Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables saw a little good and a little bad in Wednesday’s scrimmage, which is exactly what he wanted.
Obviously, Venables was glad to see his defense make plays, like Clelin Ferrell’s strip-sack on the last drive of the scrimmage, or Dexter Lawrence’s tackle in the backfield on the first play, or Dorian O’Daniel’s two sacks and a tackle for loss.
Then there were those bad moments, too. Like the defense jumping off sides. The two personal foul penalties to extend drives or Kelly Bryant’s long run on a fourth-and-nine play to extend a drive. There was also a 38-yard pass to Cornell Powell coming off the goal line, and 31-yard touchdown pass from Hunter Johnson to Trevion Thompson. He also had a 48-yard pass to Diondre Overton.
“It is good to get this film and be able to coach off it and correct it, grade it and start to try to reward guys based on the overall percentages, the play making and all of those things,” Venables said.
Clemson’s defensive coordinator says a defensive player does not always have to make plays to grade well and sometimes when a guy that is making plays does not mean he necessarily played well.
“Sometimes a guy can grade at 85 percent, but he never makes any plays,” Venables said. “He just does not have any major bust. Sometimes, a guy grades at 70 percent, but he leads the team in production points per play.
“What am I doing wrong as a coach? I have to get this guy to improve and be a little more consistent because he is a playmaker. You have that probably at every level on both sides of the ball.”
Wednesday’s 100-play scrimmage in Clemson Memorial Stadium was the second of three spring scrimmages for the Tigers. The final scrimmage will be the annual spring game on April 8 at 2:30 p.m. at Death Valley.
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