Gifford Timothy hopes hard work and patience pay off in starting spot

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sun Mar 18 19:02:58 GMT-04:00 2012

CLEMSON – Gifford Timothy Gifford Timothy
RS Fr. Offensive Tackle
#70 6-6, 315
Middletown, DE
View Full Profile sat behind Landon Walker Landon Walker
Gr. Offensive Tackle
#72 6-6, 305
North Wilkesboro, NC
View Full Profile last season and learned all he could, and now he feels like he is ready to take over a starting spot.

The Middletown, Delaware native certainly has the size to be a dominant right tackle (6-6, 315), but used a redshirt year and a year playing behind Walker (45 snaps) to work on his technique. Timothy said this week after practice that he knows now he wasn’t really ready to compete at times last season, and that – combined with how good Walker was – kept him off the field.

“It was a little bit of both,” Timothy said. “Landon was really good. He had really good fundamentals. I thought that me personally, I had a lot to work on. I looked at how good he was when he was out there, and now I am going to go out there this fall with a game plan.”

Timothy saw his first major action last fall in the blowout loss at N.C. State, and he calls that a definite learning experience.

“It was just getting used to the game speed,” he said. “That was a huge change for me. I am starting to get better with that. An example of that is when I get thrown in the fire at N.C. State. It kind of surprised me at how fast the game was, even compared to practice. Now I think I am getting used to the game speed. I thought it was a blessing to get thrown in a little bit, especially with Landon in front of me because he had such an impact on our team.”

Timothy said it doesn’t feel like he will be starting his third year on campus next fall, but is glad to be competing for a starting job. He has taken most of the first team snaps at right tackle, and is competing with Joe GoreJoe Gore
RS Fr. Offensive Line
#73 6-6, 260
Lake Waccamaw, NC
View Full Profile for the spot.

“I want to compete for that spot, and at the end of the spring come out with that spot,” he said. “It all depends on how hard I work and how well I do in the spring. Hopefully, if I keep working hard every day, maybe I can earn that first team spot and earn some playing time.”

Offensive coordinator Chad Morris said Timothy has shown flashes, but has to learn to be more consistent.

"Gifford Timothy has been a guy that's got flashes,” Morris said. “He's like a sparkler on the Fourth of July. You light him up and he looks good, then he burns out. He has to stay lit. The flashes we see, they're good flashes."

Timothy said he endeavors to work on one thing at each practice.

“The older guys have told me to keep working hard, and to just go out there and work on one piece of your game every practice,” he said. “Just work on that and get better every day. I need to work on my strength in my pass blocking, especially with my punch. That is probably one of my biggest weaknesses. My biggest strength is getting off the ball and run blocking.”