Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables likes what he has seen from the first two days of practice.

“Our guys are excited.  Great energy, great enthusiasm.  You can see our guys are hungry to practice and hungry to compete.  We have really good leadership.  There has been a lot of carryover from the spring and the guys that are experienced players you can see their experience out here.  They have done a good job of knowing what to do and doing it with great urgency.  We have been pleased with the effort,” said Venables.

Coach Venables joked with the media when asked how Tony Steward has looked the first two days.

“He is going to start actually (laughing).  He is doing well though.  I have been pleased for a guy that these last two days were his first two practices in this system.  He has been in great position on the field.  He knows what he is doing.  He is not lost.  So I have been happy for him.  It looks like he is feeling confident and moving with confidence.  There doesn’t appear to be any lingering physical effects right now,” said Venables.

Steward is starting at the WILL linebacker position where he is battling Tig Willard and Corico Hawkins.

“That is where he will start out at,” said Venables.

How does Rashard Hall look following his rehab?

“Good.  He might think he has limitations but I don’t know what he looks like moving but he looks good.  He has a great feel for the game and a good feel for the defenses generally speaking.  We are not reinventing the wheel.  He understands football.  He is confident in himself and physically he looks really good,” replied Venables.

Barnes has made the move to defensive end.

“We are looking at him at defensive end right now.  He has looked good.  I think he makes us better there right now.  He gives a little more athletic body and someone that has some experience.  He has some good quickness.  He was a little undersized for defensive tackle.  I think he is somewhere in the mid 60’s so I think that suits him well right now,” said Venables.

Coach Venables will be looking to see how quickly Carlos Watkins and D.J. Reader adapt to the new system.

“How quickly they seem to play sure of themselves.  They are learning a new language and to a certain degree some new techniques.  They are learning the discipline about gap control and pad level.  So how quickly they adapt to those things. They are two big, strong athletic guys that in time have a chance to be solid players for us,” said Venables.

True freshman Travis Blanks has taken his game to a new level over the summer.

“He has picked up.  We have a good competition going there.  I am excited.  Competition makes everybody better.  He and Quandon are really battling it out along with Lateek.  We have Lateek battling for both outside positions and he seemed to have picked up on that well.  Travis is hungry.  He is very coachable.  He is strong.  He has gained a lot of weight since he has been here.  He has put on good strength in weight and knowledge.  He says he feels night and day to where he was in the spring and he was pretty solid in the spring.  I just think he is moving around with a lot of confidence right now,” said Venables.