After Clemson took over a week off for spring break, the Tigers have finally returned to the practice field to continue on with the second half of spring football. Players and coaches addressed the media after Monday’s practice to provide an update on how the team looked on the first day back.
Here is what we heard:
Co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott thought the time off clearly reflected in the performance his offense showed after they kicked off practice with full team tempo of 20 plays in five minutes. Scott said some responded to the immediate exertion better than others.
“It definitely looked like the fist day back. Sloppy at times, we did some good things but also sloppy. You can really tell the skill guys do a lot of the running. They were sucking in beach balls over there on the sidelines a little bit today. A big thing is our tempo, and we’ll continue to play fast and make practices hard. It was definitely inconsistent overall,” Scott said.
However, head coach Dabo Swinney added there still were plenty of good moments that came along with dusting the spring break rust off.
“I have seen worse on a first day back,” he said. “They have been off nine days or whatever. Not as sharp as we needed to be throughout practice. There were certainly some moments we did some really good stuff, but we just got them back and whipped them back into shape. It didn’t look like we were starting over, but we were a little rusty today.”
A positive Swinney noted was how well some of the freshmen retained the information that was installed in the first half of spring. Specifically, Swinney was impressed with how well quarterback Hunter Johnson was able to adjust.
“This is the first time they had that type of break and we installed a lot and they just looked more comfortable today. They were processing stuff, especially Hunter,” the Clemson coach said. “Obviously, he has the furthest to come from a learning the system standpoint, but he looked a whole lot more comfortable today, and the same thing with Zerrick (Cooper). It was pretty obvious to see that they stayed in the book over the break.”
While younger players took the time away to study up on the playbook, players fighting for their starting position also mentioned how they maintained their workout regimens while on vacation. Cornerback Trayvon Mullen has been rotating with the first and second team this spring, and he expects that the team’s next practice will show improvement from Monday’s practice.
“Everybody was fresh off of spring break so we had to get back at it. Everyone wasn’t so fresh, but I felt like we had a good practice coming back. Everybody knew what to do. I feel like we will be better on Wednesday,” Mullen said. “It is up to you and what you have been doing over spring break if you have been working and what not. I worked out. I have a place I work out back home.”
Clemson will now hold another scrimmage on Wednesday to serve as a way to evaluate progress being made.
“The first half of spring is a lot of installation,” Swinney said. “The second half of spring is a lot of evaluation. Now, who can do it? Who can take what we put in and what we taught and go do it, consistently? That’s the way we structured practice this year.”
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