Scott says young receivers have a lot to prove but will get their chance

Jeff Scott at Dabo Swinney’s media golf outing earlier this week.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Fri Jul 22 17:30:16 GMT-04:00 2011

SUNSET, S.C. – Jeff Scott called one of his freshman wide receivers recently, just to make sure that the freshman was getting settled in and to see if he had any questions.

Turns out that sophomore wide receiver DeAndre HopkinsDeAndre Hopkins
Wide Receiver
#6 6-1, 195
Central, SC
View Full Profile already had the situation well in hand.

“The Sunday that they all moved in, I called one of the freshmen just to make sure they had moved in,” Scott told the media at Dabo Swinney’s media golf outing earlier this week. “He was actually out to eat with all of the freshmen because DeAndre had called them up the day they moved in and made sure they all went out to eat together.

“He is a true sophomore, and here he is trying to help these guys, and that shows leadership. In order for us to win games, it’s gonna take more than one or two guys, it’s gonna take the whole room. The older wide receivers have been very receptive and spent a lot of time helping the younger guys so they get a general understanding of what is expected of them. I have been pleased with the response of the upperclassmen in helping them.”

Scott, the Tigers wide receiver coach, has a lot more tools to play with this season with the five new players – Martavis BryantMartavis Bryant
Wide Receiver
# 6-4, 195
Anderson, SC
View Full Profile , Sammy WatkinsSammy Watkins
Wide Receiver
# 6-2, 200
Fort Myers, FL
View Full Profile , Charone PeakeCharone Peake
Wide Receiver
# 6-4, 210
Roebuck, SC
View Full Profile , Adam HumphriesAdam Humphries
Wide Receiver
# 5-11, 175
Roebuck, SC
View Full Profile and Stanton SeckingerStanton Seckinger
Wide Receiver
# 6-5, 200
Charleston, SC
View Full Profile , and he said that Clemson signing a bevy of talented recruits was no coincidence.

“I told somebody the other day that it isn’t a coincidence with me being the wide receivers coach and the recruiting coordinator that we signed some pretty good wide receivers,” he said. “I control who gets the letters and all of that, and we managed to sign some pretty good ones.”

How much and how early the freshmen play will depend on how quickly they pick up the nuances of Chad Morris’ offense, and Scott said he wants to make sure the group is founded on fundamentals before throwing them into the fire.

“Physically, they are really talented, and it would be easy to jump ahead and throw them out there before they are mentally prepared,” he said. “That is something that me and Coach Morris and the rest of the staff are going to spend a lot of time on early on, to prepare them mentally to learn the offense and the system. Maybe this is the first time they have learned some of the fundamental things we are going to be teaching them.

“We want to teach them the offense, the fundamentals and the techniques to be successful at this level. They have a lot to learn, and we are going to take it day by day and not get ahead of ourselves. The good thing about fall camp is that we have 29 practices, and a lot of those are when they don’t have school. So we feel like we have a lot of time to get these guys caught up.”

One of things he said he wants to make sure they know before they suit up is that they aren’t as good as the hype says they are – that it takes hard work and dedication.

“I obviously can't talk to them about football stuff, but in some of our general talks I have told them that none of them are as good as what everybody says,” Scott said. “That’s the bad news. The good news is that you have the potential to be, but they have a lot of hard work to do. But they need to know they haven’t arrived, and it’s a process. The sooner they understand that the sooner they can get where they want to be.”

Because of Morris’ offense, Scott said the younger players will get a shot to show their stuff during the games.

“These are more talented players, and they have more chances to make plays and I am excited from that standpoint,” he said. “One thing that is different than last year is that we are trying to shoot for 80 plays per game, and that breaks down to 50 for the starter and 30 for the guy on the second team. We are not in a situation where one guy can play the whole game, not playing at the pace we want to play.

“So that means we have six guys that are going to go in and play a lot. We are going to look at the ones we have coming in, and figure out the ones that it would be beneficial for them to sit out this year. With five returning guys and five incoming guys, it’s obvious we have to evaluate them the first two weeks of practice and figure out which ones are gonna play for us. And then, we will figure out the seven or eight that will play on Saturdays.”

Scott finished by saying he – and the fans – will have to live with some mistakes, at least early in the process.

“It isn’t going to happen overnight,” he said. “If they go out there and don’t make a mistake, then they will be the first freshmen in the history of college football that didn’t make a mistake. But, the earlier they get out there and help us, it’s better for us. But at the same time we have to stay on schedule. We are going to throw a lot at them in August, but I am fully committed to spending as much time with them as possible to get them ready.”