Swinney says Tigers improved this spring and will be a complete team in the fall

Jake Briningstool was a top target for the White team.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sun Apr 16 07:00:19 GMT-04:00 2023

CLEMSON – Clemson’s football team is a work in progress, and head coach Dabo Swinney expects a more complete football team in August.

Midyear enrollee Khalil Barnes’ 22-yard interception return for a touchdown with fewer than two minutes to play gave the White squad, led by running backs coach Coach CJ Spiller, a 20-13 victory against the Orange squad, led by defensive run game coordinator/defensive tackles coach Nick Eason, on Saturday at Memorial Stadium.

The game attracted an estimated crowd of 50,000 people, the fifth-largest crowd on record for a Clemson Spring Game. Clemson legends Dexter Lawrence (Orange) and Wayne Gallman (White) also served as honorary coaches for their respective squads.

"Fun day. I really thought it'd be competitive and it was. A few missed opportunities offensively,” Swinney said. “Some big competitive plays defensively, with a great finish by Bubba McAtee at the end there. Just a fun game. Had some good situational stuff come up as well. It's been a competitive spring. We've been a very incomplete team this spring, obviously with a lot of these guys that have been out, but the guys that were able to go through spring-- I'm really pleased and proud of the work.

“Unbelievable crowd it was just so cool to have 50,000 or whatever it was here to see us. I really appreciate our fans. I know it's not like that everywhere. I appreciate our fans coming out-- it's big to give us that type of feeling for these guys to have to go out there to play and compete in.”

Swinney said the Tigers – who were missing several starters and still have Class of 2023 signees to come – improved this spring.

“We're a work in progress, but we improved. That was the main thing especially offensively to get a foundation in, to improve and get better, and we were able to do that,” Swinney said. “We had a lot of young guys-- a lot of young guys and some guys that maybe are gonna have bigger roles this year get some really meaningful work this spring as well.”

White team quarterback Cade Klubnik completed eight of his first nine pass attempts for 62 yards. He finished the contest 18-for-33 for 190 yards. Orange team running back Domonique Thomas was the game’s leading rusher, carrying 14 times for 63 yards and a touchdown.

The defenses combined for seven sacks and four interceptions. Sherrod Covil Jr. and Bubba McAtee posted a team-high six tackles for the White squad, while Barrett Carter, Peter Woods and Kylon Griffin tied for the Orange team lead with seven stops each.

When all of the injured players return and the rest of the 2023 class arrives on campus the Tigers will finally be a complete team.

“Looking forward now, we've got a lot of meetings with our players coming up these next couple of weeks and kind of equipping them with what they need to know as we call ‘transform’ this summer as we enter in the second phase of this 2023 journey,” Swinney said. “A lot of work to do this summer. I think again, next time we're back on the field come August-- we'll be a lot more complete football team-- and a lot of guys that I think will be hopefully the best version of themselves that we've seen since they've been here."

Junior running back Will Shipley didn’t play but Swinney said it wasn’t serious.

“He's just had some knee tenderness. He's practiced. He's scrimmaged some, too, and then just the last week or so he's battled a bunch of tendinitis in that knee area,” Swinney said. “He's done all the team stuff except for the last week or so. We didn't scrimmage him last week or today. Just kept him out of a lot of stuff as a precaution."