Tigers begin spring practice with a position change for one big-time player

Swinney speaks to the media Wednesday (Photo by Merrell Mann).

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Wed Feb 28 16:25:08 GMT-04:00 2024

CLEMSON – So it begins, and it starts with a position change for one of the Tigers’ most talented players.

Clemson began spring practice Wednesday afternoon, and head coach Dabo Swinney kicked off the proceedings with a press conference. The following news and notes are from that press conference.

*Swinney says a team meeting went long, says the guys are excited and things got a little animated in the team meeting. He says, as a coach, this is what you love to do. You love to be with the players and get to be on the field and build a team.

*He said the team did some good things last year and then did some things that were really frustrating. He said they spent a lot of time on quality control, looking into what went wrong…and they attacked where they saw the weakness. But it’s still a new team, and you have to start over.

*Peter Woods will start out at defensive end (Swinney calls him a wild card). There is a lot of depth and talent at DT, so they will take Woods and Caden Story and move them to end. Peter will play both and may play DT in some passing situations. They are excited about AJ Hoffler and Jahiem Lawson.

*Swinney says the offense scored a lot of points for the opposing teams, and that is obviously not good. The defense was good but not good in the red zone, and they need to learn from that. And when the opponent did get into the endzone, it wasn’t from a long drive but from an explosive play.

*The Tigers need five more points per game to be the country's Top 24 scoring offense. He said everything goes back to turnovers and too many sacks and too many tackles for loss. There were also missed kicks and blocked kicks.

*Swinney says Tyler Brown averaged 15 yards per punt return but lost confidence and "we had to fire him." Swinney says they have to get better in punt return. Lots of areas for improvement.

*Sherrod Covil tore his ACL back in November and is doing great. Will be in August. Jeadyn Lukus should be back in August as well (hip surgery). They hope to OL Walker Parks back maybe by the end of the spring. Freshman OL Watson Young tore his ACL. DE Armon Mason has a stress fracture and will miss the spring. Running back David Eziomume has a hamstring injury and is close to returning. Wide receiver Tyler Brown had surgery on his foot and isn’t quite ready, but they hope to get him work this spring. DB Corian Gipson is trending in the right direction but will miss the spring. Noble Johnson is out this spring (car wreck). Branden Strozier had surgery in November, and they hope to get back at some point.

*He said there was disappointing things with DT DeMonte Capehart and Noble Johnson. He says Capehart made a mistake, and they will handle that within the team. Same with Johnson. An opportunity to teach and learn. He said, “Young people do dumb things from time to time.”

*Swinney says this is a very attentive group and intentional about what they want to do. If the commitment matches up, they will be a good team.

*The midyear enrollees are a tough group and have a certain winning mentality and mindset. He said he has watched them in weight training and mat drills and they haven’t caved.

*The kickers will go head-to-head this spring. "There isn't a lot of subjectivity to it," Swinney said. "It either goes through the pipes, or it doesn't." He said Hauser was impressive during bowl practice, but he thinks Robert Gunn has made strides. “They will battle it out, and we will see what happens.”

*On Cade Klubnik, Swinney says he was pleased with the interceptions (only four on him). But way too many disasters (fumbles, tackles for loss). Out of the 29 sacks, eight were on him. He needs better pocket awareness. But the bottom line is that he has to take care of the football better and has to grow in his situational awareness.

*Swinney says Klubnik has to get stronger and bigger. "He needs more collision girth, or collision sustainablity."

*There are seven offensive linemen back who have started and won games. Ryan Linthicum will get a chance to play center. Linthicum, Harris Sewell, and Trent Howard will vie for that center spot. Elyjah Thurmon has played left tackle and is powerful enough to play guard, and he can also play center, so he is sort of a wild card in there.

*Swinney says they are excited about Christopher Vizzina. They knew they were going to redshirt him, and they followed that plan. He didn’t get a lot of physical reps, just mental reps, but he was able to show some development in December. This is a big spring for him. It’s his job to prove he can win games for Clemson, and it’s also the job of Trent Pearman.

*Wade Woodaz will start out at MIKE (middle) LB, with Barrett Carter at WILL.