While everyone is worried about who will be Clemson’s new quarterback, head coach Dabo Swinney is worried about a whole lot more, like filling out the rest of his two-deep before his Tigers take on No. 11 LSU on Sept. 5.
That was part of Thursday’s objective at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, S.C., as the Tigers held their final scrimmage of fall camp.
“Really tried to challenge some guys that you think our game ready and some of them got a baptism today,” Swinney said. “Got exposed a little bit. So, I thought it was probably our worst day of camp.”
Clemson’s issues came on both sides of the football, as the offense and the defense were penalized too many times. Overall, there was a lack of focus—situational stuff—that Swinney admitted he had not seen from his team since camp began on Aug. 6.
“I thought it was the worst [practice], and again, part of that’s probably because I held and limited a lot of the dudes that I think have made the team and are ready to play,” he said. “And kind of like a last preseason game, you’re getting some guys that are getting kind of a chance to be the guy, and they showed why they’re not the guy.”
It was not all bad.
Swinney said the defense did not give up very many points. He highlighted the play of defensive tackle Vic Burley, who had missed a lot of camp with an injury. He also spoke well of JUCO transfer Andy Burburija, who has been the talk of camp on the defensive line.
Tight end Logan Brooking was also mentioned as someone who got a lot of looks on Thursday.
As for the quarterbacks, Swinney was not pleased with the way they played.
“I didn’t think any of them were very good today,” he said. “I didn’t think anybody was very good. No, nobody was good enough to win today.”
Of course, the competition between senior Christopher Vizzina and freshman Tait Reynolds has been tight for much of camp. Both of them played in the scrimmage, and like the others, they had a bad day as well.
“Everybody played. Yeah, everybody played,” Swinney said. “We took all the snaps, and I didn’t think anybody was a winner today.”
Other notes of interest: Running back Jay Haynes is still banged up and did not participate in the scrimmage… The same can said about wide receiver T.J. Moore… Dietrick Pennington, who has played his whole career as an offensive lineman, will play on both sides of the line of scrimmage. The coaches moved him over to defensive tackle to help with depth… Junior Corian Gipson won the job at the “Tiger” position on defense or what is normally called the nickel position… Swinney reported wide receiver Cole Turner has been away from the team since the second day of camp. The fifth-year senior has stepped away from football for the time being to take care of some personal matters. He is still listed on the roster.
–photo courtesy of Clemson Athletics