With nine days left until second-ranked Clemson opens the season at Auburn on Sept. 3, the Tigers appear closer to finalizing who will start at cornerback opposite Cordrea Tankersley.

As Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said earlier this week, it is likely Mark Fields or Ryan Carter will get the start at Jordan-Hare Stadium down on the Plains in Auburn, Alabama. Swinney still wants to see Fields show a little more consistency in practice if the sophomore is to beat out Carter for the starting job.

“It’s details and consistency with his technique, and he has to go do it on the game field,” the Clemson coach said. “I think that is the next step. I think Carter is a guy that has been around. He is a veteran guy and he has played a lot. He has some confidence to him. He is a much more mature football player than he has ever been, and that he should be.

“I think that is going to be a battle that will kind of continue on.”

Fields, who leaned on senior safety Jadar Johnson after having a bad scrimmage on Aug. 13, has stayed positive throughout camp and this week of practice as he continues to build his case for being the starter. He knows what secondary coach Mike Reed and Swinney are asking him to improve on and he is working hard to get better.

“I just have to continue to come out here and work and get better. I practiced real hard,” he said. “I feel like my practice habits have changed from last year to this year. That’s one thing I just wanted to focus on, and now it is starting to show up.”

Fields understands it was his practice habits that caused him to play just 78 snaps last year. It was because of his practice habits that defensive coordinator Brent Venables did not trust him enough to put him on the field.

To fix that, Fields has changed his approach to not only practice, but preparing for practice as well. He has changed everything up when it comes to school, football, workouts and film study.

“I want to show them why I deserve to be the starter,” the sophomore said. “I felt like last year I could have played more, but obviously, I did not do the things I needed to. Carrying over from that, I wanted to show them that I can step up and be that No. 1 corner.”

Fields said he has worked on trying to improve on the little things such as paying attention more in the meeting rooms, his technique and staying disciplined with his eyes.

“You just try to work every day in practice. You work on the little things. You work on the little things at the position that will make it that much easier for you when the game rolls around,” he said.

Right now, Fields says he and Carter are still sharing the first-team reps.

“Those guys are getting better, like I’ve said it’s getting close to game time and somebody has to step up. A lot of those guys are stepping up,” Tankersley said. “The whole team is looking good, I think we could throw anyone of them in and we’d be quite successful.”

Tankersley respect for Fields as a player has come a long way since the spring when the senior was down on the former highly touted corner out of Charlotte, North Carolina.

“I think he’s starting to learn to be himself,” Tankersley said. “He’s getting quite comfortable, he’s not going out and talking, he’s just playing the game. Like I’ve said, he’s been more confident and he’s been Mark Fields like we’ve asked him to be.

“He was just this highly recruited guy, so he kind of had that “ask who?” mentality. He’s kind of come on the same page as everyone else. As I’ve said, he’s learned to be himself. He knows the playbook now, he’s more confident and he’s more physical than ever.”

And now he has a serious chance to be a starter.

“I’m going to continue to work as if I am not the starter or anything like that. I’m just going to continue to grind,” Fields said.