Tiger Insider is Back for Its Fourth Season

by Tiger Insider Staff - Thu Jun 13 11:20:36 GMT-04:00 2002

CLEMSON -- The pre-season issue of Tiger Insider is just about ready to go to press and not a minute too soon for Clemson fans. The season starts August 31 at Georgia, but the April 6th spring game marked the start of the off-season and the start of the buildup to the Georgia game. At that point, it’s fair game for any pre-season magazine to hit the stands and ours will be hitting the stands on approximately July 4.

We’re excited about the future of Clemson football and we owe a special debt to those that have subscribed to Tiger Insider. We’ve spent the past three years refining Tiger Insider and it’s still a work in progress. Subscribers get six issues of Tiger Insider and with every issue we try to improve upon the last. We’re especially excited about the upcoming issue. This is a crucial season for the Tigers and head coach Tommy Bowden.

Tiger Insider started three years ago with a pre-season issue for the 1999 season. One story in that issue took a look at true freshman Willie Simmons. It’s been a long three years for Simmons, but it’s finally his turn – and he’s on the cover of this year’s pre-season issue.

Simmons thought about lashing out about having to wait his turn at quarterback, but he thought better of it. Now, it’s his turn to see what it’s like to be the starter with a hot-shot waiting on the sideline. Charlie Whitehurst is the hot-shot and he’s got the pedigree to prove it.

Here’s a run-down of the other stories in this issue:

Former Clemson player Frank Wise suffers from leukemia and his case has made national news. He spends time these days surrounded by the friends he made over 25 years ago and surrounded by the memories of those days, even if Clemson didn’t have that much success on the field. “I have gained my strength from remembering the awesomeness of those times,” he says.

Everything you wanted to know about Clemson’s schedule…the fine details about everyone from Louisiana Tech to South Carolina.

Clemson vs. Georgia. We live for such games in the South. The games and the stories that surround them are part of the folklore passed from generation to generation. Contributing writer Joseph K. Hall writes this tale: “This one guy yells ‘Hay, Climpsen?’ and throws a beer can right into the middle of our crowd. My buddy stabbed it right before it hit somebody. So, he catches the beer. And it’s a full, un-opened can. Can you believe that? So he pops the top and downs the whole thing … the whole thing. The guy who threw it was ticked and went, “Hay! Dat somebeach is drankin’ hour Blue Ribs! Git ‘em!” A chase never ensued. Super-fan found it hard to “unclumb the truss.” In any case, if I doubted before, Steve’s story made up my mind -- Bulldogs threw a full beer at my cousin – they were bad.

A 14-page full-color look at the players that make up the two-deep depth chart. Find out the skinny on each player and take a look at the players in action.

Dan Scott breaks down the team position by position.

Jim Baxter of scvarsity.com takes a look at the top recruits in South Carolina and the region.

This past spring’s football practice ended with plenty of questions. Dan Scott tackles each one of the questions and while he doesn’t answer each one, he gives us plenty to think about.

David Harry takes a look at each ACC team.

Derrick Hamilton is a tough interview. He’s even tougher to catch on the field. Find out what he were able to get out of the future superstar Clemson receiver. We guarantee he gave us more than he gives the opposition.

Mark Packer lives the life. He watches college football and talks about college football and gets paid to do both. Get an inside look at what he calls the Southern Fried Football Tour, which takes him across the Southeast. If you’ve never seen it, and even if you have, you’ll never believe it.

If you have any questions about Tiger Insider, please email us at tigerinsider@tigernet.com.

Sneak peaks at previous Tiger Insiders