Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney does Stephen A. Smith impression (Video)

Dabo Swinney was on ESPN Monday morning, and the Clemson head coach came to First Take with an impression to offer.

It’s lucrative to offer sports “hot takes” on television these days, and one of the early adopters was ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith. The First Take leader has a relatively new co-host/co-debater, but his words and over-the-top delivery have not changed at all through the years.

It’s also quite lucrative to be a high-level college football coach, and Dabo Swinney has put Clemson on the national map in recent years. He appeared on First Take Monday morning, looking ahead to the coming season, with Smith and the show’s regular on-camera crew on vacation as it were.

Swinney is often highly quotable, with unpredictable and memorable phrases like “bring your own guts.” He offered an impression of Smith, and the result was pretty spot-on.

Swinney was citing Smith’s prediction that Alabama would beat Clemson in the national title game last January. It was a strained effort, or so it seemed anyway. But a good cadence and enhanced volume is all you really need to nail a Stephen A. Smith impression, and Swinney had both.

It’s said that mockery is the sincerest form of flattery. In that case Smith should be glad Swinney put out an impersonation on national television, for social media and websites to digest and critique as a residual.

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Replacing quarterback Deshaun Watson in particular won’t be easy, and next to impossible, but the Tigers are still a potential top-10 team that could be in the national title conversation again. Then if Smith predicts Swinney’s team will lose the national title game a second time in a row, the coach can probably give his impression another try a year from now.