Despite forcing four turnovers and returning two of them for touchdowns, Clemson safety Jayron Kearse was not pleased following Saturday’s two-hour scrimmage in Death Valley.
“It was just one of those days in which I feel like the offense won,” he said. “They capitalized on all the mistakes we made and they just had a better day than us.”
Cornerback Marcus Edmonds returned an interception 50 yards or a touchdown, while nickel back Travis Blanks picked up a fumble at midfield and took it back for another score. Linebackers Dorian O’Daniel and Jalen Williams also recorded interceptions.
“There were some good things, it wasn’t all bad today. A couple of guys made some good plays,” Kearse said. “The bad things we had, guys were not lined right. We had a lot of missed tackles. Those missed tackles, they lead to bigger things.
“We had a guy tackled for three yards, and he takes it and turns it into twenty yards. That was actually the biggest thing we did bad. We did not tackle.”
Williams led all tacklers with eight, plus he had three tackles behind the line of scrimmage, two sacks and broken up a pass to go with his interception. O’Daniel and safety Jefferie Gibson had six tackles each, while defensive tackle Christian Wilkins recorded two tackles for loss and caused a fumble.
The Clemson offense did have its moments in the scrimmage, however. Quarterback Deshaun Watson hit wide receiver Charone Peake for scoring plays of 72 and 50 yards, while running back C.J. Fuller broke off a 65-yard touchdown run.
“I thought at the line of scrimmage we managed it well today,” Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables said. “We gave up a few long runs where I’m trying to coach them. That’s my fault. I did not have the calls in. I was trying to get some calls in there real late and I screwed the guys a couple of times so they missed fit some runs.
“Otherwise, I thought our guys played really pretty good upfront. We are really inconsistent when you see three groups of guys. We don’t really have developed depth, yet. It shows at times.”
It’s that inconsistency that has Kearse a little disappointed with the way his unit performed in the Tigers’ first full scrimmage of camp.
“It was from certain guys in one group and certain guys in another group. It went from the first team all the way down to the third team,” the junior said. “Guys were just missing tackles.”
Kearse says they have to get back to practice and try to improve, and understand the risk when they take chances and miss tackles.
“We have some guys stopped and you let him drive an extra five yards to get the first down. You just let them know what’s at stake when you miss a tackle, and the guys you are letting down when you miss tackles,” he said.
Kearse said he doesn’t have to wait for Venables or secondary coach Mike Reed to address all the missed tackles. This is something he knows the group can address on its own and can correct.
“That is something we will address every day,” Kearse said. “If we were out there and we were the best tackling secondary in the nation, we would still work on that. If we work on it, it will not be based on what happened today, it’s just something we do every day.”
It was fair to assume Kearse was very disappointed with the defense’s effort as a whole.
“I know we are better than that. We came out there and looked very average out there,” he said. “That went from the D-Line, to the linebackers, to the secondary. We just did not look good at all.”
Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney suggested his team is getting to the point where the players are tired of hitting each other. In other words, they’ve hit the wall.
Kearse says that might be the case, but he isn’t accepting that as the reason for the defense’s performance on Saturday.
“We came out and we had a great practice on Friday so I would not say it’s the wall because yesterday was a great practice,” he said. “I really don’t know what was the cause of what went on today.”