Dan Brooks' hiring was made official, (his bio) and is happy to be coaching on the field again, and an interview reveals that John Chavis tried to bring him here in December, but that Dabo balked at the idea at the time because he wanted Rumph and Blackwell to stay on the lines. If Chavis had been allowed to bring Brooks, Dan says that Chavis would probably be here now instead of Steele. Les Miles had already picked Brick Haley to coach DL, so there was no job at LSU for him either when Chavis took the job.
Steele details some of the requirements of the "bandit" DE position (essentially the weakside DE), and that he wants it more of a LB/DE Hybrid, which only means that Sapp and Alexander are going to be asked to drop into coverage in the flats or hook zones more often, instead of the pure pass-rush position it was under VK. Sapp has always had a OLB body so the only point of concern is that he is not able to practice this spring. Its the play of this position that made folks think of Alabama as being a 3-4 scheme this past season. What I've tried to point out in discussing the fronts is that you can't pigeonhole a scheme, if I just stand someone up sometimes, then the defense will look different enough to confuse the QB.
Maye's fight in practice was with McClain over a cheap shot he thought he got after a play. McClain is being raved about up front, so hopefully he'll produce this year.
Marquan Jones is slated, at the moment, behind Jacoby at Z position WR (FL, which motions alot in this offense) but is getting alot of PT at A (slot). Dye and Jaron Brown are fighting over X (SE), Kelly's former position. Brandon Ford appears like he will be 2nd/3rd string at a slot or X position.
Spencer Adams has been cleared for shuttle drills.
An article on Rendrick Taylor's struggles with injuries reveals he contemplated transfer, and his role in the offense assuming he doesnt break something this year:
Taylor is splitting work at a couple of positions this spring, both mainly out of the backfield at the U- and S-back positions.
At U-back, Taylor is working much like an H-back would as a fullback/tight end hybrid, while his S-back position is a power back role, both of which he has impressed at so far during the spring according to Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney.
“We’re continuing to cross train him in both regards so we can utilize his talents and create a good situation for us,” Swinney said. “Rendrick can tote the rock. He can run it, and he’ll be a threat.”
Taylor was just one of a number of Tiger backs who shined in their first stadium scrimmage of the fall last Saturday in Memorial Stadium, as the senior piled up 46 yards on only eight carries, which included a 3-yard touchdown scamper.
Baseball Baseball faces a midweek set against the #6 Jawja Puppies, away tonight and home tomorrow at 7pm, barring rain. TI/SIDs preview. We are 7-5 in the Atlantic, and 2nd place behind 6-4 FSU.
A season-ending press conference was held with Purnell and some of the players, where he said that he would not accept failure and reiterated that defense was the main problem down the stretch.
“It wasn’t any one phase; it was our transition defense, our half-court defense, 3-point field percentage defense and our pressure. It wasn’t consistent enough. Obviously, when we were really, really good, those were areas we excelled at and that’s something we’ll focus on in the offseason.”
Clemson scrimmaged early saturday morning, and the offense shows some improvement according to Philpott as well as Larry Williams. Strelow gives an impression here. From all the reports I've looked at, it seemed to be a day where several of the backups got the PT.
Rendrick is at 265lbs and got some carries today. He's still slated to play a hybrid FB/H-back/TE position. After practice, Dabo commented on Diehl, who scored two TDs:
"He has never scored a touchdown in his life and he scored two today. What I ask him to do is bloody people's noses. When we do throw it to him, catch it, just don't fall down. Run forward and run over people. Heck, he might be a guy we look at on the other side of the ball. I threw him in on defense yesterday and he whipped everybody in front of him."
One of them was a 43-yd TD run. Harper's and Ellington's TDs were 20+ yarders. There are alot of TDs scored in this scrimmage setting by the 1st team offense. Steele and the defensive coaches are not happy though, giving up 200+ yards rushing.
In their defense, in each scrimmage they are trying to install a different package and get their first game-situation reps in it, and this was really the first. Andre Branch scored a sack, Tig Willard led with 7 tackles, and Tarik Rollins recovered a fumbled snap by Korn.
I'm holding off on an explanation of Cover 1 Robber defense, which is what we will likely play the most this year, until I digest all the adjustments and find some illustrative videos. An article on Steele and the fact that he's using alot of the Saban defense is here.
"Well, I think Willy and Kyle have maybe separated just a little bit, and Mike Wade has done an excellent job."
He just didnt say which one is doing better, both did ok in the rain friday. Korn did botch a snap and some exchanges, but nothing major. Larry Williams sees little difference between them, in his opinion.
Dabo went on to say that he held out CJ and Jacoby to get reps from Harper, Ellington, and Rendrick and so they can concentrate on track. I don't really agree with it, particularly on Ford. Also, J.K. Jay will almost certainly NOT redshirt and is playing his way into the rotation at Tackle, as is Malliciah Goodman at DE.
A couple of articles on Brandon Maye, here and here, that say basically the same stuff. He got into a fight in the scrimmage today and got yanked.
Baseball Clemson got spanked 13-1 friday afternoon at BC, and TNet had its usual meltdown and calling-for-Jacks-head session, because they think a year and a half of being down means that he's an awful coach. Hard to do much when your Starter gives up 8 runs in 2 innings folks.
We swept saturday's doubleheader, Clemson won Game 1 7-6, holding on to the lead late. In game 2, G. Stoneburner pitched 8 1/3 innings, shutting down the BC lineup, and M. Vaughn finished the job with runners on 5-3. The State recap is here.
Late add: National blogger Dr. Saturday talks about Clemson here.
Steve has started making room for his customary oversignage at Sakerlina, suspending cornerback C.C. Whitlock for 'academic reasons and other issues.' No word yet on whether he got in a fight in Five Points. In addition, FB D. McElroy has been kicked off for fighting in Five Points. Unfortunately, since he's a FB and Steve doesnt use them, he had no scholarship in the first place. In other news, God has decided to shake up the SC Offense and install the Wildcat formation, hoping that by mimicking the plays that Darren McFadden and Felix Jones used to rip a new asshole in his defense in '07, he can finally learn to stop the run.
then they'll be protesting outside of Billy Brice and Death Valley at Thanksgiving, the same way they do for KFC, since we slaughter just as many birds. So cruel....but so fun to watch.
Safety/LB issues: As I've mentioned, the new system requires alot of formation checks and coverage calls by the free safety, making it a more involved position on the field which does not bode well when you have real problems with inexperience there. Harbison likes everyone in the secondary to practice at all the positions, and Rashard Hall has been getting plenty at FS with Sadat Chambers, along with reps at SS and $ (aligns beside Mike as the 2nd LB in Nickel/Dime packages and plays like a SS). Steele has commented on how we might have a problem there with the learning curve, and that Hall isnt doing so hot at making the coverage calls.
At SLB, Scotty Cooper is progressing well but needs to improve along with along with all the backups to Connor and Maye. The DL is totally being coached by Rumph until Brooks' hiring becomes official (background checks), but Steele is happy about the depth in the line for now.
