Prove it to me

By: Will Vandervort

Clemson baseball coach Jack Leggett said it best following his Tigers' 7-5
victory over South Carolina Wednesday night.

"You don't like to lose one in a row," he said.

Leggett described last night's victory as a huge relief, and with good
reason. Clemson had lost six straight to the Gamecocks prior to and
another defeat would have tied them with the longest losing streak to USC
in the rivalry's long history, which still stands at seven from 1983-'85.

By the way, Clemson holds the longest winning streak in the series with 12
straight victories from 1961-'66. But back to the present.

Now comes the hard part, can the Tigers show some consistency in the
series and win a second straight when the two rivals meet in Columbia on
April 22? I guess time will tell. As for the present, Leggett has
immediately turned his focus to this weekend when No. 20 Clemson host No.
5 Miami in a three-game series at Doug Kingsmore starting Friday.

This is a big series for the Tigers, who currently stand on top of the
ACC's Atlantic Division with a 9-6 record. Florida State and Boston
College are tied for second at 7-6. If Clemson can win two of the three
games this weekend, it has a chance to separate itself from the rest of
the pack in the Atlantic, while also positioning itself for the overall
top seed in next month's conference tournament.

Miami is second in the Coastal with a 10-5 mark, while Georgia Tech, who
was pounded by Georgia Southern, 23-3, Wednesday, is 9-4 in ACC play. The
Tigers host Georgia Tech at The Doug April 24-26 in a three-game series.

It's hard to believe that despite the Tigers inability to move runners in
scoring position and the problems they have had in closing games, they
still have a very good chance at having a very good season. I guess that's
why you say "it isn't over until it is over."

Speaking of being good position. I talked with both left guard Thomas
Austin and guards and centers coach Brad Scott following yesterday's
practice and both told me the development of the offensive line at this
point is way ahead of where they were at heading into the summer last
year.

Austin told me the continuity in the unit is really good and he said part
of that is because they do not have to roll as much as they did last year.
Though he has played some at center this spring, it has been very limited
and the same for other guys who play multiple positions.

Austin and Scott said that has helped a lot with guys knowing what the
other is doing and with communication. Scott said it also shows the group
as a whole has a lot more depth this year than in years past and that
should go a long way in this unit establishing itself early.

I guess the proof will be in the pudding. We will see.

Facts are facts ... right?

By: Will Vandervort

The first fact, Clemson owns South Carolina in football.

Why is that a fact?

Well, the Tigers have won 10 of the last 12 over their hated rivals and
have a 27-10-1 (.724) record over South Carolina dating back to 1971, and
owns a 65-37-4 lead in the all-time series.

Clemson owns the Gamecocks on the gridiron. That’s a fact.

The second fact, the Gamecocks overall have been better than Clemson in
basketball.

Why is that a fact?

South Carolina leads the overall series against the Tigers 86-73. Now,
Clemson has made tremendous strides under Oliver Purnell in this series
and I guess you can say at least in the last five years the Tigers have
owned the Gamecocks.

Clemson has won five straight in the series and OP is 5-1 against USC
since coming to Clemson. That’s a fact.

The third fact, the Tigers overall have been better than South Carolina in
baseball.

Why is that a fact?

Clemson leads the all-time series 163-120-2. However, the Gamecocks can
argue they have been the better overall team in the series since head
coach Ray Tanner took over the program in 1997.

Since then, USC owns a 25-20 record over the Tigers, including last
night’s come-from-behind 7-6 win in Columbia.

Clemson again blew a lead going into the ninth inning for the fifth time
this season. In Fact, the Tigers have now allowed South Carolina to win
both games this year in its last at-bat against them.

The game was tied 1-1 heading into the ninth on Feb. 28th at Doug
Kingsmore before the Gamecocks hung two runs on the scoreboard to get the
3-1 victory.

Last night catcher John Nester gave the Tigers a 6-5 lead with an RBI
single in the seventh. It looked as if that run might hold up before
DeAngelo Mack delivered a two-run single in the bottom of the ninth to
lift the Gamecocks to their sixth straight win over Clemson.

“We were all excited when got that one run in,” Nester said to the
Anderson Independent-Mail after the game. “We all thought it was going to
be enough because everybody was pitching well.

“We’re definitely a better ball club all around than them. We just got to
start playing like it.”

The fact is the Tigers are not better than the Gamecocks on the baseball
diamond, right now. USC has won 9 of the last 10 in the series. Like
Clemson in football, until the Tigers are able to prove they can beat the
Gamecocks on a consistent basis, South Carolina owns them on the baseball
diamond.

That is a fact.

Maybe the Tigers can start to turn that fact around tonight at The Doug.

