Coach: Dabo Swinney (175-44 at Clemson)
Last Meeting: Clemson beat UVa 41-23 in Death Valley four years ago

At the halfway mark of the 2024 season, Virginia sits at 4-2 and has made some unbelievable strides under head coach Tony Elliott. The Wahoos have competed in every ball game and seem to be maturing into the “model program” that Coach Elliott and his staff have longed for.

After a tough loss at home last Saturday to Louisville, UVa must regroup and head south for their toughest test of the season. Waiting for the Cavaliers will be the 10th-ranked Clemson Tigers, who have won five straight games and seem to be in great form. It will be a homecoming for Coach Elliott, who not only graduated from Clemson but also was an integral member of their national championship teams, serving as the

Tigers’ Offensive Coordinator during their run.

While I am sure there will be some pre-game pleasantries by the Clemson faithful, after the ball is kicked, the Tigers will be a tall task for the Hoos.

The Opponent​

Clemson has been rolling since its season opening loss to Georgia and have done most of their damage in the first quarter. The Tigers are outscoring teams 90 to 7 in the first stanza. Sporting the 10th ranked offense in FBS, Clemson is balanced and very efficient. They are led by quarterback Cade Klubnik. The junior signal caller is a true dual threat for Clemson. At 6-foot-2, 210 pounds, Klubnik not only has the size to stand in the pocket and deliver, but also has the athleticism to create in the run game. He has passed for over 1,500 yards and has 17 touchdowns against two interceptions, while also rushing for nearly 200 yards and four touchdowns.

Flanking Klubnik will be Phil Mafah (6-foot-1, 230 pounds). Mafah is a punishing tailback that has accomplished a lot in his career at Clemson. This season, Mafah has rushed for 604 yards and scored four touchdowns. For his career, he has rushed for nearly 1,800 yards in the Clemson orange. As a team, Clemson averages over 200 yards rushing a game behind a veteran offensive line. Blake Miller (6-foot-6, 315 pounds) and Tristan Leigh (6-foot-6, 315 pounds) lead this group of talented blockers.

Clemson has had a plethora of talented receivers throughout the years and 2024 is no different. Antonio Williams (5-foot-11, 190 pounds) is the Tigers’ “go-to” target this season. He has hauled in 25 passes for 349 yards and five touchdowns. Sophomore Tyler Brown (5-11, 180) earned ESPN freshman All-American honors last season as well. At tight end, Clemson features one of the conference's best in Jake Briningstool. The 6-foot-6, 240-pound tight end is second on the team in catches (24) and touchdown receptions (4).

When Clemson is at their best, they are elite on defense, specifically on the defense line. The Tigers have put several talented defensive linemen in the NFL over the past decade. The depth is impressive, but the group is headlined by two youthful defensive ends in Peter Woods (6-foot-3, 315 pounds) and T.J. Parker. The sophomore duo has been impressive this season. Parker (6-foot-3, 265 pounds) leads the team in combined TFLs and sacks.

At linebacker, Barrett Carter has been a consistent force for the Clemson defense. At 6-foot-1, 230 pounds, the middle backer has been an All-ACC and All-American performer. This year, he is second on the teams in tackles and has contributed seven TFLs and three sacks. Leading the team in tackles is Wade Woodaz (6-foot-3, 235 pounds). The hybrid backer/safety has 47 stops this season.

Avieon Terrell (5-foot-11, 180 pounds) leads the Clemson secondary with two interceptions this season, however, look for nickel Khalil Barnes (6-feet, 195 pounds) to be active around the ball. The freshman All-American in 2023 forced three fumbles, collected three interceptions, had over five TFLs and a sack last season for Wes Goodwin’s defensive unit.

Keys to Victory for UVa​

Simply put, UVa will be overmatched heading down to Death Valley on Saturday. Clemson has put together one of college football’s most complete rosters, built solely on high school recruiting. The depth of quality football players is remarkable. UVa has improved its roster but it is still not close to competing against a very good, playoff-ready Clemson team. We expect Clemson to get off to one of their patented hot starts. Playing at Memorial Stadium is no walk in the park for any team, specifically a team that has some injuries on both sides of the ball like Virginia.

Outlook​

Tony Elliott is familiar with Clemson’s personnel and scheme, but we feel that Clemson has entirely too much firepower on both sides of the ball. The Cavaliers will compete for 60 minutes and ultimately put up some points, but Virginia does little to slow down the Clemson offense. UVa takes its second consecutive loss on Saturday in a game that looks more competitive than what it really is.

The Pick:​

Clemson 42​

UVa 23​

THURSDAY CLEMSON FOOTBALL NUGGETS
By: Larry Williams

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I’m not sure if this has been discussed, but Adam Randall’s TD catch in the 3rd quarter looked unusual to me. I watched it again, and sure enough, it’s a play that we have never run before. Riley called a bucket draw and gave Klubnik the option to use the delayed 2 seconds to pass the ball before the lineman released down field.

This is such an ingenious wrinkle, bc it prevents illegal man downfield, and it gives your quarterback more time to make the decision.

15:13 for the play.

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