Injuries Mounting for the Tigers |
CLEMSON -- Clemson enters the final part of spring with injuries mounting. Even defensive coordinator John Lovett has a pulled calf muscle and is walking around with a cast on his leg.
However, none of the injuries have taken the spring from head coach Tommy Bowden’s step. He sounds upbeat with just a few practices left and it appears that the team hasn’t strayed from its goals going into the spring. “The objectives we had before the spring will continue during the next five practices,” said Bowden. “Running the ball, short yardage, stopping the run on defense, which we haven’t been able to do on the field. We’ve been able to on the goalline.” During the team scrimmage on Wednesday some highlights included a 77-yard run by Reggie Merriweather and a tough goalline stand by the defense at the end of practice. Kelvin Morris (knee) and Tim DeBeer (ankle) both went down with injuries that will likely keep them out of the remainder of spring practice. Both injuries are critical to the team’s depth as it spends time scrimmaging at least two more times. Earlier this week a knee injury appears to have ended offensive lineman Jermyn Chester’s career. Offensive lineman Greg Walker will miss the next practice because of a wedding. “You want to scrimmage and get some things done,” he said. “Now you can’t get anything done.” The team will practice in shorts on Friday and will scrimmage again on Saturday on the practice fields. During Wednesday’s scrimmage, Bowden spent much of his time calling plays. He couldn’t help but notice the defensive intensity at the end of practice during the goalline situations. “I liked the intensity of the defense,” he said. “There was some good tough running, but the defense won that.” Earlier in the scrimmage the offense moved the ball to Bowden’s satisfaction. “We moved the ball too well offensively on the field,” he said.
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