That last part won't last, as we can all see from the numbers. This article puts the questions out there.
QB/WR Battle Swinney's comments after Wednesday's practice indicate that he thinks we have the pieces to be good, but aren't there yet. He is most upset about the WR's numerous drops, but they are battling for consistency. Clear has had good days, as has Jaron Brown, but they are inconsistent.
On the QB battle he said this:
"There's nobody separating. It's still very competitive through five practices and this was our first scrimmage type situation. We're trying to give them some equal opportunities. I'm pleased. It's a very good situation. We've got good players there. I know there's a lot of people out there very concerned about the quarterback position, but I'm more concerned about some other spots to be honest with you. I think we've got a couple of good players there who are going to get it done for us. I like the leadership and the intangibles that are present in our quarterbacks. I think they''ve got the right stuff. They're not game ready yet but they're very competitive and we'll see how it goes from there.
But he did comment afterwards on how he is impressed with how quickly Parker is picking up the offense, and that he hopes to name a starter but its not apparent yet.
The RBs, Ellington, Harper and CJ are getting some praiseso far from the coaches.
As for Ellington, who has drawn rave reviews from the coaching staff not only during spring ball but going back to his red-shirt year last season, Swinney said he sees a lot of similarities between him and Spiller, who is widely considered among the most exciting and explosive players in college football.
“Andre is a guy that’s kind of cut out of the same mold as C.J.,” Swinney said. “He’s very, very similar in a lot of ways – great hands, can do a lot of different things, going to have a huge role, has the home run ability.”
A pretty good read on Coach Pearman (OT/TE) from CUTigers is here.
Baseball Kyle Parker will miss the first two games at BC this weekend, a series we badly need to win to take the Atlantic. Weather could mean he would miss all 3. A preview of the weekend is here.
Injuries to SP Trey Delk (lower back), Wilson Boyd (mouth ulcer from wisdom teeth), Addison Johnson (hamstring), RP Weismann (shoulder soreness) and midweek starter Kevin Brady (can't throw strikes) will make us further shorthanded in the next couple weeks.
They managed to sweep a tuesday doubleheader from Elon, our 9th home win in a row. Sarratt threw 4.3 no-hit innings a couple weeks ago, 5 innings in the no-no last week, and got his ass kicked against Elon. Thats how it works. At least he's available friday in relief, since he pitched so few innings.
Basketball Clemson is going to offer Seth Curry, even though we do not have a scholarship available for him at the moment. You can certainly bet the rest of the ACC is going after him as well, and Dell Curry played at VT.
A review of the ACC's Strength of Schedule is available here.
Thanks Ron Morris for bestowing the readers of The State with more of your wisdom.
You might have forgotten that Columbia can never be the site for a pre-determined NCAA tournament. Never, at least, until the Confederate flag is removed from the State House grounds.
So, it will not happen in my lifetime. No doubt, it will take at least another 50 years or so for the state of South Carolina to move into the 21st century. But I will leave that argument to our fine elected leaders on Gervais Street.
So lets recall the history here Ron.
The NAACP bitched about us flying the confederate flag over the Statehouse dome, and said they'd boycott the state until it was removed.
David Beasley gets elected Governor and pledges to stand up to them, then flipflops and it is removed from the dome, according to their wishes. The NAACP decides then to expand their demands to cover the entire statehouse grounds because its too prominent for their tastes.
We kick Beasley out of office for the flop, as he said this:..."God told me to take it off the dome..." Well Dave, God told the rest of your voters to vote your ass out of office for flip-flopping, even though you didn't make it long enough to actually sign the bill that removed it. That buck got passed to Hodges, who screwed up in many ways.
Now I can certainly see the reasoning to remove it, and I'm no racist, but I am a southerner and I don't care about what vocal minorities think about what I believe or do. If the voters want it there, then put it there. The only reason its not back up there is because no legislator wants to write the bill and be labeled as prejudiced by the rest of the media.
Nevermind that people who would call you prejudiced and racist are likely from liberal areas which would also deduct 50 IQ points because you have an accent.
Since the NAACP sees we're not going to budge on it, they lobby athletic teams, concert organizers, and any large event planners to boycott the state. Nevermind that SC has a large black population that is employed by large public events that are boycotted. Who works the ticket windows, vendors, and turnstyles? Who is there waiting to take your money when you park your car in a lot? Wouldn't their energy be better directed at paying these people more money? Do they even care about their constituency?
If the NAACP needs something to do, perhaps they would work to raise funding for education in poorer areas, or scold parents of children who flunk out in elementary schools when I made A's and B's with the same teachers, instead of telling people that those who fly a confederate flag are racist bigots.
Does anyone realize how many southern states have confederate memorials on statehouse grounds? Do you hear as much about Mississippi, which has a higher black population than SC does, and has a confederate component in their state flag? Their legislature didn't bow down because it hurt somebody's feelings.
Does Ron Morris cover any of this in his article? No, because he's a bomb-thrower.
If you've seen the vids on the TNet front page, you've noticed that despite some coaching, Korn's release is hardly any faster than it was during the season. Its like a windmill. I'm not encouraged by this, even if he is hitting his targets better than Parker. Defensive coaches across the league will be noticing this quite quickly too, so I have a feeling that INTs will become a problem with Korn in there at QB. He must speed up that delivery, if not now, soon.
In most practices, the comments from players have been about the increased tempo this spring. Swinney has cut the dead time in practice considerably, and they are working with a faster paced mindset, trying to get as many plays in as possible.
The offensive linemen like the coaching setup we have now, since they get more 1-on-1 time with Pearman and Fat Brad. Right now the rotation appears to be Hairston, Austin, Cloy, McClain, and Walker, but Barry Humphries (with a 500lb bench and 700lb squat now) will be right there with McClain come August. He's not cleared for contact yet.
Swinney also mentioned the play of the offensive line, and said that he fully intends to give Mason Cloy every opportunity to the starting center in September, but said knowing that he has Thomas Austin and Barry Humphries ready to step in is a bonus.
Another offensive lineman to earn his praise was freshman Antoine McClain.
“Antoine McClain is moving like a different guy,” Swinney said. “He walks like a different guy; he talks like a different guy. He is much more confident, and that is what going through the battles will do for you. How good we are going to be will depend on who emerges up front"
D. McDaniel is getting more and more praise from Steele. He will be put in man coverage a lot this season, so let's hope he excels there. I'm going to go into the blitz packages and "Robber" defense that you will see the most of this season soon.
Even though the QBs and the OL are getting some praise for their workouts, the WRs are not. Swinney has commented on dropped passes being a big problem so far, though the word is that he has a tougher definition of what a drop is.
"Every ball that comes your way, they don't care if you barely touch it – he's counting it," Dye said in an interview. "He wants us to make each play possible, because it might come down to it in a game. … In practice, they make it where it's hard enough that when you do it in a game, it makes it easy on us."
Following Monday's afternoon practice, here is what he said to the media, he basically covers everything with an optimistic tune.
