Dabo Swinney met with the media earlier this afternoon following the Clemson football team's first stadium scrimmage of August camp. Some takeaways from Swinney's appraisal of Saturday's workout.
CLEMSON — Dabo Swinney met with the media this afternoon to discuss today’s scrimmage at Memorial Stadium.
A few of the more notable themes from him:
— He said it was one of the most competitive first scrimmages they’ve had in a while around here.
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The defense dominated early, but the offense fought back.
He said it’s common for one side to control the first scrimmage, but the fact that today’s was back and forth is a positive sign.
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“I’d be mad at the offense and then mad at the defense, and then happy with the offense and happy with the defense. And then I was pissed again. So from my experience that’s usually not a bad thing when you got both sides that really competed. Some good and bad on both sides. Very competitive.”
— Christopher Vizzina threw the early pick-6 but looked really good later while running with the first team, Swinney said.
— On the two pick-sixes by Cade Klubnik and Vizzina:
“The first (Klubnik) was a really good call defensively. I think it just caught us off guard and Tink made a — they just kind of switched it off and caught them in man coverage but they switched it off. Quarterback didn’t know they were going to switch it off. So good execution defensively is what I would say. And something that you just learn from on offense. But a great play by Tink.
“And then the other one was just a competitive play that Branden Strozier came down with, and we didn’t get him on the ground.”
He said Klubnik bounced back and made some elite throws.
He said the biggest negative for Klubnik and Vizzina were negative plays in the red zone (sack for Klubnik, and a penalty for not getting everyone set on Vizzina’s part).
— Tom Allen called things from the box today. As we’ve chronicled recently, Allen coached from the field his entire career until moving to the box early last season at Penn State. Swinney says the box is where Allen seems to be most comfortable, so everything points to him coaching from there this season.
— You know Swinney is riding someone hard when he blasts them after catching a touchdown pass.
That’s what happened after TJ Moore hauled in a scoring catch. Swinney was still all over him for blocking, saying he’ll be a complete player when he starts blocking somebody.
— Swinney said Moore and Tristan Smith had great touchdown grabs.
— The running backs looked really good, particularly Adam Randall and David Eziomume. Gideon Davidson had his moments, too.
Swinney said he wrote down a plus for the running backs.
“I know nobody thinks we got good players there, but I like our running backs. I think we got a good group and I think they can all help us.”
— Vic Burley really flashed today, Swinney said, and has had a good camp thus far.
— Jeremiah Alexander had a couple of really nice plays today, Swinney said.
He thinks they have 5-6 linebackers who can do what they need.
— Only one offsides penalty for the defense. And only one procedural penalty on offense. Maybe the biggest bright spot of the day, Swinney said.
— Khalil Barnes remains out, but Swinney said the safeties have been a real bright spot.
“That group as a whole, the arrow is up. Good competition.”
— He said Amare Adams sprained his ankle a couple days ago but will be back soon.
— He wasn’t happy with Nolan Hauser today. Was 2 of 3 and the one he missed was really bad. Said he had an average week.
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“We need him to pick it up.”
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— Dabo on punting: “I need them to be consistently good, not occasionally great. Just got to get the misses to be more in line with what we need.”
Tigerillustrated.com will have more from August camp later this afternoon.
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Category: General Sports
