Offense shows improvement

By: Will Vandervort

I just got back and dried off from this morning’s scrimmage inside Death Valley and I thought I would throw you some quick observations before I start to write.

First of all it was very wet, and from talking with running back Jamie Harper, Rendrick Taylor and center Dalton Freeman, the team loved it.

Freeman started for Mason Cloy today in the scrimmage because Cloy had to fulfill some academic responsibilities one of his classes had going on today. It was something to do with the 5K road race that was being held at Clemson this morning.

Anyway, Freeman looked really good, as did the majority of the offensive line. The offense, first and second team, scored the first two times they touched the ball. The 5K race caused a couple of the defensive players to miss the start of the scrimmage as well, but I don’t think it would have mattered too much.

The offensive line seemed like it was on a mission today. They dominated the line of scrimmage. They were very physical and they opened up nice holes for Harper, Andre Ellington and Taylor.

By the way, C.J. Spiller and Jacoby Ford were both dressed, but neither one made an appearance in the scrimmage. They stood on the sideline off to the side talking the entire two hours. They were the cleanest guys on the field. Even the kickers got some dirt on them.

Harper looked really good. He scored on a nice 25-yard touchdown run where he juked safety Sadat Chambers out of his shoes. Ellington followed that up with a 25-yard score of his own on the next play, where he hit the line made a spin move to the left and then bounced outside for an easy walk to the end zone.

Chambers had a bad day. He was run over by Taylor on another play and also gave up a 28-yard touchdown pass from Willy Korn while covering Marquan Jones. The 5-foot-11 Jones just went up and out jumped him for the ball.

But Chambers wasn’t the only one that looked bad on defense. Jarvis Jenkins jumped off sides a few times and missed a few tackles and Rashard Hall was also run over. Overall, it just wasn’t a good day for the defense.

After giving up those two early touchdowns, linebacker Brandon Maye got into with a couple of defensive players and coaches. We don’t know what was said, but Maye was so angry he took a walk and left the stadium for about 10 minutes. It was good to see a guy with that much passion show how much he carries.

That kind of intensity is what has been missing from this team the last few years. By the way, the offense had three straight three-and-outs after that. It looked like his teammates took notice.

As for the quarterbacks, neither looked really better than the other, though I thought Kyle Parker’s arm strength really showed up a couple of times. He threw one dart for 13 yards to Xavier Dye between coverage and also threw another nice pass off his back foot to tight end Dwayne Allen in the back of the end zone.

That pass came with pressure as he rolled to his right. Allen was wide open in the end zone, but given the pressure and the fact he had to throw off his back foot, it was impressive that he was still able to get the ball over the linebackers and safeties. I’m not sure if Korn could have made that throw.

Parker finished the morning with three touchdown passes, while Korn had one. Parker’s other two passes went to Chad Diehl, including a 43-yard catch-and-run down the right sideline thanks to a great block from Brandon Clear to free him up.

Well that’s all I got for now. I’m going to grab a bite to eat and start working on some stories from the scrimmage.

Weather, injuries and more

By: Will Vandervort

It’s going to be interesting to see if the football team will actually get practice in today and tomorrow. The weather guys are calling for more rain this afternoon, and some heavy at times, and the team isn’t expected to hit the field until 3:30.

Tomorrow is even a bigger concern. Heavy rains and strong storms are expected to hit the upstate by the afternoon. The scrimmage, which is closed to the public, is supposed to get started at 10 a.m., but with the impending weather, I can see head coach Dabo Swinney starting this a little early. We will try to keep you posted on the messages boards if there are any time changes or cancelations.

I know the coaching staff is anxious to get out of the way a let these guys go at it inside Death Valley. Like us, they are anxious to see if some of these position battles will start to shake out in a game-like situation. Me personally, I want to see the quarterbacks and see who is managing the team better. That’s when you start to see who has the upper hand.

Saturday’s scrimmage – the first of the spring – is going to be important and I know the coaches are hoping the weather will hold off and let them get this in. I guess we will see.

Speaking off weather, and getting events in, you all know the baseball team has scheduled a doubleheader for Saturday at Boston College because of Sunday’s impending weather conditions in Boston. The Tigers were supposed to play BC once today, Saturday and Sunday. The three-game series starts this afternoon, 2:30 p.m., and it’s a big one for the Tigers.