D. Bowers should be ready to play all the time and fill the shoes that Gaines Adams left behind. I think he and Sapp could be an awesome tandem, but his technique will have to improve, his motor is just fine. Right now though, the coaches are lavishing praise on Kevin Alexander, and if Sapp isnt healed up then I don't believe we'll be losing anything with him in there.
“I hear that from all the coaches every day,” Bowers said. “They tell me I can be one of the best that has ever come through Clemson. I’ve just got to set my mind and do it.”
In getting to that level of greatness the Tigers’ coaching staff is looking for, Bowers will be looked upon to post bigger numbers during his sophomore season, as he registered a single sack last season, which came in the second week of the season.
Redshirt freshman Spencer Benton, the front-runner for place-kicker, broke his collarbone snowboarding during break. Benton is still able to kick during practice. “That’s not helping (his) cause, but it should heal up fairly quick,” Swinney said. It still looks like our kicking situation blows chunks.
Dan Brooks was at practice yesterday afternoon, and several outlets are now reporting that the deal is done, so I've looked through his bio and here are the highlights:
Native of Sparta NC, and his primary responsibility was recruiting the Western NC/SC areas, where he stole Shaun Ellis (Mauldin), Albert Haynesworth (Hartsville), four-star lineman Terrea Smalls (Timberland), and highly regarded linemen Anthony McDaniel of Columbia, William Brimsfield of Neeses, plus touted athletes Jeff Coleman, Ikie Curry, and Dominique Stevenson (Gaffney), just to name a few. I hated that those Gaffney players left the state, especially Coleman. Curry was too dumb to actually make it into UT, if you can believe that, but he was a 3/4-star TE.
His coaching career began at Western Carolina (graduate of there), then to Kings Mountain High. He joined the Florida Gator staff in 1983, helping Charley Pell to one of his best years at UF in 1984. He stuck around with Galen Hall after Pell was fired for NCAA violations the next season (Hall was eventually run off in 1989 to pave the way for Spurrier). In 1988 he joined Mack Brown at UNC, and we know how well Mack Brown can recruit (he's already got the top 10 players in Texas committed for next season). In Brooks' final season at NC, the Tar Holes led the ACC in sacks with 38. Clemson was at the bottom last year.
In 1994 he left to join The Great Pumpkin, was named recruiting coordinator and SEC assistant of the year in 1998, and recall Phil's best years were when McCorvey and Brooks were raking in all the talent within 200 miles of Knoxville. In 2000 UT recorded an SEC-leading 50 sacks, and the 2001 unit again led the league in sacks with 34. In 2005, Tennessee led the SEC in rushing defense and ranked second in Division I.
You can review his recruiting exploits on this link to Rivals. Just look at what he has brought in the last few years.
With Rumph fast becoming one of our best recruiters, along with McCorvey, Steele, Harbison, Napier and Fat Brad, all being acknowledged as the best recruiters-of-the-year guys, I think we're pretty much stacked from a recruiting standpoint now.
I was able to see two of the games against FSU this weekend. My impression of this team is that they are just too tight in clutch situations. The defense let them down and cost them crucial outs during the first loss friday night especially, and when you give someone extra outs they'll beat you eventually. Its also quite apparent when your team hits poorly with runners on base, and we couldnt do much of anything. They beat us friday, 5-2. Saturday, we pulled one out in late innings, 8-7. Sunday, we lost 7-4.
FSU's batters fought off dozens of pitches with 2 strikes, and with runners on, making our guys work for the outs. Some of the defensive errors are because of the aluminum bat: balls come off with more speed than a wooden bat, but they were plays that could've been made. The Seminoles, who won the series 2-1, improved to 11-8 overall and 3-4 in ACC play. Clemson dropped to 14-6 overall and 5-4 in the ACC, just percentage points behind Boston College, who we play next.
If we dont win that series at BC, I don't see this team getting it together to win the ACC, but its baseball and shit happens, so who knows.
Football Word is that Dan Brooks interviewed for the DL job yesterday afternoon, and will be offered. Ron West was interested in coming back, but is reportedly sticking around in Tulsa. TI says the deal is essentially done, but the official hire will take some time for background checks and the like. Big surprise!
If you saw the horror that was that game, then you really dont need to read this recap, but I'll post it anyway.
I've been fighting the urge to look at TNet because its the last thing you should do after a big loss, but I can pretty much tell you its either sunshine pumpers telling you how this team is great and lost to a good team, or people claiming OP should be fired. There will probably also be those who think Terrance Oglesby should be kicked off the team. I don't, but what happened was disgraceful nevertheless.
So theres no point in even looking at it unless you want to get pissed off further, or if you vehemently believe in one or the other then you shouldn't read the rest of this post.
Clemson basketball is in the best position it has been in during its history. We've won more games the last few years than ever before. We're recruiting better than we have since the days when Horace Grant and Dale Davis were here. Overall, we rebound great, we shoot well most of the time, and we have a good bench. We have a good coach who, if you have a brain, you want to keep as much as I do and who deserves his salary.
But as much as I like Purnell and the job he has done with Clemson basketball, I do not relieve him from blame. We have several problems that have been exposed on this year's squad that were not fixed.
Our offense:
Clemson runs a lot of set plays in the offense, particularly the cut, and uses them to set up shots from the perimeter or to attack the basket from the high post. We have true shooters in Rivers and Oglesby, but neither is a consistent high scorer. Rivers is close, but he's not at the game-changing level of a Vasquez or Teague, you must admit. In addition, having him and TO on the court at the same time gives you nothing, because Rivers is not a true PG. They essentially have the same skillset offensively.
What we missed down the stretch was Guard play that creates opportunities to score in the half-court. I've complained that we need someone who can take the team on his back and carry them when they play like crap, can consistently deliver 18-20 ppg, and can attack the basket directly. I suppose what I'm really getting at is that this team lacks leadership. We do have guys (like Stitt) who will try to strike up the lane, but they don't keep doing it.
Coaching is about teaching controlled aggression, and they haven't been taught how to do take it inside well enough. I think this is Purnell's problem, but experience of the player is a factor.
Our inside game attacks from the high post in many sets, which is fine, but I, like many of you, believe that Booker has the talent to completely take over a game inside. I think he can score 20+ ppg. His problem is that when he seems to botch a play on defense, it affects him on offense, and vice versa. He got called for fouls a lot last year for being aggressive on defense, but this year his fouls went down and points went up. However, down the stretch, you'd see him let men go inside without challenging at all. He even steps out of their way at times. Sometimes you have to, to not draw a silly foul, but there is a fine line between being mean and being stupid on the basketball court. Trevor Booker must step up and become the kind of leader from an emotional standpoint that this team needs, but a low-post scorer cannot do it by himself, you have to have someone who can pass the ball to him in there.
And, when we just don't shoot well, which will happen to everyone, the team forgets their fundamentals and plays sloppier by trying to force things to happen. They just pass the ball around waiting for someone to do something, and since we are not the best at passing, we turn it over. That is the coach's responsibility to correct: passing (particularly inbound passing) and dribbling are fundamentals that you're supposed to know by college, and the mental status of the team is something only he can correct.
