CLEMSON FOOTBALL

Bowden Unhappy with Lackluster Tigers

Bowden Unhappy with Lackluster Tigers


by - Correspondent -

CLEMSON - The final week of a seemingly long spring seems to be wearing on

Clemson's football team.

One day after a full scrimmage - the first of four workouts this week, not

including Saturday's spring game - the Tigers appeared a bit lackluster in

Tuesday's workout.

Head coach Tommy Bowden obviously noticed the same thing. He capped off an

especially vocal day for himself at practice with a good chewing out of his

players in the post-workout huddle.

"We had a long scrimmage yesterday. We've got a lot of young guys (and) the

tendency is for them to come out here and feel sorry for themselves," he

said. "You can't do that. It's typical. It's just football. You're (media)

just not out here often where you can hear it."

"In fact," he added with a laugh, "if I'd know you were listening I'd have

gone a little further (away)."

Asked how the players were feeling sorry for themselves, Bowden again smiled.

"Got to practice tomorrow, got five practices this week, got a strained

eyelash, this is hurting me this week...," he said. "You've got a lot of

young guys who are used to getting away with it. But you can't do that. You

just can't show up with toughness. It doesn't develop overnight."

Bowden cited usually sure-handed receiver Derrick Hamilton as an example.

Hamilton, he of the bevy of freshman receiving records set in 2001, dropped

"three or four" passes across the middle during drills.

"You couldn't have paid him to catch one," Bowden said.

But not all was lackluster.

Redshirt freshman running back Tye Hill, practicing with a fracture in the

non-weight bearing bone in his right shin, still showed off his speed by

busting what appeared to be a trap play for a long touchdown run against the

Clemson defense.

And defensive lineman J.J. Howard, who was taken off the field Monday by an

ambulance with an apparent neck injury, was back and participating in full

workouts Tuesday. Ditto for offensive lineman Cedric Johnson, whose banged-up

knee proved not to be serious.

NOTES

- Bowden said Saturday's spring game will follow a similar format to last

seasons, but without a scoring system.

"We'll do it like a regular scrimmage, but there will be points where we'll

stop and work on things," he said. "We'll work on punts and punt coverage,

but there won't be any other live kicking."

- The game with be televised on a tape-delay basis by Comcast (Charter

Communications), though an official air date has not been set. The game

originally was scheduled to be shown live, but that idea was nixed Tuesday.

- Bowden said the fact that the game will be shown on television won't change

his play-calling Saturday.

"It would have been generic anyway," he said.

- Bowden will leave the sidelines Saturday to join the broadcast booth for a

brief period of time.

SPRING PRACTICE COVERAGE

Day 1: Weather or Not, Spring Practice Underway (Photos)

Day 2: Two Days In, Let the Hitting Begin

Day 3: Hitting, Fights Suit Bowden Fine (Photos) Day 4: Todd McClinton Gives Trainers a Scare

Day 5: Clemson Holds Football Scrimmage (Photos)

Day 6: Film Grade Promotes Walker to Starting Guard

Day 7: Mini Scrimmage Held Before Spring Break

Day 8: Tigers Return to Practice After Spring Break

Day 9: Bowden Looking for Leaders

Day 10: No Report

Day 11: Clemson Holds 96-Play Scrimmage Monday Afternoon

Day 12: Bowden Unhappy with Lackluster Tigers

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