Friday practice report - Tigers run through two-minute drills but lack focus

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Fri Mar 26 19:42:19 GMT-04:00 2010

CLEMSON – The Clemson Tigers ran through another practice on Friday, but with around a hundred high school coaches in attendance for the Coaches Clinic, starting quarterback Kyle Parker in Virginia with the baseball team and a scrimmage slated for early Saturday morning in Death Valley, head coach Dabo Swinney said there was a lack of focus.

"I didn't think we had quite the focus offensively that we've had, and especially that we had Wednesday," Swinney said. "We'll see where they are tomorrow. Hopefully I'll see good toughness and good effort tomorrow, and just see us becoming a smarter team," he said. "That's one of our main objectives this spring is to be a smarter football team."

Redshirt freshman quarterback Tajh Boyd had the helm of the offense in Parker’s absence, and Swinney said that Boyd was put into a number of new situations, including his first shot at running the two-minute drill.

"This is the first time Tajh has been in two-minute," Swinney said. "He wasn't bad - he just looked like a freshman, which he is. But he's getting better. He's getting better every day."

Swinney said the offense worked on red zone, green zone [inside its own 10- to 20-yard line] and goal line situations, situations the Tigers haven’t really worked on this spring.

“We worked on a lot of things we really hadn't done,” Swinney said. “Wednesday there was not a lot of installation. Kyle was here Wednesday, and we looked very crisp. Today, Kyle's not here and we had some different things that we had installed, and different situations that we had not worked on."

Swinney also talked about the second-string offensive linemen, and called the unit a “work in progress.”

"We feel comfortable with [left guard] Wilson Norris,” Swinney said. “He is a guy that's made a lot of progress and come on. He's still a guy who has work to do as far as being a consistent pass protector, but he knows what to do and is tough as they come. He will be very good at the point of attack as a run-blocker."

*Swinney also said that Phillip Price, the right tackle on the second unit, showed progress on Friday.

*Swinney was asked about the linebackers, and he said that he has been pleased with the play of Tig Willard to this point, and also mentioned the Corico Hawkins has had some eye-opening moments. He said that Quandon Christian has all of the tools, but isn’t quite there yet.

*The Tigers also ran through the “Paw" drill on Friday, which is designed to foster toughness on the interior lines.

*Swinney said that Richard Jackson, who we mentioned took some time off from kicking after last season, appears to have the lead at kicker because of his consistency, but he also wants to see how the kickers look in Death Valley on Saturday.