Our defense:
Purnell brought the full-court press with him, and against lesser opponents it clearly does what its supposed to do. Clemson uses it for 3/4 of just about every game and the idea behind it (pressing so long) is to wear down the other team and then in that last 10min of the game, they are too tired to put a run on you to win the game. I don't have a single problem with the defensive philosophy.
Some fans like to throw the idea that the press is outdated. These are the same kind of people who think that the I-formation or the option have no place in football anymore. If you are one of those people, then take a step back and watch more sports, because you clearly have no perspective.
My problem is with Purnell's strategy is that he sticks with the same routine every game. When our full court press is getting us killed in transition, he stays with it. He does not switch down to a half-court defense until its too late. Some teams pass well and can eat up the press, like Wake Forest or UNC, and in those cases we stuck with it. I understand his reasoning for why he does it, and theres no need for knee-jerk reactions if a team just gets hot and puts a small run on us, but the book is out there on us and you have to switch it up.
The other problem with the pressing, and this is more important than just the defense being run (zone, press man, man/man), is that the team just lost their intensity. If you press, you must hustle up and down the court to beat the teams that can pass. You must be in good shape and play with energy. Just because you are standing in front of your man does not mean you are playing good defense. You are coached to extend your arms and put your hands up in the air, and we have not done that. When he passes the ball in the backcourt, the other G must RUN over to double-team, not jog and give him time to pass it.
The effort on interior defense I already mentioned. Foul trouble is a side effect that you cannot avoid, we have the depth, so we need to use it. You cannot give uncontested layups and allow another team's best player to just walk up the lane from the key and score. If you have to knock him on his ass, you do that.
Basketball is still all about chemistry, we lost ours. Purnell's job is to get it back. We're going to win 20 games next year, we're going to be ranked again, and if Booker doesn't leave we'll be in the NCAAs again next year. Its not the end of the world and we've come a long way.
Former Gaffney player Justin Sarratt started for Clemson tonight and along with 4 other pitchers we no-hit USCS 14-0.
He threw 4 1/3 no-hit innings against Michigan State last week in his start against them.
Five Clemson pitchers, including Gaffney’s Justin Sarratt and Chapman’s Kyle Deese, combined to no-hit USC Upstate 14-0 on Wednesday night in Clemson.
Sarratt (3-0) started and threw five no-hit innings. He was followed by Scott Weismann, Deese, Tomas Cruz and Matt Vaughn, who each threw an inning apiece.
Chapman’s Deese was making his Clemson debut.
Clemson pitchers allowed just one walk and struck out seven Spartans. The Tigers (12-4) had an error in the first.
It’s the 14th no-hitter in Clemson history and the first since Scott Parrish threw a seven-inning 6-0 no-hitter against The Citadel on March 6, 1984.
Second baseman Mike Freeman had a big night at the plate for the Tigers, going 4-for-5 with a three-run home run and seven total RBIs.
Awwwwwwww. A #3 seed loses to a #6 at home, but they clearly belong in the NCAA Tournament as a 10 or 11 seed and would've done better, even though they went 0-6 against NCAA Tourney teams, didnt you know that?
I give Ron Morris about 2 weeks before he calls Horn a dope and reminds Sakerlina fans that they suck worse than us.
Steven Garcia is smiling, because he knows that as much as he sucks, Spurrier can't take him out to put in the janitor backing him up this year. The Fightin' Spurriers have suspended a starting DLman, in preparation for his future dismissal from the team to cover the oversignage in recruiting this year. Ben is smiling too, by the way.
A 4th District Federal Judge has told Clemson, that although they are public, that they are not part of the State and a lawsuit filed against them by former BOT Secretary Eugene Troutman can proceed. He claims he was fired for bitching about tuition increases that weren't necessary and the University used them to create a savings fund of $80 Million, and gave outrageous pay hikes.
Why didnt he bitch when they doubled mine over 4 years? Clemson might as well go private, with as little as the state gives them now.
Basketball Its time for the ACC to produce in the Tournament again, and this article reviews our problems over the last 3 years. Some of it, I believe, is due to a fall in recruiting. With the Big East becoming a real power on the east coast, not everyone wants to go to the ACC schools. Maryland is not what they used to be, nor is Virginia or NC State. Teams like Duke or UNC will always be good and get the best, but the 2nd-tier ACC teams are having a tougher time of it now.
Strelow writes a good article about the Michigan Zone defense here, and how we haven't faced a good zone defense this year. Miami is the only team in the ACC who uses a base zone defense (but nearly everyone uses a zone at some point), but they didnt use much matchup zone against us.
The 1-3-1 that Michigan employs, in pressure situations, has the advantage that it allows you to put pressure on the arc and the high post, yet still allows for trapping. Its weakness is in rebounding and defense in the paint with that single defender, so to break it up Booker and Sykes must beat it inside and create opportunities off the boards. An explanation of the 1-3-1 can be found here. Michigan also employs the other forms, like 1-2-2 (Duke) and 2-3 (what Shyatt always ran).
John Beilein talks about Clemson on a Michigan radio show here.
A full statistical comparison of CU vs. UM can be found here.
Beisbol Clemson pitchers shutout PC 8-0 in a 5-hitter yesterday, our 6th win in a row. They face USCS tonight.
Clemson basketball finished 24th in the last AP Poll of the regular season, 21st in the Coaches', which are fair and deserved. This is the first time Clemson has been ranked in the final poll in consecutive years in history. Clemson was 22nd last year. Prior to last year Clemson had not been ranked in the final top 25 of any poll since the 1996-97 season.
Strelow has a piece up on the 5 things Clemson needs to fix to win thursday. None of them are really surprising if you watched the losses we've had lately: defensive effort, intensity, bench scoring, scoring inside, etc.
A great deal has been made on TNet about the Michigan 1-3-1 Zone, but John Beilein says they only use it about 10% of the time, and they are hard at work prepping for us. The article also goes into Beilein's impressive coaching record.
Bart Wright thinks that the back-to-back trips to the NCAAs will help this team focus and not be nervous for the first round this time around and should keep our intensity up the whole game....but we weren't nervous last year, we just choked at the end of the game. Come to think of it, its our intensity that has been a problem this year, so I'm not so encouraged.
The baseball team, ranked as high as 18th, has midweek games against PC and USC-Spartanburg, which I wholeheartedly refuse to call Upstate. Both are 6:30 games and we should destroy both teams. It would be nice to sweep and take the momentum into the series against FSU this weekend, who seem to be struggling a little at the moment. Recall that FSU was picked to win the Atlantic, and they swept us last year.
Basketball The ACC puts in BC, MD, FSU, Duke, UNC, WF, and Clemson for the NCAAs. I thought FSU deserved better than a #5 seed, and Maryland lucked out to get a #10. We face (20-13, 9-9) Michigan in the first round thursday, and are in the same region as Oklahoma. All games are streamed online. 30 teams from power conferences were selected in at-large bids, and only 4 mid-major at-large picks, down from a tops of 12 in 2004. Out of any who didn't make it, I think Creighton really deserved one. The bracket is here.
