Let the fun begin: Spring practice kicks off fun weekend in Clemson

DJ Uiagalelei is ready for his second spring practice with the Tigers.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Wed Feb 24 08:01:03 GMT-04:00 2021

Everyone loves August and the start of fall football practice when you look ahead to the season, but this part of the late winter and spring is one of my favorite times of the year. Why? Because we have it all going on, and the rest of this week is going to be fun.

That’s right – a little after 4 p.m. today the Tigers will amble out of the football operations center and onto the practice fields for the start of spring practice. The good news for those of us in the media is that we are supposed to be allowed back at practice next week – as soon as everyone feels it’s safe enough for us to observe practice safely. That’s big news because I love bringing everyone our practice observations.

We are scheduled to speak with head coach Dabo Swinney at 3 p.m. today, and then we are scheduled to speak with certain players sometime after practice (around 6:15 or so) for player interviews. There will be another practice Friday and we will have more interviews then.

Clemson basketball also makes a return to the court, traveling up to Winston-Salem to take on Wake Forest in a rare 4:30 p.m. Wednesday game. The Tigers haven’t played since February 12th when they knocked off Georgia Tech on Nick Honor’s bank shot as time expired. Twelve days is a long time without a game in this part of the season, and the Tigers can’t have another stretch like the last one when they lost four out of five coming out of a COVID pause.

In softball, the Tigers host Elon in a three-game series starting with a doubleheader Saturday at McWhorter Stadium. Clemson won the ACC opener against Virginia Tech last week before losing the last two, then went on the road and swept Georgia Tech in a three-game series. That sweep was big for John Rittman’s young team.

In baseball, the Tigers take on South Carolina in the rivalry series this weekend. This is big because it marks the first time that the rivals have played in the big three sports since the Tigers defeated the Gamecocks two games to one the final two days of February and the first day of March last year. That’s a long time without any rivalry talk.

We spoke with head coach Monte Lee Tuesday and he said he is excited to get things going in one of the best baseball rivalries in the nation.

"It's an absolute blessing for me to be a part of the rivalry," Lee said. "You know, to be here at Clemson, now in my sixth year, and being a part of it every year. I've coached at South Carolina as an assistant coach, grew up in the state of South Carolina, so it's just a blessing for me to be a part of the rivalry, No. 1. To be a head coach in the rivalry, it's a lot of fun because it means a lot to the people from the state of South Carolina."

The Tigers were without outfielder Kier Meredith, infielder/outfielder Sam Hall, catcher Adam Hackenberg, and pitcher Keyshawn Askew in last weekend’s series sweep of Cincinnati. Only Meredith has a chance to play this weekend and Lee seemed doubtful that would be the case.

"Kier is probably the biggest one on that list as far as he's probably the closest to being able to come back," Lee said. "Askew, Hackenberg, Hall, all of those guys are out for the weekend. I would say right now it's doubtful that he (Meredith) will be ready for the weekend. There's a chance that he could be, but I would say right now it's probably doubtful. We'll just have to see how he does over the next couple of days, but I am not planning on him being able to start this weekend."

Clemson got strong pitching performances from Davis Sharpe and Ty Olenchuk last weekend, but Sunday starter Caden Grice struggled and Lee hinted there might be changes for the series against the Gamecocks.

"There could be some changes," Lee said. "I wouldn't think it's going to be just an overhaul or anything like that, but there could be some changes to the rotation. We're going to get through today, meet as a staff tomorrow and try to make that decision going into tomorrow."

Clemson hosts South Carolina at 4 p.m. Friday, the teams play Saturday at 4 p.m. at Greenville’s Fluor Field, and the series finale will be at Founders Park in Columbia Sunday at 1:30 p.m.