Clemson wrapped up fall camp on Tuesday with a two-hour practice that started behind Doug Kingsmore Stadium and ended in the indoor facility thanks to a late afternoon thunderstorm in the Clemson area. Regardless, head coach Dabo Swinney said it was another good practice in what has been a very productive fall camp for the 12th-ranked Tigers.
“It has been a good camp. It really has from start to finish,” he said. “I’m proud of the guys and how they have pushed through for the whole two and a half weeks or so.”
Tuesday was Clemson’s 13th Day in camp and its 16th practice overall, counting the three two-a-day practices the NCAA allows. Swinney will give the team Wednesday off so they can focus on the first day of class, which begins Wednesday morning. The Tigers will also have a financial budget meeting on Wednesday as players receive their first check for their cost of attendance expenses.
“It is just to try to get them re-acclimated to campus life. We have pretty much had them 24/7 the last couple of weeks so I know they are glad to get back to a little bit of a normal schedule,” Swinney said.
Though camp is over, preparation for the regular season is just beginning. Swinney says the Tigers still have a lot of work to before they play Wofford in the season opener on Sept. 5 at Death Valley.
The good news for Clemson is it has time to get that work in. The Tigers still have 18 days until kickoff when normally they have just 10 days from the end of camp until the season opener.
“We have a little over two weeks to still get ready. We have some of the things we got done in camp last year that we still have to get covered in the next several days,” Swinney said.
Clemson will scrimmage on Thursday to officially finalize camp from a live standpoint.
“We will really start getting dialed in from a season prep standpoint on Friday and Saturday,” Swinney said.
Tigers in pretty good health. Swinney reported the team is relatively in good shape coming out of fall camp.
He said freshman quarterback Tucker Israel is coming along nicely with the broken foot injury he sustained on the first day of camp, and could be back to practice by game week against Wofford.
Kendall Joseph, a red-shirt freshman linebacker from Belton, S.C., had minor knee surgery this week and will be out for a while.
Snapper Jim Brown was elevated to a green jersey on Tuesday after he missed Monday’s practices with a concussion, while running back Zac Brooks was held out of practice once again as he recovers from a shoulder injury.
Dye is getting better. Clemson running back Tyshon Dye spoke with the media on Tuesday and said he has been getting a lot better in camp. The redshirt sophomore says he continues to see an improvement and Coach (Tony Elliott) is seeing an improvement, too.
“That is telling me to keep working hard and I will be back where I need to be before I know it,” Dye said.
Dye, who is truly healthy for the first time since the summer of 2013, slipped to No. 5 on the depth chart earlier in the summer after he layed the football on the ground too many times. But in the last week, he has moved back into Elliott’s good graces and is slowly moving back up the depth chart.
Following Saturday’s scrimmage, Swinney said Dye was like a battering ram in short yardage and goal line situations, and if that continued he might be able to help the team in those situations in the fall.
“It is always good to do something well to boost your confidence,” he said. “I feel like that helped me out a lot.”
Dye says he is taking the running back competition day-by-day.
“It’s a good competitive atmosphere. Whatever role coach feels I need to be in, I will be glad to do that,” he said.
Boulware loves his teammates. Linebacker Ben Boulware admitted he is glad to see camp come to an end for a lot of reasons, but he does not mind it because it means he spends more and more time with his teammates.
“This is football. I have done this for three years now,” he said. “Camp gets tiring, mentally, physically, spiritually … every aspect, but I love these dudes. I love to compete with them every day.”
Final scrimmage. Clemson will have its final preseason scrimmage on Thursday afternoon at Memorial Stadium. It is closed to the public. The team will practice on Friday and Saturday. Fan Appreciation Day will be on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. at Death Valley.