Post spring interviews and comments, Baseball gets a huge win

Strelow writes about the things we learned from Spring ball this season, which isnt much if you ask me.

Heather Dinich writes about Napier being handed this offense at 29 years of age.

Kevin Steele spoke with reporters following the spring game and had a few things to say about his defense.

Your overall impressions?

Kevin Steele: "We tackled well for the most part. As far as the whole spring, we really wanted to get better in pad leverages and using our hands. We made improvement there. We got a lot better at it. This thing wasn't broken. They were pretty good on defense before. Another thing we wanted to get done was communication – when you see this, this is what we do out of this. I thought our guys really worked hard trying to understand concepts of what to defend out of certain things. Our tackling and effort to the football was huge. We kept chopping wood and got better at it.

On the depth:

"The front four now, there's enough bodies there. There's five inside and five outside with Malliciah, six. The backer corps, you can't really say that. We'll have to mix and match and cross train some guys. At corner, there's enough bodies there even to go nickel. Safety, when you start moving two – McDaniel and then Sadat and has had a good spring and has impressed me – we've got to have Hall and some of those guys come through there. So I'd say safety and linebacker, we need to get out of having to cross train the guys that's got it. We need some of those young guys to come through."

On surprises from young players:

"Not so much that I thought, because you expect the best out of everyone. I thought Malliciah Goodman – for a freshman – wow, to make that stride, was good. Tig (Willard), at linebacker, is still a freshman. He did. Hall at safety did. Sadat has kind of bounced around, was a running back in high school, and he came out there and is one of our best tacklers. He's a physical guy. Those kind of guys jumped out. Up front, you have those guys inside there like Cumbie and Rennie Moore who are playing hard behind Brandon and Jarvis. The thing you don't want to have happen is that when you substitute, you don't worry about having to call something to protect some guy. With those guys up front, you don't have to do that. You just call what you call."

In addition, Gilchrist will be given a real shot at FS this fall instead of backup CB/Nickel. With Meeks coming in, Sadat improving, and Hall and Adams as well, we might not have problems with depth at Safety. Still though, experience is a big factor.

Most of the questions directed at Dabo after the game had to do with the QB situation, but he didnt show his hand at all.

Are you now at that next level where you can evaluate where you are in the decision as to who's No. 1 at quarterback?

Dabo Swinney: "I think we've created a very competitive environment at practice. You better not take a day off. Every rep counts. We try to carry that over into the game today. I thought they all made some good throws and some good plays. I think Kyle Parker had an exceptional day again. I think his team scored every time. All three of them did some good things. Mike Wade just doesn't go away. We've got a good healthy situation – all great kids, all great competitive guys who are made of the right stuff. We don't have to make a decision today. We don't have to play today."

How quickly or how late in fall camp will you go before you make the call on the starting quarterback?

Dabo Swinney: "Well that'll be determined by those guys. It could go all the way down to a week before the game. It could go to the game. If it's a situation where they both are playing well or all three are playing well, we may let it settle itself on the field. I'm not opposed to that."

How much of Kyle's not making any turnovers will help him in this quarterback battle? I don't know that he has committed a turnover in a scrimmage yet.

Dabo Swinney: "Ball security. We coach it all the time. You have to take care of the football. If we don't beat ourselves and we can be really good on defense, we will have a chance to win some ball games. You cannot turn the ball over. Just can't turn it over. We have to keep it to a minimum. That's something that will be critical."

If you played today, who would you run out there at quarterback?
Swinney: "Don't have to make that decision today. Good question, though."

Would you like to name the starter a week out of the game?
Swinney: "My choice would be to have a clear cut guy right now. I'm really glad we have the situation that we have right now. Competition makes everything better. I said that earlier. Pepsi needs Coke. Chevrolet needs Ford. Competition makes everybody better. That's what you like on your football team. We want to continue to have that. I think we'll have it at every position, not just at quarterback."

It would be nice to know though, even if its just within the team, because you have to build some chemistry with the WRs and the QB. Its even more important since we're going to start 3 new WRs this fall.

Baseball takes series against #5 Miami

Before the series, LW wrote this nice article about the team's struggles this year, but Clemson took a huge step forward this weekend, taking 2 of 3 from Miami at home, and hopefully getting on track to host a super regional if we can put things together. Miami leads the Coastal Division, and we now have a hold of the 1st place spot in the Atlantic at 11-7. BC and FSU are both 9-7.

Kyle Parker came out following the Orange/White game and homered that afternoon to make the only loss a respectable one, then homered again in the 2nd game and captured Player of the Week honors.

Parker, a sophomore outfielder, had an outstanding week on two fronts. On the diamond, he went 8-for-18 (.444) with two doubles, two homers, 11 RBIs, four runs, and three walks in five games this past week against arch-rival South Carolina and Miami.

In the home-and-home series against the Gamecocks, Parker totaled four hits, two doubles, and four RBIs, then he went 6-for-14 with two homers and seven RBI to lead Clemson to two wins in three games against the Hurricanes. The Jacksonville, Fla., native had at least one hit and one RBI in all five games (and at least two RBIs in four of the five games) during the week.

Dwyer shut down Miami in Game 2, giving up 2 hits in a complete game 9-1 victory, also getting Pitcher of the Week honors (9 IP, 2H, 1 R, 4BB, 10Ks).

On the Closer front, Clemson's Achilles' heel,Leggett says it will be Weismann this weekend against VT.

Still in search of a closer, Leggett said he hopes freshman Scott Weismann — whom he dubbed “the missing link” — will be available for next weekend’s series at Virginia Tech. Weismann, who sat out his Boston College homecoming two weeks ago because of shoulder soreness, pitched one inning against Duke last weekend but was held out against Miami because of soreness.