Clemson (16-6, 5-4 ACC) has a chance to grab control of the ACC’s Atlantic Division, especially if it gains a sweep in the series. BC (13-7, 4-3) currently leads the division by a few percentage points so the winner of the series will stay in first place. Third place Florida State, who beat the Tigers two out of three last week in Tallahassee, is at Maryland and could figure in all of this too depending on what happens at College Park.

Just a few more notes here. With the doubleheader on Saturday, it means the Tigers will be without right fielder Kyle Parker for the weekend series. The two-sport star was expected to fly up to Boston Saturday afternoon, so he could play in Game 3 Sunday, once he was done with the scrimmage over at Death Valley.

The team could also be without outfielder Wilson Boyd, who is having complications from a misdiagnosed ulcer in his mouth combined with wisdom teeth problems. The issues have caused temporary paralysis on the left side of his face.

Fellow outfielder Addison Johnson is listed as questionable for the series as well after he strained his hamstring against Elon in the first game Tuesday night. Also starting pitcher Trey Delk, the team’s Friday starter, could miss a month due to a stress reaction in his lower back. That sounds painful and it cannot be good for anyone, much less a pitcher. Freshman Chris Dwyer will get the start today in place of Delk.

Clemson’s misfortunes don’t stop there. Two freshman pitchers will not pitch at Boston. Reliever Scott Weismann, who is from the New England area, will not play because of soreness in his throwing shoulder, while fellow freshman Kevin Brady is having problems with his location and is out indefinitely until he can fix those issues.

Long rainy days

By: Will Vandervort

I don’t know about you, but rainy days always seem to make me run slow. It’s like my whole day goes in slow motion. But I will not complain too much because here in the Upstate we need a ton of rain after what happened last year.

Speaking of having a long day, Kyle Parker’s day yesterday had to be one of the longest he’s ever had to experience. He told me after practice yesterday afternoon that he did not turn in for bed until 1:30 in the morning the night before – remember the baseball team had a doubleheader with Elon. Those games did wrap up until 12:09 a.m., more than six and half hours after Game 1 started.

I learned the baseball team did not find out about the doubleheader until 4:30 p.m. while they were taking BP. Anyway, after he finally turned in, he was up just a few hours later getting ready for class, and after class he had a quarterback meeting with Billy Napier and then he was on the field throwing the football by 2 p.m.

When he was finally done with everything, and that includes talking to me, it was about 5:15. I don’t know about you but that is a long day. I think student athletes need a little money, but that is another conversation for another day.

I also talked to Spencer Benton — you know the kicker that broke his collarbone in that snowboard accident during spring break last week. He showed me the brace he is wearing on his shoulder that fits underneath is shoulder pads. It does not look comfortable; he has to wear that for the next six weeks or so. He has already had surgery on his shoulder and he says he is doing fine.

Let me tell you, at least yesterday he looks like he is doing fine. He made three field goals yesterday in four tries at the start of practice and two were beyond 40 yards and both came on the hashes. One was a 46 yarder that could have very easily gone in from 50 plus.

Dabo Swinney later told us (the media) after practice that he made another one in what he described as a game-winning situational kick.

Benton told me he went and watched the film on what he was doing in Monday’s practice that was causing him to pull the ball to the right so much and he noticed that when he was stepping into the kick he was stepping in too far so he made an effort to work on that Wednesday and it appears he may have found something. That might be good news for Clemson.

As for his counterpart Richard Jackson, he still is having his issues. In the part I was allowed to watch he missed three kicks. Swinney said he redeemed himself later in practice and was really kicking the ball far. Jackson has always been inconsistent, even in high school I have heard, and yesterday was a good example of that. If he can get that corrected, from what I understand, he has a chance to be a real good kicker. Let’s hope he can get it straighten out.

My Pro Day thoughts

By: Will Vandervort

Yesterday was my fourth Pro Day at Clemson, but this one was a little different. It was different because it was the first time I did not have to sneak in.

In the three previous years, former head coach Tommy Bowden would not allow the media to watch Pro Day so each year I had the mission of figuring out how I was going to get in. The first year, when Charlie Whitehurst and Tye Hill were the headliners, was the most difficult because I had never covered one of these before so I was sort of winging it.

My timing could not have been better because when I arrived everyone else was just getting there so I just blended in with all the scouts and found a nice area to go and hide and watch the events, and let me tell you, there really isn’t anything to watch.

