What we've learned through the first half of Clemson spring practice

Five-star enrollee Peter Woods has looked as advertised.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Tue Mar 21 07:00:15 GMT-04:00 2023

Seven practices and the spring game are all that remain as the Tigers head into the final act of the spring. Through the first half, what have we learned? A lot of the same things we knew heading into the spring.

The Tigers are on spring break this week, so this is a chance to look back and one thing we learned – and we learned this before the team ever took the field – is that injuries are still a bit of an issue, especially at wide receiver.

Troy Stellato tore his ACL last August and the coaches are bringing him along slowly. Adam Randall tore his ACL last spring, started the season late, and then had further surgery after the season and will miss the entire spring. Beaux Collins had surgery before the bowl game and is still limited. With Will Taylor playing baseball and freshmen Misun Kelley, Ronan Hanafin, and Tyler Brown set to join the team over the summer, there just aren’t many scholarship bodies available to practice.

In case you missed it, defensive back Malcolm Greene was asked last week if any of the receivers had stood out to him and he paused, thought about it, and he said no, saying, "Nobody is really flashing anything I haven't seen."

*Speaking of injuries, the offensive line is without two starters in right guard Walker Parks and left guard Marcus Tate. That has led to a lot of players getting a look this spring.

"Musical chairs. We're kind of looking at everybody from Trent Howard to Ryan Linthicum to Bryn Tucker to obviously Mitchell Mayes,” head coach Dabo Swinney said. “Mitchell has made some strides. He really gained a lot of confidence those last four games of the season and I think confidence was the biggest thing for him. And then Dietrick Pennington. Of the young guys, Harris Sewell has really caught my attention. He is a really natural football player, incredibly physical inside, picks things up really quickly, very strong and incredibly flexible and can bend. Really understands leverage and how to play in there. We are really repping a lot people in there."

The offensive line struggled mightily at times last season (Notre Dame, Tennessee), and observers have told us that those struggles have continued in the early part of the spring against the defense.

*The offensive players have all agreed that the offense is moving at a faster clip than last season, and the simplicity has led to a quicker grasp of the install. Quarterback Cade Klubnik compared it to what the Tigers saw against Tennessee.

"You look at what Tennessee could do last year, and everybody talked about how fast they played," Klubnik said. "I think that's going to be a lot similar to what we're going to be doing this year. Just the speed we can play at but also the efficiency. It's not just a bunch of guys running around trying to figure out what we're doing. Even in the first day of practice, after 10 minutes guys were running around and getting to the spot and snapping the ball 15 seconds later. I don't know the exact time.”

Klubnik loves what he sees so far.

"It's fun... you're running around, getting set, snapping the ball, and getting six yards then you're taking a shot,” Klubnik said. “Then six more, six more, then taking a shot. It's just fun; that's the best way to describe it. It's just a fun offense to play in."

*Defensively, the news is good. The freshmen defenders are making a case for playing time already. We’ve heard rave reviews about linebackers Jamal Anderson and Dee Crayton, and those linemen (Peter Woods, Vic Burley, Stephiylan Green, and TJ Parker) have impressed even Swinney.

"It's easy to see those d-linemen. Hard to miss those guys,” Swinney said after the scrimmage. “They are as advertised, that's for sure. Sheesh, man. Those four are everything you want."

Defensive tackles coach Nick Eason said his three – Woods, Burley, and Green – have caught his eye.

“In terms of talent level, off the charts – all three of them – and they’ve showed up this week,” Eason said this spring. “I’ve seen a lot, and some of it has been surprising. But they’re very well developed. You can tell they’ve been very well coached at their particular high schools. Their high school coaches and their head coaches and position coaches did a really good job with them, so I commend them for that. I’ve reached out to their position coaches at Thompson, at Warner Robins and at Rome, and they’ve done a really good job of coaching those guys.”

In the secondary, it looks like that group is getting healthy at the right. The addition of Greene – who wants to play corner – gives corners coach Mike Reed a nice pool of talent to work with heading into the fall. Nate Wiggins, Sheridan Jones, Greene, Toriano Pride, and Jeadyn Lukus will all compete for playing time.

*Swinney said special teams needs to take a major step forward the second half of the spring. He said they aren't consistent at kicker or punter.

"We are consistently inconsistent right now. We have work to do,” he said.