Brooks hiring made official

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.

I hope that 265lbs he carries is muscle, or he should be running too.

Jon Richt is looking at Valdosta State for his transfer.

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.

Basketball
Seth Curry went to Duke, and you have to admit, he's a good fit there.

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.”

He then stated, flat-out, that Booker's job is the only one thats not open for next year.

Weekend scrimmage results

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.

When asked today if there was separation between Korn and Parker:

"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.

From everything I'm seeing, Mason Cloy is stepping up into the Center spot and doing well. It looks like we might have the best one since Kyle Young at least. They can't really get much worse up front.

I'll believe it when I see it though.

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.

Clucker Report

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.

Meanwhile, Jared Cook still fields questions on how bad the Chicken Curse sucks, and how Pitchfork Ben made him give away one of the INTs in the 31-14 ass-raping in Death Valley. In addition, Emmanuel Cook has been pleading with NFL scouts to ignore the fact that he decided to be a lazy bastard and not go to class, costing his team another tackler that might have helped stop Iowa's rushing game. Too bad Cook couldn't play QB instead of Garcia, they might've had a chance.



Garcia is on Zero Tolerance policy 3.0 now, by the way.

I think the Colonel should wear orange

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.

An article on the accolades of incoming recruits Jennings and Donte Hill from TNet, with videos.

Well thank you Ron

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.

Spring football practice notes

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.

Baseball fails to come through

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.

The weekend caused us to drop to #20 in one poll, and out of the other.

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!