Thursday Scrimmage Insider: First teams win the day |
CLEMSON – Clemson held the final full scrimmage of fall camp Thursday morning in Memorial Stadium, and a few days off comes at a good time for a team that has endured a lot of live snaps over the last week.
Clemson hosts Georgia Tech in the season opener two weeks from tonight, and Thursday’s scrimmage serves as the last major test before the team begins game prep and starts classes next week. Head coach Dabo Swinney matched the first-team offense against the second-team defense and the first-team defense against the second-team offense. According to Swinney, both starting units came out winners. “This exposes some of our backups and lets them know where they are and where they have to get to,” Swinney said. “I always tell them that when we put a guy in, they don’t call timeout to pull Travis Etienne out. They have to go in there and play to a standard. We have a Clemson offense and a Clemson defense and when you go in the game you have to do your job. Today, the first defense dominated the second offense, and the first offense dominated the second defense.” Several players missed the scrimmage due to injury, including Justin Mascoll, Jake Venables Baylon Spector, Mario Goodrich, Justin Foster, Blake Vinson, and Davis Allen. *Nolan Turner had a pick-six. *Tony Elliott said backup offensive lineman Hunter Rayburn had his hands full with Tyler Davis. *I mentioned to Elliott that we haven’t heard a lot from backup running back Lyn-J Dixon, and he said that was a good thing, that Dixon has improved his pass protection. We spoke with Dixon and he said he’s worked on pass pro and not running as high as he did last season. More to come from him. Dixon also told me that hated to see Tavien Feaster transfer, even though it likely means more carries. He said they were all friends and the number or carries would have worked itself off. *I also asked Elliott about the tight ends, and he said that freshman Jaelyn Lay is starting to come on and looks completely different than he did in the spring. *Defensive tackle Nyles Pinckney was taken off the field on a cart. Not sure if the injury is serious. *Swinney said the team is “beat up.” Friday will be inside practice and the team will have Saturday and Sunday off and finish camp Monday and Tuesday. The live scrimmage work is done and the team will start game prep next Wednesday. *Isaiah Simmons was asked about how Clemson entered his recruitment late, and he said on his first visit he was hosted by Shaq Smith and Kelly Bryant. He smiled and said, “I guess that’s kind of awkward now.” More to come.
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