Morris preaches tempo from the start, even for the freshmen

Morris said that quarterback Tajh Boyd showed leadership Friday

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sat Aug 06 12:40:27 GMT-04:00 2011

CLEMSON – The voice of new offensive coordinator Chad Morris could be heard all over the Clemson practice fields, imploring his offense to hurry.

“Tempo, tempo, tempo! Go! Let’s go,” Morris said after each and every play during Clemson’s first fall practice of the 2011 season. We're striving for 80-85 plays a game In order to do that, you have to practice fast. You have to train fast. You've got to answer the phone fast. Whatever you do, you have to do it fast.”

Morris didn’t describe his offense as fast following spring practice, but said that the addition of true freshmen like Martavis BryantMartavis Bryant

Wide Receiver

#1 6-4, 195

Anderson, SC

View Full Profile , Mike BellamyMike Bellamy

Running Back

#5 5-10, 187

Nocatee, FL

View Full Profile and Sammy WatkinsSammy Watkins

Wide Receiver

#7 6-2, 200

Fort Myers, FL

View Full Profile added a different dimension to the practice field, and that in turn pushed the veterans.

"Those guys definitely added a different dimension to it,” Morris said. “The burst, the acceleration, the play-making ability," Morris said. "Bellamy, he is lightning quick. I tell you what, everybody is out there in tag mode and he's dashing through everybody I also saw some veterans today that realized, 'I'd better step up, or I'm fixing to get left out.' I was glad to see that as well.”

Morris said he didn’t try to slow things down just because of the freshmen.

"You have to get a gauge. You have to get a starting point,” he said. “The only way you can do that is, you can't modify day one. You've got to throw them in it, see where they're at, modify from that point forward. From what I just saw over the last two hours of practice, we're not slowing down. We're going to pick day two up of install tomorrow and add a lot more. Tomorrow, they're head may be swimming a little bit. But I'm extremely proud of where they are right now."

Redshirt sophomore Tajh BoydTajh Boyd

Quarterback

#10 6-1, 230

Hampton, VA

View Full Profile drew praise from his first-year coordinator, with Morris saying Boyd looked more poised on Friday than he did at any time in the spring.

"I thought his leadership, number one, was better today than it was any time during the spring," Morris said. "He threw the ball better today than he has. He made some good decisions. He definitely showed where he needs to be. Yeah, I'm excited [with] what I saw of him, but that needs to be every day. I think he stood out. I think you saw some other guys that stood out as well. Jaron BrownJaron Brown

Wide Receiver

#18 6-2, 200

Cheraw, SC

View Full Profile was one that stood out."

The offense focused on picking up the installation where it left off in the spring.

“We got in all of our day one," he said. "Everything that we had was accounted for, which was most of what we did last spring though day one, and we were able to add some new stuff that they haven't seen at all as a part of this offense."