Events like this are called the Underwear Olympics for a reason. It’s very boring. Scouts pile in and check the weight and measurement of each player and then they watch them run and lift. That’s the first hour and a half. Sounds like fun doesn’t it?

The second part of Pro Day has all the players meet over at the practice fields beside the Jervey Athletic Center where they will run through various drills. This is not as boring to watch, but I still rather be at home watching SportsCenter for the 500th time or NFL Total Access.
But I have to push on. I have to get the story.

I did a pretty good job of not being noticed over at the track facility, though I think a couple of players saw me, so as I headed over to the practice fields I ran into Bob Gillespie of The State (Columbia) Newspaper. He was like me and he had no idea what he was doing so we both snuck in together to watch the second half of drills.

We eventually got noticed by a couple of Clemson coaches, but by that time things were nearing an end and they just came and talked to us instead of throwing us out.

The last couple of years have went about the same way, with the media contingency growing by one each year. Last year, a few of us stood there and watched the field events with former defensive coordinator Vic Koenning, which was a good experience because he sort of told us what the scouts were looking for on certain drills and if it hurt the player or helped him.

I know some of you guys did not like Koenning’s schemes, but I will tell you this, he was a heck of a football coach. He was very detailed and he always was open to the media, even when times weren’t good. Trust me, a lot of coaches and players want nothing to do with the media when things are not going good, but Koenning stood tall and always talked with us.

This year obviously was the biggest attendance from the media since Dabo Swinney opened it up to us. It sure did make my job a little easier this year.

I think yesterday helped a couple of guys stock in the draft. I think quarterback Cullen Harper, who hired former UCF head coach Mike Kruczek to be his quarterback coach, helped himself more than anyone. A lot people don’t know this, but Kruczek won two Super Bowl rings with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the late 1970s as Terry Bradshaw’s backup.

Before Ben Roethlisberger set an NFL record for most consecutive wins (15) by a rookie quarterback in 2004, Kruczek, who played college football at Boston College, owned the mark with six straight wins when he stepped in for an injured Bradshaw in 1976.

Kruczek totally changed Harper’s release and his overall mechanics. You could tell it helped because Harper seemed more accurate with his passes and had more zip, especially on his long throws.

James Davis looked really good. He told me it was the best workout he has had for the scouts and he was really pleased how his pass catching improved. From what I understand the scouts felt the same way.

It did not hurt that James ran a faster 40 time as well. Right now he is thinking he could be drafted somewhere in the late third to fourth round.

Defensive tackle Dorell Scott looked the most impressive to me. He was really cut and showed some good balance, especially during shuttle drills and things like that. Scott told me he is being talked to by only 3-4 defenses.

He has several meetings coming up, including trips to Dallas, the New York Jets and Pittsburgh. By the way, no one from the World Champions were there yesterday nor were any general managers because of the NFL Meetings going on in California.

Anyway, Scott told me that everyone is talking to him about being a nose tackle in their 3-4 scheme and he says he should not have a problem adjusting to that because he played nose guard in Clemson’s 4-3 defense. I really like his chances to make it in the NFL. He looks good and he seems dedicated.

He thinks he will be drafted in the third round somewhere.

Pearman, Coach Cheese notes

By: Will Vandervort

Just a couple of notes from yesterday’s practice I wanted to throw your way.

I spoke with Clemson tackles and tight ends coach Danny Pearman for about 10 minutes and discovered this guy is really enjoying his job now that he is back at Clemson. The former tight end played under Danny Ford back in the late 1980s and since he became a full-time coach back in the early 1990s, he has always wanted to get back to Clemson and coach.

He is definitely a Danny Ford guy. He is laid back to a point, but is very hardnosed and gets after his players. A couple of his players told me they really like him. They said he is tough, but he is fun to play for.

Pearman told me he expects a lot out of his players, but most importantly he wants them to be consistent and physical on every snap. I will have more on Pearman later.

I also spoke with secondary coach Charlie Harbison for about 10 minutes, and I can tell you this is a guy you can really like. I have heard former players speak fondly of him before when he coached here under Tommy West, and now I can see why.

Everyone on the team, including the players, call him Coach Cheese because of his big smile. It’s a good nickname because the entire time I was talking to him he was talking back to me with this big grin. He even told me to call him Cheese. That’s a first for me in this profession and I have been doing this for 12 years now.