Ron Morris has an article up thats different from his usual bomb-throwing, and praises both Horn at SC and Purnell.
Baseball Clemson baseball finished the sweep of Wake Forest 7-3 sunday afternoon. Its our 11th straight win over Wake in baseball at home, and we're now 11-4 (4-2). Kyle Parker tore WF pitching up this weekend. Clemson rises to #20 nationally after the weekend. Football Other candidates for the open DT Coach spot are Marlon Hobby (former assistant here) and former Auburn DL coach Don Dunn, in addition to Ron West, but West is an outside shot. Brooks has Steele and WoodyMac lobbying his case and already knows most guys on the staff, so an interview would really only be a formality.
I'm not going into the Georgia Tech debacle, I'm not even looking at the myriad of articles full of player interviews and excuses. We shit the bed, theres not much else to say or analyze about it. OP needs to light a cherry bomb under their asses. At least Ben came through and made me feel better, as he usually does.
Clemson basketball coach Oliver Purnell is one of Alabama's primary targets for the Crimson Tide's vacant basketball coaching job according to a knowledgeable source familiar with the search. The source said Alabama is very interested in Purnell and the feeling appears to be mutual. Alabama is looking for a replacement for Mark Gottfried who resigned under pressure in late January.
Baseball Clemson thumped WF 4-1 and 6-1 to sweep today's doubleheader. Since linux was being a bitch, I couldn't listen to the games and can't tell you anything else about them. Parker broke out of his slump, so I guess Jack doesn't need to rest him just yet. Saturday is cancelled, Sunday at 1pm is the next scheduled start.
Football Clemson did its usual duty and self-reported secondary violations (THANKS BECKY BOWMAN) friday. There is no cause for alarm: everybody reports them and everybody has secondaries to report, usually because of some nuance in a rule that nobody knows about, BUT BECKY DOES.
Commits Joe Craig (194) and DeAndre Hopkins (115) made the first Rivals250 list. Both are technically listed as "athlete" on the list.
Clemson has contacted former UT DL coach Dan Brooks about the open DT coaching job. He now works in an administrative role (like WoodyMac) for Tennessee. Woody coached with Brooks at Tennessee, back when they were pulling in every DL and RB recruit of note. However, Dabo took a vacation for this weekend, and no interview is expected until next week.
It occured to me that you can't really explain any blitz packages without giving an explanation of the different defensive fronts you see in a 4-3. When you think of a 4-3 defense, most of you will just think of 4 linemen playing in a 3pt stance, with 3 LBs just sitting behind them; there is more to it than that and there are several variations of 4-3 defense.
Defensive line alignments Bear Bryant's 1960 book published the defensive numbering system used by everyone today who coaches defense, though he says he did not invent the system. The numbering starts from 0, which means a DT lines across from the Center head-up, and proceeds from there. All the even numbers are shaded alignments, also called gap alignments. The odd numbers mean that the lineman lines up directly opposite an OL. In between the OLmen, you have gaps: A (C-G), B (G-T), C (T-TE/WR), and D (anything outside the TE or WR, if hes lined up close to the Line).
From Bryant's book:
So, if you look at the illustration, you'll see that if I tell my DT to play a 1-Technique, it doesn't mean that he's doing something different with his hands or footwork to get past somebody, it means that he just lines up on the shoulder of the Center. But which side, left or right? Thats where another set of terms comes in:
Slide-outside shoulder, weak side Shade-outside shoulder, strong side
The DEs have more to learn, because they have run and pass responsibilities, and depending on whether they play strongside or weakside. I'm only going to cover a few as needed, so I won't list all of them.
LB Alignment LB alignment techniques are the same, you just add a 0 so as not to confuse them. For example, a SAM playing 70-technique means you line up in a 7 (inside shoulder of the TE), 3-5 yards off the line. A LBs primary job is gap control, meaning that he has to control the gap where the DL isn't lined up. If the DT in front of him is lined up in a 3 (outside shoulder of his Guard), the LB lines up in a 50 (outside shoulder of his Tackle).
So you see, you can tinker with the alignment of the front seven players to make the defense look different to the QB, or give your team better chances at getting past a particular offensive lineman on any play.
Overshifted fronts There are two main shifts to the 4-3, Over and Under, but there are different styles and ways of doing those shifts as well. This stuff is endless, but you may see one and wonder why they are doing it.
If the DC calls an "Over" front, then he is telling the MIKE to call the shift based on the passing strength of the formation, once MIKE sees the formation pre-snap. The passing strength side is nearly always the one with the most receivers, or if they are equal (like 4 wides with a RB) then the side with the WR the DC told him to watch most during the week of film study. In Saban's scheme, he declares which side he is going to play his 30-technique on, called The Bubble side, and all the linemen and other LBs adjust.
2-gap in the figure means that the NG and the Weakside DE both have to watch the two gaps on either side of themselves. 1-gap means that the strongside DT covers the B-gap that he is supposed to run into, and the strong DE runs into his C-gap.
The LBs are watching the linemen on the snap, preparing for a run play, and once they seen run towards their side (Flow-To) or away (Flow-Away) they are supposed to charge into different gaps. If they read pass, they just drop back into their coverage, otherwise this is what they do:
WILL is playing a 9, so this defense can look like a 5-2, except that he is standing up. Usually he's standing right behind the DE's back foot, but he can come up on the line. He is looking at the OT and the nearest RB and charges around him (or his FB blocker) if the flow is in that direction. If the play goes away from him, he has to be careful and watch for a reverse or a trap of some kind back to his side, or slide across the line towards the play. This is the toughest part of his job, called slow fold.
MIKE is watching the OG in front of him, and the nearest RB. In the I-formation example above, he's supposed to be watching for an isolation play (meaning the FB blocks him 1-on-1 and he has no help) up the B-gap if the flow is towards him. If the run goes away from him, he covers up the A-gap on his side and tries to pull the RB down from behind. Usually if flow is away, the OG in front of him might be pulling, and thats why he's watching him first and runs up the A.
SAM is also watching the OG and RB closest to him, and on Flow-To he stacks, sitting behind his DE up the C-gap. The DT is supposed to control the B-gap remember. If the ball goes away from him, he covers up the A-gap on his side.
So thats the basics, but why would you shift the front this way? Lets say you have a big fat guy up front who can take two or 3 blockers. You want him at NG, or the DT playing 0. He also has to be really good and busting into either of his A-gaps. Think Warren Sapp. Both of your DEs are great pass rushers, and they get put on the outside shoulder of whomever is lined up: the Strong DE on the outside of the TE, the weak DE on the outside of the OT. The LBs just line up behind them this way, and since you want one OLB to "force" plays (like option plays) you move WILL over to one side on their best blocking OT (usually the LT). Note that if you just stand up your Strongside DE, this will look like a 3-4 system. There is no rule that says he has to be in a 3-point stance. Vice versa for the WILL playing on the other side.
