By Will Vandervort.
Usually Dabo Swinney’s spring games are boring to me. I’m usually not a big fan of splitting up the roster to make two teams for what is more-or-less a glorified scrimmage.
But this year’s Orange & White Game was actually fun to cover. There were a lot of big plays and it just wasn’t from the guys no one has heard about and then never hears from them again. No, one both sides of the ball there were plays made by the guys we expect to make big plays.
Swinney said days before the spring game he thought this year’s game had the chance to be the most evenly matched of these scrimmages because from a talent standpoint there was not much off a drop as in years past.
He was right.
There were 20 offensive plays of 15 or more yards and 12 of those were more than 20 yards and four of those were 40 or more. In other words, there was a lot of excitement. It was not boring.
It again proves Swinney has raised the level of talent at Clemson to the point where in games like this, where first-, second- and third-team players are starting alongside and going against each other, there is really not much off a drop off in a player’s ability over the next.
So what did we learn from Saturday’s Orange & White Game?
Schuessler is the backup. Swinney made it clear following the game that Schuessler will enter fall camp as the No. 2 guy at quarterback behind Deshaun Watson. And from what I saw in the spring game he deserves it. Schuessler completed 11 of 17 passes for 201 yards and two touchdowns. He opened the game with a 50-yard pass to Mike Williams.
Williams and Scott are really good: Williams caught five passes for 105 yards and 2 TDs in the spring game, while Artavis Scott hauled in four catches for 75 yards and scored once. Since the season ended and Ray Ray McCloud and Deon Cain signed their national letters-of-intent on signing day, they’re all anyone could talk about. Well, everyone must have forgotten that Williams caught 57 passes for 1,030 yards and six touchdowns a year ago and Scott burned every secondary with 76 receptions for 965 yards and eight touchdowns. They both reminded us on Saturday they are the starters and it doesn’t look like anyone is going to take that away after the show they put on in Death Valley. Williams has gotten stronger and it has been told to us that he is the best of the group, while the coaches have challenged Scott to become more of a complete receiver that can go down field and make big plays as well high point the ball and take it out of the air. They should both be fun to watch this fall.
Dabo is not full of crap when it comes to his running backs. Swinney was again bragging about his running backs after practice last Wednesday and just before he really got going he said, “I know you guys think I’m full of crap, but…” Well, he obviously isn’t full of it. Wayne Gallman, C.J. Davidson, C.J. Fuller, Tyshon Dye and Zac Brooks told us all that Clemson might have the deepest amount of talented players at running back than anyone else in the country, and it gets Adam Choice back in the mix full-time in the fall. Davidson led all runners with 100 yards on six carries, including a 54-yard touchdown. Gallman had a 60-yard run and rushed for 71 yards on seven carries, while Fuller rushed for 48 yards and 13 carries. Dye had 43 yards on 13 carries. The running backs as a whole rushed for 280 yards.
There is nothing wrong with the defense. Yes the offenses on both sides made a lot of big plays, but the defense had its moments too. Linebacker Ben Boulware and freshman safety Jefferie Gibson laid the wood on a couple of offensive players. Mackensie Alexander and Jayron Kearse looked sharp in the secondary, while Kevin Dodd finished an excellent spring at defensive end with six tackles, one sack and another tackle for loss. The Tigers’ first-team defense will be almost as good as last year’s starters and there should not be much of a drop off. When you get to the second and third groups, the talent is there, but as expected their lack of experience showed up at times. But as these young guys grow up and start to mesh with the older players, this defense is going to be fun to watch.
There seems to be excitement again in the return game. Swinney said one of the main areas of concentration this spring was the return game. You can see that was the case in the spring game as Scott, Germone Hopper and T.J. Green all made plays on kick and punt returns. Green had a 30-yard kickoff return, while Scott returned one 33 yards. Hopper had a 25-yard punt return, though it was called back due to a clipping penalty, and Scott had a 16-yard return. Clemson ranked near the bottom of the NCAA in terms of kickoff and punt returns last season.