The Tigers held their first scrimmage of camp Saturday.  Coach Swinney was pleased overall with the scrimmage but saw some areas where Clemson still has some work to do.

“It was a good start.  For our first scrimmage we had excellent tempo on both sides but when you play your first scrimmage especially when you rep as many guys as we did there will be some mistakes that we have to correct.  That is certainly the case here,” said Swinney.

Dabo was pleased with what he saw on defense Saturday in Death Valley.

“I was really impressed defensively.  I thought that they really came out with a lot of intensity.  They gave up a couple of big plays but the battled back when they had their backs against the wall.  I thought they tackled well and created some turnovers.  We had some sacks.  There were several guys that really jumped out at me.  Vic Beasley continued to impress me.  Lateek Townsend I think had three sacks today.  It was good to see Rashard Hall who had a big play, a big interception.  I really liked what I saw but there are some things that we need to continue to correct,” said Swinney.

Dabo thought there were some good things on offense and some players that showed they deserve more playing time.

“Offensively there were a lot of bright spots.  We were inconsistent at times.  We did not play Dalton Freeman today (the usual amount).  We were really challenging Norton and Guillermo.  We wanted to see what those guys could do getting thrown into the fire today.  They had a few bad snaps here and there but I am really pleased with Ryan Norton.  I think he is really making a push as one of those guys we are going to be able to count on.  It was a good experience for him today.

“D.J. Howard impressed me.  It was good to see Charone Peake take it to the game field.  He had two touchdowns, two great plays.  One long run.  I was real encouraged to see him just continue to be consistent,” said Swinney.

Dabo was pleased with his kicking game Saturday morning.

“Catanzaro missed one early and then came back and hit three in a row.  We actually went for a long field goal, a 56 or 57 yarder and Benton nailed it.  It was good to see him go out there in that situation and be ready to perform,” said Swinney.

The biggest disappointment Saturday was some turnovers by the offense.

“Overall it was a good day.  I was not real happy with the turnovers but on the flip  side the defense was creating them so that is a positive,” said Swinney.

Dabo was pleased to see Tajh manage the game well Saturday.

“He was good.   He was solid.  He did some good things.  Believe it or not I was just excited to see him throw a ball away and give us a chance to kick a field goal.  To me that is managing the game instead of trying to make something happen that is not there.  Just take that next step as a quarterback.  You have a good kicker.  Let’s don’t force things.  That was one of his best plays of the day.  He made a nice check down to Jaron.  That touchdown by Jaron was a nice 50 to 60 yard run by Jaron.  It was a check by Tajh and he did a good job checking the play off,” said Swinney.