If you are a Dallas Cowboys fan, or recall Jimmy Johnson's defenses, or the current Dave Wannstedt Pitt defense, this is the type of shift you saw/see alot of.
Of course, you usually shift this defense based on the formation shift of the offense. Lets say for example that the opponent uses a split-I formation, which Clemson does use alot. The Tailback stays where he is, and the FB moves over a couple yards behind the OG (as opposed to being right behind the QB). In that case, the WILL would initially line up to whichever side the FB is shifted, the offense sets and the defense lines up...and then the FB motions over behind the other side. In that case the DL won't have time to readjust, so the LBs just move over to the side the FB moved towards.
Similar occurs if the TE shifts from one side to the other, the Over LB has to move, so WILL backs up and plays like SAM did above, MIKE shifts over, and SAM moves to the 9-technique.
Another variant of the 4-3 Over front (there are many) is "Okie", in which the NG plays a Tilted stance and doesnt line up square on the Center; he lines up at a Shade angle to him, with the WILL now being matched across from the TE, but still playing his 9-technique.
Undershifted front This is the primary shift that the Tampa Bay Bucs use under Monte Kiffin (now Tennessee), as well as the USC Trojans (Carroll worked under Kiffin at one point in his career). In this scheme, the MIKE calls the side of the strength after the DC calls "Under" from the sidelines, and the SAM is assigned directly onto the TE. Usually in a pass situation, when this is called the SAM plays man coverage on the TE. Its essentially a flip from the Overshift above, but the gaps that are attacked change. This doesnt mean that your whole defense is playing man, this front is primarily used with Cover 2 and 3 in Saban's schemes.
In the Saban scheme, this is what they do: SAM plays the TE man/man, in a "loose" 9 technique. Basically this means he is moved off the line of scrimmage 3 yards. If the TE motions, the SAM moves with him. On a run play, he has to control the D gap.
MIKE runs into the B-gap in flow-to, or the strongside A-gap in flow-away. WILL stacks behind the DL in front of him in flow-to, or the weakside A if away. They are both playing 30 techniques.
The NG plays 0 in this scheme. He has to control 2 gaps, as does the Strong DE. That means these guys must be run stoppers. The other DT stays in his 3 and controls his B-gap.
The weakside DE stunts, or "Crashes" out of a 6-alignment. That means he just runs as fast and as hard as he can, across the face of the Tackle. His goal is to get into the offensive backfield as quickly as possible, find the ball carrier, and knock him flat.
Now, thats the basic Under. Notice that I said that SAM usually plays man, which means this scheme lends itself to a total man/man coverage defense. In that case, you would play what is called Cover 1 Man Under (or Man Free), meaning that either the FS or SS drops straight back in coverage and is "free" to help anyone deep who needs it. This is the particular version that USC uses, and they shift over the NG so that he is responsible for only one gap, giving him less to think about during the play. Saban does it as well. Generally, because the SAM is matched man/man on the TE, the SS is the one who plays "free" and the FS picks up a RB or slot receiver to the weak side.
So those are the two main overshifted fronts in the 4-3.
In starting my research of candidates for the DC job when it became apparent that VK was going to be out of Clemson, I looked at all the names mentioned and I thought that getting Kevin Steele or Dick Bumpas would be a small coup. Both had the mentality, that I missed when Reggie Herring left, of an aggressive, attacking defense that would confuse the offense and dictate the tempo of the game. Of course, Reggie blitzed every play, and eventually it would bite him.
Of course, I did not expect Clemson to be able to land Steele away from a burgeoning national powerhouse at Alabama, and thought we'd end up with Bumpas or The Chief. When it became more clear that Steele was a real candidate, I started looking through his coaching history and as many old interviews as I could find. Since some other Clemson bloggers just post bullshit and rants, without anything really about football itself or thinking about why things are, I figured I would go into some real X's and O's.
Kevin Steele has a background of running both a 3-4 and 4-3 defense. His playing days at Tennessee were in essentially a 50-style defense under Johnny Majors. If you watch tapes of the 1981 Clemson team, you see a similar scheme. He worked on Dom Caper's best 3-4 teams at Carolina, coaching Kevin Greene, Sam Mills, and Lamar Lathon. He worked under Nebraska's great DC Charlie McBride in the early '90s, and they ran an attacking 4-3 scheme. We've all seen Mickey Andrews' defense at FSU, and Steele was the ace recruiter and LB Coach there for 4 years. Most thought that since Alabama was based on 3-4 last year, and since he ran a 3-4 at Baylor as HC, that it is what he'd run here. Few fans follow Saban's schemes outside of Alabama fans, so they just see a 3-4 scheme advertised in the starting lineup on TV, and don't actually pay attention to what they are doing. The truth is that a Saban scheme is very complex, and Saban is smart enough to adjust it to what personnel he has. At LSU he ran a 4-3 nearly all the time. Also, wee have two guys on this staff who were part of Saban's staff: Steele and Harbison (LSU 2001), co-coordinators of our defense.
Steele has said in every published interview that he isn't inventing a new scheme, he's just copying one. Given that his longest tenures on staffs were with Alabama, FSU and Nebraska, and his failure at Baylor, its pretty fair to assume we'll be running a 4-3 attacking scheme based on those three defenses. Given that Steele has praised Saban for his teaching ability, and the scheme itself, its fair to assume that he will essentially copy his old Alabama playbook. Saban's philosophy is the following, from his 2001 LSU playbook:
The LSU philosophy on first and second down is to stop the run and play good zone pass defense. We will occasionally play man-to-man and blitz in this situation. On third down, we will primarily play man-to-man and mix-in some zone and blitzes. We will rush four or more players versus the pass about ninety-percent of the time.
One initial difference between a VK scheme and a Saban scheme is the alignment of the defense. What you saw last year was essentially a 4-2-5 scheme that stacked two inside LBs and employed various rotations in the secondary based on field (wide side) and boundary (short side of the field) situations. Stunts were used to increase the pressure from the down 4. A Saban scheme, I have a copy of his LSU playbook, bases the calls off the strength of the offensive formation, and adjusts according to it on each play. Field and Boundary calls are still used however. Saban usually makes his Free Safety the "Quarterback" of the defense, and he makes most of the alignment calls (Saban was a defensive back in college). Steele has indicated that his Mike Backer will be his "Quarterback," but Mike can't make all the coverage calls in the secondary, he will give the sideline call and then likely only adjust the defensive front.
Last year, VK primarily ran what was called Cover 0 in his terminology, but in technical terms Cover 0 (no deep safety) is actually man coverage. What we ran was a 3-deep zone coverage and a Cover 4 (4-deep/quarters) coverage. WR's hate to see zone coverage compared to man, because its a fair chance that they are not going to only get hit by one guy, but 2 or 3 at once. His philosophy was to make those WRs nervous and have a few hitters to lay the smack on them (Hamlin) to make them gun-shy on the next play. He generally played his underneath coverage as spot drops, forcing the opponent to execute all the way down the field to score.