As for his style of coaching, he expects a lot out of his players as well. When they get on the practice field, he makes sure they understand this is his time and he expects a lot out of them.
He also expects them off the field to carry themselves in a professional manner and understand their actions represent the school and him.

His players also said they like what he brings to the table and so far they have enjoyed playing for him. By the way, strong safety DeAndre McDaniel told me he is just starting his PTI program and will be doing some community service in the area throughout the summer.

He said last year’s actions, where he was arrested and charged basically for striking his girlfriend, was a learning experience for him. He said he has learned from it and is moving on with his life. I guess we will have to wait and see. I will have more on this story later today.

I have to head to Pro Day now so I will talk with you guys on the message boards later.

Getting back at it

By: Will Vandervort

Well its back to the grind today. After recovering from the drive halfway across the country on Friday – a quick 48-hour turn around after the basketball team lost in the first round in Kansas City – I get back at it when football practice cranks back up this afternoon.

The next couple of weeks should be interesting as we see what competition battles will start to take shape and which ones will be solidified by the end of spring.

Obviously the quarterback battle is the most intriguing. I think a lot of people still assume that Willy Korn is going to be the starter when the season kicks off this fall, but I really don’t understand why that thinking is out there.

Korn has a lot more questions right now than answers this spring and he is still working to get his throwing motion back. Now that doesn’t mean I think he is going to be the backup or anything like that, I’m just saying it is not an automatic like some of the fans are thinking.

Kyle Parker looks pretty good to me, especially his arm strength. He by far has the stronger arm of the two, but he does have some accuracy problems.

The first scrimmage of the spring is this Saturday so it will be interesting to see how each quarterback looks in live action, though they will be hands off from a tackling standpoint. Each one will work with the first team so this will be an opportunity for one of them to create some sort of separation. However, I do not believe there will be a clear No. 1 quarterback coming out of the spring.

I get the feeling head coach Dabo Swinney is going to keep that competition open through August in order to get the best out of both his quarterbacks. Remember competition is a good thing, especially at quarterback.

Some of the other intriguing things I will be watching this week will be at wide receiver. Xavier Dye appears to have the early lead to replace Aaron Kelly at that position, but Swinney and wide receivers coach Jeff Scott have really been impressed by freshman Jaron Brown thus far. This is a guy that could possibly fit anywhere at wide receiver right now.

The offensive line is also another area I think we might see improvement this spring. Guys like Antoine McClain and Mason Cloy are starting to settle into their new positions at guard and center and a few more weeks of work there should help them improve, while also gaining some continuity with guys like Thomas Austin, Chris Hairston and Landon Walker.

Remember the Tigers had a lot of turnover on the offensive line last season because of injuries and the group never really started to develop any continuity until the last few weeks of the season. If these guys can go into the summer knowing they will be the ones to start the season, than that will go a long way in helping this unit improve from the production it put out last year.

The defense is pretty much set, but I will be interested to see how Sadat Chambers and DeAndre McDaniel do this week, especially in that first scrimmage. It will also be interesting to see how well the defense is grasping Kevin Steele’s scheme and what exactly the defensive front will do while Swinney tries to replace their position coach David Blackwell.
We will have more on that later.

Besides quarterback, the kicking game is the next biggest question mark. Spencer Benton and Richard Jackson did not look good at all in the first three practices and on the last day, punter Dawson Zimmerman was getting more reps at placekicker than on previous days. In fact Swinney says he just might use Zimmerman at both if Jackson and Benton don’t become more consistent.

That’s news I don’t think special teams coordinator Andre Powell is too excited about. He told me before the spring he really only wanted to use Zimmerman for kickoffs and that was it. He really wanted him to use this spring to concentrate on being a punter first. Now I guess those plans are out the window.

It is starting to look more and more like Jackson is just wasting a scholarship.

A quick note on the baseball front. Though the Tigers lost two of three against Florida State this weekend in Tallahassee, they find themselves sitting in second place in the ACC’s Atlantic Division behind Boston College – this weekend’s opponent.

If Clemson can win the weekend series at Boston, then it has a great opportunity to gain control of the division. Currently, the Tigers and Eagles are the only two teams in the division with a winning conference record.

Here is a link to the updated baseball standings in the ACC in case you’re interested.

Another quick note on the baseball front, all six of Clemson’s losses have been by three runs or less.