Tuesday football ramblings

By: Will Vandervort

Clemson offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Billy Napier said Willy Korn’s bad throwing motion has come from the fact he tore his labrum and broke his collarbone last season. He said in hindsight they should not have let him throw the football until both injuries were completely healed.

Because of the collarbone injury, Napier says Korn could not lift his arm over his shoulder, yet they allowed him to throw the football which Napier said has contributed to his unorthodox throwing motion. Korn’s delivery reaches far back and is low. It is very similar to that of a pitcher's delivery. Napier said that his muscle memory from that period made him develop some bad habits.

Napier did say that his release has improved since he started working with him and that he expects it to get better before the start of the season. As for Korn’s play, he has been very pleased. He said both Korn and Kyle Parker have made strides this spring and he expects that competition to go well into the summer.

I asked him what are the chances both quarterbacks could play this fall, and he said it was way too early to answer that question.

I also spoke with former Clemson running back Rodney Quick as he was coming off the practice field and just asked him what he thought. The first thing he said was “that No. 23 is going to be a player.” For those of you who do not know, No. 23 is Andre Ellington.

Quick, who played under Danny Ford and is a high school football coach these days, said Ellington was making play after play and his shiftiness is uncanny.

Special teams coach Andre Powell said Spencer Benton can make a field goal from at least 57 yards. Both he and head coach Dabo Swinney talked about how the redshirt freshman really got a hold off a couple kicks yesterday.

After spring break, Powell took Benton into his office and really went over his mechanics and what he thought he was doing wrong. He said the young man has worked hard to correct those things and that’s why he has become more consistent. Though neither Swinney nor Powell will make a call on who will be the starting kicker for the fall, I believe Benton has to be the leader at this point.

Just one other note before I go. We told you yesterday that Ricky Sapp was in an orange jersey yesterday and for the first time this spring did non-contact drills with the team. Well, Sapp also told me he will be back working with the team full time once spring practice is concluded.

I asked him why he was wearing the orange jersey instead of a green one if he was doing non-contact work and he told me “I hate that green jersey. I only like to wear orange.” I get the feeling Clemson fans are going to like the fact he is wearing orange this fall.

More scrimmage reflections

By: Will Vandervort

I saw a little bit of everything at Saturday's scrimmage. Let me first say
the defensive front looked, really, really good.

The defense ended the day with 13 sacks, which is a lot, but you have to
understand quarterbacks just have to be tagged to be downed in scrimmages.
But the point is the front four put a lot of pressure on the quarterbacks.
There were a couple of blitzes that were thrown in, but the majority of
the attacks came from up front.

No one could really block Da'Quan Bowers.

Last week, the ground game rushed for 200 yards. This week, not so much.
The offense was held under 100 yards on the ground and Rendrick Taylor was
the top rusher with 31 yards on eight carries.

I talked with defensive tackle coach Dan Brooks after the scrimmage and he
told me he was really pleased with the way his guys looked. He said he
does not evaluate players from what he sees from the sideline in a
scrimmage, but he was really pleased with the effort guys like Jarvis
Jenkins, Brandon Thompson and Jamie Cumbie gave. He said he has also been
impressed with the way Rennie Moore has looked.

An interesting note here, Brooks told me he subbed at a lot in the
scrimmage because he wants to see how guys like Moore - a third team
tackle - can perform against the first and second offense. He says this
way he gets a true evaluation of a player. He also said it shows him how
much he can substitute players in a real game. He likes to do that because
he wants to keep those guys as fresh as possible. He said he really likes
the depth of players on the defensive line.

The secondary was still burned a couple of times, most of that came,
however, against the second and third team units. Sadat Chambers bounced
back and had a real good scrimmage I thought this week. He had an
interception and broke up a couple of passes and more importantly, he did
not give up a touchdown. In fact, the first team defense did not give up a
touchdown.

DeAndre McDaniel looked good again and even had a tackle for a loss on a
fourth-and-one play inside the red zone.

Now it wasn't totally bad for the offense. Granted Jamie Harper and Andre
Ellington were held in check and the first team offense did not do much,
but the second team guys played well and I thought the wide receivers as a
whole had a good day.

The offense I thought also looked better in goal line situations then the
defense did.

Willy Korn and Kyle Parker did not shine enough to cause any separation,
but Parker did show some improvement on his touch passes, especially on
the 10-yard touchdown in the back corner of the end zone to Terrence Ashe.
He also showed off his rifle arm later in the scrimmage when he threw
against his body and back across field to Xavier Dye for a 23-yard gain.

One last thing, the kicking game looked much, much better this week.
Spencer Benton and Richard Jackson continue to improve. Benton was 7-of-7
in field goals Saturday, including a 50-yard field goal. Jackson also made
his kicks and added two 49 yard field goals.

Dawson Zimmerman also showed improvement this week, getting off one punt
for 47 yards and then getting off another that went just 35, but he got it
off under extreme pressure.