Here is one basic Cover 3 call, using either a bump & run corner or matchup zone:
Saban's schemes use Cover 3, particularly when he blitzes (a 3-under, 3-deep), with a combination of "cloud" or "sky" calls and rolling coverages. This is no different from VK's scheme in the basics, we will just blitz out of it next year. I'm not covering the blitz packages just yet, but in any event, the call will be made by sidelines for the front and the secondary coverage will be whatever is called behind that.
A "Sky" call refers to what the Safety is doing. When this is called, usually upon seeing the strength of the formation by the FS, it is the FS and two CBs who have deep responsibilities. The SS would have primary run support (force) if this is called, and would key the RB in addition to whomever he is assigned based on the formation. He could also be assigned to blitz or cover a free-space in the underneath zone, vacated by a blitzing LB. A wrinkle that is sometimes added is to give the FS the run key, and have the SS back up in deep zone after the snap....it could be read by the QB as a Safety blitz, when he is not even coming. The Sky call is strong against the run but weak against the quick out pass to #2 receiver on that side. This flip of the safeties (it can also be done between a S and a CB) called an inversion, and in some DC's playbooks the "force" is played by the FS instead of the SS. Here is an adjusted Cover 3 Sky call.
A "Cloud" call refers to one of the Corners. When this is called by the FS, it is the two safeties and one of the CBs who have deep responsibilities. A OLB would shift into the underneath zone vacated by this deep CB, for example. Blitz MIKE from that shifted-OLBs usual spot, and you have a difficult read. The other CB has primary run support (force) and keys the RB in addition to his assignment. Usually the coverage rolls to the CB who has the run key and isn't playing deep, and a S lines up behind him, with the other Safety taking the middle. The Cloud call is strong against the quick out pass to #2 but weak against the run except on wide runs. Anytime the #1 receiver does not align wider than the safety is off the line of scrimmage, the Safety will check to a Cloud call which keeps the defense from being outflanked. Anytime the #1 receiver does align wider than the safety is off the line of scrimmage, the Safety will make the Sky or Cloud call according to the coverage called by the coach. So you see, it all depends on how they line up.
You might also divide the deep field into quarter-quarter-half, assigning the FS one half of the field, and giving two quarters to the SS and CB to cover. This will all depend on formation and strengths of the opponent.
For example, if a team lines up in an I-formation or 1-back, with two WRs to one side and a TE on the other, the SS would cover deep on the TE side, which might be a full half of the field, while the other S and CB would have deep coverage on the two WR side, which would only be quarters for those two defenders.
For teams which prefer to roll to one side, or have one excellent WR, a DC would call quarter-quarter-half to give added protection on one side, putting a the 1/4s on the side likely getting attacked. Usually this is the strong side of the field. Steele's scheme will adjust based on the strong side, compared to VK's which would've adjusted to the Field side. Many times those are one and the same.
Here's another example of what you might see next season, rotating the 3 over behind the CB blitz: (note: you'd never CB blitz from the wide side of the field, only the short side unless its a Nickel)
When the opponent likes to throw fade passes, fly patterns, and sideline routes, quarter-half-quarter coverage can force those receivers to come across the middle.
But what is the "seam" you always hear about on TV? When the announcers refer to a "seam route" they mean that the receiver ran a fly route into the cracks of the defense. Each defense has a place to attack it, and Cover 3 has two of them that run from 15 yds from the sideline and are a few yards wide. This would be because your slot receiver/TE runs between a OLB who has Curl responsibilities and a run key (meaning he has to wait and see what the RB does), and a CB who would have flat responsibilities, for example. Like the seam in the standard Cover 2 (not the Tampa 2, which is actually closer to Cover 3) it runs from 15 to 25 yards deep, and the hole between the deep coverage and the underneath LB/CB.
A problem that many zone coverages have is the coverage on the boundary, where a WR might still find the sandwich hole between the deep S/CB and the guy in the flats.
One complaint of most of us, after watching Koenning's zone, is the softness of the zone. There is a no-cover zone which extends 3-5 yards from the LOS, in which no defender is supposed to pick up a receiver (typically the RB sits out here). The key point of the zone, in general, is that the DB is watching the QB and breaks on the ball at the right time to break the pass up. VK's defenses didn't always do that so well, and they sat in their zones too long before breaking, which is a coaching point I expect Harbison to clear up. Once they have experience and know how to attack, they become better at forcing breakups and turnovers.
How can they do that better? They watch the drop of the quarterback, knowing that short drops lead to shorter passes. They watch his eyes, and the position of the shoulders: longer passes require the quarterback to dip his back shoulder. They learn the difference between a passer's pump-fake and his throwing motion, and they look for clues, like patting the ball, that indicate that the quarterback is ready to release. This is done in the film room.
One particular coaching point that Saban himself excels at is pattern-reading. This means that the DBs are coached to expect what routes the offense runs. For example, in a Smash play, one reciever runs a deep corner route, while the Flanker runs a quick hitch.
(In the figure, MOFC=middle of field closed=cover 1/3, MOFO=Cover 2) At first glance, Cornerback has a real problem here, and is forced to pick one guy to cover. Either he backs up, trying to stop the deep corner route (B), or stays in his flat to stop the hitch or in/out (Z). Although the example is primarily meant to attack Cover 2 (where the CB stays in the flat), the same concept applies to any offensive attack.
Against Cover 3, the TE might run a 10 yd Curl route and be sitting next to a SAM in zone. At the same time, a RB flies out in a wheel route, and a WR running a deep post or fly. The deep route takes up the deep coverage, and the LB is forced to pick who to cover if the CB drops back with that deep receiver. Only disciplined and experienced players will stick to their assignments like they are supposed to. A secondary taught in pattern recognition will expect this route combination based on alignment of the WRs/RBs/TE and film study, and that CB would read the WR and TE release, and stay in his flat to pick up the RB, for example.
While VKs schemes did alot of spot-drops, because they are easy to teach, Harbison will almost certainly do pattern reading. Spot drops are simply that, a LB drops into his zone and watches the QB. The weakness is that good WRs can find the hole in the zone, and just run to it. Here is a depiction of the different passing zones defenders drop into.
But pattern-reads teach the defenders what to expect, and they essentially matchup onto whomever comes into their zone in man. Once he leaves their zone, they release him to someone else. Its also referred to as a Combination coverage and is more difficult for a QB to read pre-snap. In Saban's LSU playbook, he has hundreds of examples of combo routes the offense will run, and the defender is expected to recognize them. Where Saban excels is in how simple he can make all this information and teach it to his whole defense, instead of just a couple DBs. Each defender is essentially looking at only two guys, and he can adjust based on that. With Harbison being someone who learned under him, I'd expect us to do well in a year or two at pattern-reading.
Now, returning to our basic 3-Matchup defense above:
The responsibilities of each player is indicated in coachspeak on the figure. There are two corners, both aligned 8-9yds off. Their responsiblity is to key off the #2 on their side. For the Weakside, he's watching the near RB, then the QB and the ball. The strongside is keying the TE, then the backs to the ball.
