By Will Vandervort.
Clemson quarterback Cole Stoudt said he did not miss a rep in Monday’s first of two practices at Jervey Meadows behind Doug Kingsmore Stadium. In fact, the senior said he was “good to go” after the Tigers’ two-hour workout.
Some people were wondering how good he was after the Dublin, Ohio native bruised his knee on the offense’s opening drive of Saturday’s scrimmage in Death Valley. Stoudt injured his knee after his leg was rolled up on by a defensive lineman during his five-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Leggett.
“I got a little banged up and went right back in there,” he said. “Right after practice I went to the training room and got the treatment and came back out here.”
Stoudt finished the scrimmage with another 15-yard touchdown pass to Zac Brooks and nearly tossed a third to Mike Williams, but the sophomore was ruled out of bounds.
“I thought Cole played great and the same thing with Deshaun (Watson),” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said.
Stoudt continued to play well on Monday as he said he had no issues with his knee at all in practice.
“It is just a bruise,” he said. “There is nothing bad. I was fine going through practice today. It felt great so I’m good to go.”
The offense was good to go, too. Stoudt said the tempo of the offense was working well in the scrimmage and on Monday. In the scrimmage they took the ball straight down the field with a 13-play, 70-yard drive, which was capped by the five-yard toss to Leggett.
“We got out of the gates right away with a 22-yard pass and we just went from there,” Stoudt said. “We set the tempo right off the bat and we kept the defense on their toes and kind of kept going and going and going. We executed the same things.
“We had a great game plan for that opening drive and throughout the whole scrimmage so we went from there and it worked out great.”
Stoudt and Williams picked back up from where they left off on Saturday when the 6-foot-4, 230-pound quarterback completed a 20-yard pass on a shoulder fade to Williams.
“I have said it before, all of the (receivers) are going to be the stars,” Stout said. “There isn’t going to be just that one guy, it’s going to be all of them because I like going through all my reads and seeing what is there instead of just trying to force the ball to one guy.”
Stoudt says Williams is starting to come along as a potential big-time playmaker for the Tigers.
“He is doing good. He is picking it up,” Stoudt said. “The last couple of practices have been really good. We are connecting on a lot of stuff. We are looking really good and he is getting involved in it more and is trying to be a leader out there, while developing himself into a better player and teammate.”