By Will Vandervort.
Day three of spring practice for Clemson was an interesting one as the Tigers put on the pads for the first time, adding a physical element to the game that the freshmen have not seen before and that the veterans have not experienced since bowl practice in December.
“You add in the third day of installation so we were not quite as good, not quite as crisp, but the effort was good,” Swinney said. “The competition was good. We had some drops, had some bad snaps. We had some little things where we were not quite as crisp on blitz pickups.
“It is one thing to pick up blitzes when you are in shorts, but it is another thing when you are live in pads. Hopefully, we will get a little better tomorrow.”
Clemson will mix in a little more live work on Saturday for the first time. But Friday they were full speed but they were in thud tempo all day. They tried to stay on their feet more today and tomorrow they will mix in some more live work.
“It was a good start, but we have a long way to go,” Swinney said.
Freshmen held their own. Swinney said true freshman Mitch Hyatt, Noah Green, Zach Giella and Jake Fruhmorgen did what Clemson calls “the wind drill” on Friday, which Swinney said went well.
“It is a great drill because it is football at its purest from,” Swinney said. “It is just one-on-one. It is hand placement, it is footwork. It’s low pad, it is leverage, drive and all of that.
“It’s things we take from our individual drill and you put it all together. It is first level, second level and third level with a back running the ball.”
Swinney says it’s a drill where linemen show they can sustain blocks, are getting off blocks, the running back cutting off the block.
“We do that probably four times every spring. It is a good drill,” Swinney said. “This was our first time today so it was not bad. The biggest thing because we have some many young guys, it took us a little longer to get it organized.”
Scott impressed with QBS. Though starter Deshaun Watson is not practicing this spring, co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott has been impressed with quarterbacks Nick Schuessler, Tucker Israel and Kelly Bryant through three practices so far.
“These are very valuable reps and I have been very pleased with all three of them,” he said. “Nick is a completely different guy in three practices than he has been since he has been here. Coach (Brandon) Streeter has done a great job with him and he is improving every day.
“Both of the freshmen have done a really good job considering they just showed up here a little over two months ago and being able to go out there and operate, they have done a good job.”