CLEMSON FOOTBALL

Clemson Holds Final Football Scrimmage

Clemson Holds Final Football Scrimmage


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Clemson, SC-Charlie Whitehurst completed 11-18 passes for 90 yards

and a touchdown to lead the offense and roverback Gerald McCloud had

two interceptions and a caused fumble to lead the defense in

Clemson's final stadium scrimmage of the preseason. The Tigers open

the season August 30 against Georgia in Death Valley at 12:00 Noon.

Whitehurst led the offense on an 80-yard drive that covered

15 plays on the first possession of the nearly three-hour workout.

The offense was helped by a pair of offside penalties that led to

first downs that kept the drive alive. Whitehurst completed the

drive with a 13-yard scoring pass to Airese Currie.

The offense scored a touchdown later in the scrimmage on a

seven-yard run by Duane Coleman. The sophomore had 11 carries for 40

yards on the day. Reggie Merriweather was the top rusher with 11-44,

but he did not score. Derrick Hamilton was the top receiver with

six catches for 32 yards, while Kevin Youngblood had 2-33, including

a 19-yarder in traffic that set up a score.

The Clemson defense scored a pair of touchdowns on the day.

Freshman Sergio Gilliam of Greer High School had a 34-yard

interception return for a score, while graduate student Dejuan Polk

scored on a fumble recovery. McCloud had his best day in the

preseason with a pair of interceptions, two tackles for loss, a

caused fumble and three total tackles.

The top tackler was senior linebacker John Leake with 10

tackles. Andre Waters had seven tackles, while Leroy Hill had six.

Gaines Adams was again in the opponent backfield often and had three

tackles for loss, including a pair of sacks. Eric Coleman and Brian

Carr also had interceptions. There were six turnovers in the

scrimmage, but just one by the first-team offense.

"This was a ragged scrimmage," said head coach Tommy Bowden.

"We had too many penalities in key situations. The defense had five

offside penalties in the first 25 plays. We would have lost to

Georgia had we played today."

Clemson's focus is now to get ready for Georgia. "We worked

on game preparation yesterday, and will be back to it starting

Thursday. We have seven days left to get ready for the opener. We

will get our legs back and practice three more days this week.

"The best part of today is it did not appear that we got

anyone injured."

There were no new injuries in the scrimmage. Backup

quarterback Chansi Stuckey and backup center Dustin Fry missed the

scrimmage with injuries suffered on Tuesday. Stuckey has a pulled

muscle in his abdomen and Fry has a high ankle sprain. Roscoe Crosby

did not take part in the scrimmage. He is not allowed to go full

gear until the fifth practice under the NCAA rules that govern

preseason practice.

Notes

- Four walk-ons were put on scholarship Wednesday - tight end Kevin Burnette, wide receiver Gene Pate, linebacker Lionel Richardson, and linebacker Nigel Vaughn.

- Quarterback Will Proctor got all the snaps with the second team in the scrimmage. Bowden commented that Proctor "looked good but needs a lot of work."

- Bowden was not pleased with his defensive front as the unit jumped offsides five times in the first 25 plays. Twice the defense had the offense stopped on a 3rd down, but the drive was allowed to continue due to the penalties. The offense put together a 80-yard, 15 play scoring drive on that possession.

- Running back Yusef Kelly still needs to drop some weight in order to move back up the depth chart according to Bowden. "We will need Yusef Kelly this year. He finished up strong (last year), but he runs better at a lighter weight."

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