The Strong Corner keys #2, and if #2 runs up the seam he's supposed to keep an eye on him as he releases from the LOS, keeping the combinations of the #1 and #2 in his mind. Otherwise, if the TE blocks or runs into the flat, he squeezes the #1 reciever matched on him.
The adjustment, labeled BUMP (in case Cloud is called), is to jam #1 and then play flat/curl. This is a CLOUD adjustment.
The Weakside CB does essentially the same, with an eye on the RB and the combinations he can run with the split end.
The SS aligns, in the basic package, 4x5. That means he's 4yds off the #2 (TE here), and 5 yds deep off the LOS. He drops 10yds down the seam, and plays curl/flat on the TE. All the while, he has to watch #3 on that side, the RB. #2 and #3 will run a pattern, and if the TE runs a seam route the SS picks up the RB in the flats, otherwise he stays in his curl zone. In case BUMP is called, he would pickup the deep 3rd instead of the Strong CB. Another adjustment would be to line him up in front of #1 and jam him.
The FS aligns 12 yds deep off the Weak OT, keying any uncovered linemen to the backs. He essentially backs up straight against the pass and covers his 3rd of the field. He watches for a post route up the seam, particularly by #2 (RB in the figure, remember the SC has the TE if he runs a post, but it could also be a slotman), and tries to read the QBs progression to break on the ball.
The SAM keys the TE, through the linemen to the near RB. His alignment will depend on whether sky or cloud is called and the call of the front. He plays the hook zone. His responsibility on pass is to read the pattern of those two receivers and attack any short dumps from the inside out, meaning he tries to force everything from his zone to the sideline.
The MIKE is watching the RBs, and aligns straight up 4 yds off the Center. In the figure above he is sent into the other hook zone. WILL essentially mirrors the SS, moving at first outside into the flat and backing up into the curl zone.
In the next post, I will go into blitz packages which play Cover 3 behind them.
Funny post from TNet. Jerri Spurrier died and went to Heaven. St. Peter was giving her a tour of Heaven when she noticed that there were clocks everywhere. Each clock displayed a different time of day. When she asked St. Peter about the clocks, he replied, "We have a clock for each person on earth, and every time they tell a lie the hands move. The clock ticks off one second every time a lie is told. See this clock, it belonged to Mother Teresa and never moved, indication that she never told a lie. This clock for George Washington only moved twice. He only told two lies in his life."
Jerri asked, "Where is Steve's clock?" "Jesus has it in his office" St. Peter replied, "he's using it as a ceiling fan."
Basketball Clemson faces GT today at 2pm in the Georgia Dome. We've never beaten GT in the ACC Tournament....but we've also not perennially been this good. Here is the statistical breakdown.
An online webcast is available here. You can also try raycom's website and ESPN360.
The O-List takes a crack at the All-Time Clemson starting 5 here. Jim Sutherland is not one that sprang into my mind, I would've put in Greg Bucker at the 3.
This P&C article talking about what the team does with the box scores and statistics of each game is different than most of the usual banal basketball news, so give it a read.
Bart Wright talks about the turnover bug that has cost us every game we've lost this year:
When it won 73-59 at home, Clemson had 13 assists and 13 turnovers against Tech; when it won 81-73 in Atlanta, Clemson had 16 assists and 18 turnovers.
Turnovers have been an Achilles' heel of sorts, and Georgia Tech was the only team Clemson beat all season in the ACC that it didn't gain an advantage over in assists and turnovers.
If that doesn't get corrected today, the ACC Tournament might feel like the old days at Clemson, and there's nothing at all good about that.
An interesting article about Clemson's offensive plays for those who like to study the game's technical aspects is here.
Football Be thankful they didnt decide to stick you this year. Four years steady. It'll go up next year no matter what, its one of those laws of the Universe.
Greg Wallace at the SHJ writes about how Jamie Harper got his fatass back in shape for football. Hopefully no game-changing fumbles this season either.
Clemson commit Martavius Bryant made the Rivals100 list at #38, and is rated a 4-star WR in the first edition of their rankings for 2010. Marcus Lattimore (5-star, #4 overall), Brandon Willis (4-star, #21), Alec Ogletree (4-star, #31), Brent Benedict (4, #40) Markieth Ambles (4, #23) are just a few of the prime targets we have on this list. Joe Craig made the Rivals 250 as a 4-star, as did Hopkins.
Several beatwriters have mentioned the change in intensity in this year's spring practice, forcing players to always hustle on and off the field, and to be more vocal, one even quoted Dabo saying this:
“The time isn’t next year, or two years or three years,” he told the team. “The time is this 15 days of practice. We might not win, but we’re going to do the little things right, or by god, you won’t play for me.”
Good. No more damn excuses.
The first practice in full pads went well apparently. The scuttle is that Malliciah Goodman nor J.K. Jay will actually be redshirted, particularly not Goodman, he is impressing too many people. Unfortunately, all indications are that our Kickers blow chunks, and Skinner isn't doing well at longsnapping. Most articles on the Korn/Parker situation talk about Parker's velocity and Korn's messed-up mechanics (he drops his shoulder), but Korn is hitting his targets and Parker's throws are sailing at the moment.
The Oklahoma Drill was brought back from the visit to Texas, with the intention of toughening up the lines. It's called that because it was invented by Bud Wilkinson at OU (the main guy before Switzer, 1947-63), and its been renamed the PAW Drill (Position About Winning; i'm gettin sick of these names Dabo comes up with, honestly). If you played in HS, you might know it as the Pit Drill. The drill pits three offensive linemen against three defensive linemen in a space 16 feet, 7 inches wide and 10 yards long. A running back is positioned behind the offensive linemen and is given three plays to gain 10 yards. The OL has won most of the battles in camp so far.
The Tigers never used the drill under Bowden, instead using a "board drill" that consisted of one-on-one matchups.
David Blackwell is interviewing for a Co-Coordinator job at South Florida with former Cincinatti DC Joe Tressey. He is expected to take it if its offered. Jim Leavitt pretty much fired everybody on his staff that interviewed for jobs elsewhere this offseason, so he needs some help. To fill the spot on the staff, we will hopefully try to go get Dan Brooks, who was initially rumored to come in with The Chief from Tennessee (I'm surprised he didnt get offered at LSU). Brooks is an ace recruiter, far better than Blackwell if you ask me. He also is the main reason UT gets players from NC, and we'll need the help against Butch Davis. EDIT: he did take the job.
Baseball We thumped Michigan State twice already this week, tuesday 15-2 and wednesday afternoon 6-1, further fueling my belief that teams from up north can't play baseball.
Kyle Parker is struggling mightily at the plate, hitting .136 and is 4-40 lately. With the strain of football on top of this, I honestly think he needs to take some time away over the NCAA mandate (he was required to take a day off this week). He's going to miss two BC games, but I'd make him take off the whole weekend if I was Jack.
"Kiffin told Jeffrey that if he chose the Gamecocks, he would end up pumping gas for the rest of his life like all the other players from that state who had gone to South Carolina."
