CLEMSON FOOTBALL

News and notes from Tuesday's practice
Swinney called Tuesday's practice the most disappointing practice of fall camp.

News and notes from Tuesday's practice


by - Senior Writer -

AUDIO: Kevin Steele after practice audio

AUDIO: Maliciah Goodman after practice audio

CLEMSON – How can you tell when football players get a little tired of two-a-days early in camp? When the fights start.

Apparently, things got a little chippy during Tuesday afternoon’s practice, with defensive tackle Rennie MooreRennie Moore

Defensive Tackle

#94 6-4, 270

Saint Marys, GA

View Full Profile told to leave the practice after one incident, and head coach Dabo Swinney said it was just “one of those days.”

“Rennie had to hit the showers. Sometimes you just have to hit the showers early,” Swinney said after practice. Today was just one of those days. He just got out of line a little bit out there and got a little heated. He needed to go to the showers and cool off. Today was just one of those days. It was probably the most disappointing practice that we’ve had. I don’t even know what day this, but they’ve been going at it every day. This is football. It’s hot and it’s tough.

”We’ll get back after it tomorrow and get them refocused with a situational scrimmage. We had too many players today that had too many mistakes and weren’t disciplined. I hate to lump them because the majority of them are dialed in and doing what it takes. It takes a team to win. You have to have all 11 on the field focused on the task at hand and we didn’t have that today. It certainly wasn’t a kumbaya party at the end of practice. It was unacceptable the way we practiced today.”

Swinney said the receivers have been impressive, including the freshmen. “The receivers have been consistent the entire camp. Jaron [Brown] had the best practice that he has had at Clemson last night. Nuk [Hopkins] has been outstanding. He has improved from last year to this year. He is a confident player and is playing well without the ball. Our young guys, we hit on all of those guys. They are all probably good enough to play. And smart enough to play. I don’t know that we are going to need all of them- I hope not anyway. Sammy [Watkins] and Charone [Peake] are really far along. Martavis [Bryant] is incredibly gifted, but has been a little slower picking things up. He has really come along the last few days. Plus, he has been battling a little bit of a shoulder injury. Adam [Humphries] has been outstanding. Seckinger, the last few days has really competed like I like to see them compete. We have a really good group that is going to make some noise this year and certainly in years to come.”

Tight end Dwayne AllenDwayne Allen

Tight End

#83 6-3, 245

Fayetteville, NC

View Full Profile said he was disappointed in how the practice ended. “Today was not our standard at best. All of the guys understand that we didn’t have our best practice today. When you set your expectations high, you have to stand up tall and reach them. That’s something that we didn’t do today. Tomorrow we are going to have high spirits and have a good scrimmage. Midway through camp, the offense is not the problem. It’s just whenever we get into key situations, we can’t make mental errors. The guys get the offense. It’s just certain situations- red zone, goal line, or when we are backed up- guys bust under the pressure. The grind of camp even gets to me. Coach Swinney put a great coaching staff together. Guys like Coach Pearman, Coach Elliott, and Coach Hobby aren’t going to let their guys have a down night.”

Allen was asked if the heat had been a problem, and he said no.

“It’s not a challenge at all. It’s hot in Troy. It’s hot in Alabama. It’s hot in Florida. The heat is not a factor. We don’t care what the weather is or where we play. We just have to go out there and perform.”

Defensive coordinator Kevin Steele said he was pleased with how his young defenders have progressed. “The older guys are just progressing along. As a whole, the younger guys have really picked it up and grasp it. The problem is that it is football and you never really get it all fixed. As a young guy, you can imagine how small that ball is in high weeds. It’s encouraging . Obviously, when you have a group of freshmen, and you only have four or five older guys, then they are getting a lot of reps. Having only four or five returning guys, doesn’t even fill the two deep so the new guys are getting some reps.”

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