CLEMSON — Clemson football's longtime safety, Tyler Venables, didn't start Saturday against Georgia and played in only 10 snaps.

Third-year player Kylon Griffin started over Venables at strong safety in the Tigers' 34-3 loss to the Bulldogs. Clemson coach Dabo Swinney addressed the depth chart decision on Tuesday.

"Just the way the game went. Coaches' decisions," Swinney said. "We played who we started mostly, and we didn't have that many snaps."

Swinney said Venables, who is the son of former Clemson coordinator and current Oklahoma coach Brent Venables, could have stopped Georgia's 40-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter. However, Tyler Venables was "a little deep in his alignment," which caused him to run into an official on the play and give up the score.

It was Tyler Venables' first action on defense since 2022, recording one tackle against Georgia. He played on special teams for two games last season after he medically redshirted and rehabbed from a hip injury.

Griffin, who earned the first start of his college career, made two tackles against the Bulldogs. Still, Swinney wants to see the safety improve on his tackling.

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"He had a couple of critical missed tackles — one on a screen that goes to the 1," Swinney said. "But, this is your first game, and you figure out how small your margin of error is when you're playing the No. 1 team in the country."

Clemson's defense held Georgia to six points in the first half, but it gave up 28 points in the second half. The Tigers (0-1) will look to bounce back vs. Appalachian State (1-0) on Saturday (8 p.m. ET, ACC Network) at Memorial Stadium.

Derrian Carter covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at dcarter@gannett.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DerrianCarter00

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Clemson's Dabo Swinney on why Tyler Venables barely played vs Georgia