After taking the day off on Wednesday to settle into their new class schedules, Clemson got back to the grind with a Thursday scrimmage in Death Valley on Thursday.
Defensive coordinator Brent Venables, co-offensive coordinator Tony Elliot and a host of players met with the media to discuss how it went.
Here is what we heard:
Venables was pleased with the way his defense performed on Thursday, and saw noticeable improvement from the previous scrimmage last Saturday. He seemed confident in his unit’s ability to get the job done.
“We are going to have a good defense. We lack in some experience, but have good talented guys. They are intelligent. They are hard working. They don’t want to let anybody down. I think we are developing a good chemistry and good leadership,” Venables said. “Every year is different and every season is a story in and of itself in the growth and development, but we have a lot of really good pieces that we can put together. Package wise, I really like our youth and combination with some of the older guys that we do have whether they were starters or not.”
However, the defense has been bit by the injury bug this fall camp, especially over the last couple of days. Corner Marcus Edmond was limited in a yellow jersey for most of camp, and defensive end Austin Bryant fractured his foot last Monday. On Thursday, Venables said defensive tackle Carlos Watkins was held out of the scrimmage with a wrist injury, while defensive end Xavier Kelly is lucky to be alive.
Kelly had been hit on a moped Wednesday evening and will take the week off to recover after being shaken-up from the accident.
“He got wiped out. Somebody ran right into him,” Venables said. “He is lucky to be alive.”
In Bryant’s absence, the group of defensive ends are getting a lot of good work in. Redshirt sophomore Richard Yeargin said there was a good rotation going on to give the ends valuable reps.
“We lose a great leader. We lose a dynamic player out on that field,” Yeargin said with Bryant being out for the Auburn game. “We had a really good rotation. Everybody had a chance to go out and shine and go up against every offensive tackle.”
Left tackle Mitch Hyatt said he could not pin-point who is standing out at defensive end because the unit is doing a good job overall.
“Clelin (Ferrell) has gotten a lot more technical and better with his hands and Richard, he has improved so much since last year. He has gotten stronger. He is more physical and a lot quicker off the ball. He’s starting to get that quick-twitch off the ball which is really good,” Hyatt said.
When asked if he disliked going up against a particular end, Hyatt said the whole defensive line causes problems. He was complimentary of the entire unit and believes the talent there will help the offensive line prepare for anything this season.
“Our whole D-line, it’s not fun, even the inside guys. It is a rough day every day just knowing I have to go against all of them every day is really rough,” Hyatt said. “I don’t want to underestimate anybody, but just with the guys we go against, it is hard to think that there is any better D-line out there.”