Posted by Chili

The installation of Chad Morris’s new offensive system entered a new phase this week with the Tigers starting up their spring practice sessions that will end with the spring game in Death Valley on April 9.

As expected, Tajh Boyd will have some immense pressure hoisted upon him to run the new offense. Swinney is anxious to see how he reacts.

“That’s one of the things I’m really anxious to see, can he assert himself as the leader of the offensive side?” Coach Swinney stated. “He’s done all the right things to this point. I think he’s picked it up well, but we have to go see him do it on the field.”

Boyd has taken the intitiative to try and assert himself as a leader on offense and has been preparing for the fast-paced new look by dropping 20 pounds.

Also of note, Andre Ellington is being held out of spring practice, but has been doing some running on the sidelines and will continue to be around practice in some fashion. The Post & Courier has a write-up on the former Berkley star’s return.

We also learn that Nuke Hopkins will not miss a practice due to basketball. In fact, Coach Swinney stated that he will not be traveling with Coach Brad Brownell’s team to the ACC Tournament, but instead will be practicing with the football teams.

On the other side of the ball, early reports from Dabo Swinney are that there is a serious void in the defense, left by such outgoing defensive stars as DeAndre McDaniel and DaQuan Bowers.

ODDS AND ENDS

Here’s a link to the official ClemsonTigers.com video wrap-up of the second day of practice.

Heather Dinich takes a look at Clemson’s schedule next year.

Posted by Chili

A couple significant changes. Notably, we open with four straight home games, have a triple decker Auburn-FSU-VT sandwich to swallow down pretty much right off the bat.

09/03/11 vs. Troy
09/10/11 vs. Wofford
09/17/11 vs. Auburn
09/24/11 vs. Florida State
10/01/11 at Virginia Tech
10/08/11 vs. Boston College
10/15/11 at Maryland
10/22/11 vs. North Carolina
10/29/11 at Georgia Tech
11/05/11 Open
11/12/11 vs. Wake Forest
11/19/11 at NC State
11/26/11 at South Carolina

The full schedule can be found here. (warning: PDF)

Posted by Chili

Dabo Swinney has been on a tear since the end of last season, making moves within the Clemson program that read like a to-do list written by angry fans. Scrap the old offense – check, facilities improvements – check, get a new o-line coach – check, bag a stellar recruiting class – check. The next, and perhaps most prominent issue on the want list would be a new strength coach. I’ll spare you a thorough rehashing of the voluminous internet postings on the subject and just say that people find that Joey Batson’s methods can be ineffective and outdated. Well, those people who are calling for an injection of new talent into the S&C role will be ecstatic when they hear that Clemson has found a new chief strength coach. After the jump, find out who he is.

Continue Reading “CLEMSON NAMES NEW STRENGTH COACH” »

Posted by Chili

All the faxes are in (except one, I’ll get to that later) and Clemson racked up an unbelievable day of commitments that filled a lot of pressing needs for the Tigers. When all was said and done the Tigers racked up four 5-star recruits (according to Rivals) and came away with a class ranked 8th by Rivals, 8th by ESPN, and 11th by Scout.

“Uh, this kid is in high school?”

The highlight of the class has got to be the signing day decisions of 5-star linebackers Tony Steward (above) out of St. Augustine, Florida and Stephone Anthony out of Wadesboro, NC. Ranked by some as the top two linebackers in the nation, the duo will make an immediate impact in a spot that looked to be a weak point coming into 2011. Add to that Lateek Townsend out of Bennettsville, SC, who is ranked as the 10th best LB in the nation.  Another position where the coaches significantly upgraded their talent was in WR. Clemson signed the #3 prep recruit in the nation in WR Martavis Bryant, and the number 2 and number 4 ranked WRs in the nation in Charone Peake and Sammy Watkins. The improved receiving should do well to compliment one of the nation’s top RB recruits, 5-star Mike Bellamy. Clemson added a late OL commitment from Spencer Region out of Alabama who should help add depth to the Clemson corps.

The numbers here are pretty impressive:

• Clemson signed four USA Today All-Americans (1st-Anthony, Steward, 2nd-Bellamy, Peake)
• The Tigers got three Parade All-Americans (1st-Anthony, Bellamy, 2nd-Townsend)
• Only four 5-star players have left Florida to play out-of-state since 2002: CJ Spiller in 2006 and Mike Bellamy, Tony Steward, and Sammy Watkins in this class
• Clemson hauled in a total of four 5-star players this year in Stephone Anthony, Mike Bellamy, Tony Steward, and Sammy Watkins. LSU brought in three and six other teams brought in two.
• Four players played in the US Army All-American game (Peake, Steward, Townsend, Watkins)
• Three played in the Under Armour All-American game (Anthony, Bellamy, Region)
• 7 players were on the 2011 ESPN.com top 150 list

SCOTT OUT, CALDWELL IN
Often times schools will announce staff changes immediately after signing day. Reasoning for this is pretty obvious as the schools don’t want any potential signees scared away by an appearance of staff instability. Clemson officially makes a change today when it swaps one former SEC head coach for another. It had long been a known fact that former Vanderbilt HC and well-respected OL coach Robbie Caldwell would be taking over the line while Brad Scott would step back and take an administrative role, but today it was finally and formally acknowledged by the University.

THE CHEESE STANDS ALONE
In an interesting note, Jadeveon Clowney, a DE from Rock Hill and the nation’s #1 overall recruit by most services is not announcing until his birthday, February 14. Now, I’ve been with a lot of other people all along in saying he’s going to be a Gamecock, and for a while it looked like Clemson wouldn’t even get a sniff at him. However, he took an official visit last weekend after being persuaded to do so by Dabo and said he had a great time and was now considering Clemson alongside the Gamecocks and Alabama. Lateek Townsend said to a Myrtle Beach TV station that he was trying to get Clowney to go to Clemson and that he thought Clowney would ultimately be a Tiger. Clowney has remarked positively about Clemson’s signees, saying he’d like to play with them. Dabo Swinney answered a question about room for late signees this evening by saying that they have room for one special player, an obvious nod at Clowney.

Is Clowney going to be a Clemson Tiger? No. I don’t think so.

Everything I’ve read about this guy leads me to believe that he has never had any intention on changing his allegiances; I’ve even heard that he’s a silent commit to the Gamecocks. If he’s mentioning Clemson as a real possibility late then I have to assume it is just a harmless ploy to create a little more drama around what is really a foregone conclusion. I don’t doubt he had a good time and maybe even gained a bit more affinity towards Clemson during his visit, but I don’t think it was a game-changer.

Posted by Block-C Staff

As of 7:45 AM, Clemson has received LOIs from the top RB, Mike Bellamy, and top WR, Sammy Watkins, out of the state of Florida. Also signing this morning are DL Corey Crawford and Joe Gore, OLs Ryan Norton and Shaq Anthony, QBs Tony McNeal and Cole Stoudt, ATH Colton Walls, K Ammon Lakip, and DB Cortez Davis.

More in a little while. In the meantime, recruits announcing today who could sign with Clemson:

LB Tony Steward – 10:00 AM Signed with Clemson
OL Spencer Region – 10:30 AM Signed with Clemson
DB Brandon Ellerbe – 11:00 AM Signed with UNC
DL Roderick Byers – 11:30 AM Signed with Clemson
LB Stephone Anthony – 11:30 AM Signed with Clemson

—UPDATE—

Be sure to keep an eye on the CUAD 2011 Signing Day Central website for immediate updates.

Also, the one day of the year that I actually listen to WCCP other than for a game is today. You can listen too here.