CLEMSON — The 22nd-ranked Clemson Tigers held Day 3 of Bowl prep Thursday behind the Allen Reeves Football Complex. The Tigers will play Kentucky in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl on Dec. 29 in Jacksonville, Fla.
The media was allowed to watch the first five periods of practice. Here are a few notes The Clemson Insider was able to gather during our time at practice.
–Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik was still wearing a wrap on his right league and had his right foot heavily wrapped with tape, which is how he played the last four games of the regular season. There’s no sign of a limp, but it’s clearly something being monitored as bowl practice rolls on.
–Tight end Jake Briningstool was wearing a yellow jersey, which means he was unable to participate in any kind of individual or contact drills. However, we did see him running and catching passes during the first five periods. There is no detail on why Briningstool was wearing a yellow jersey on Thursday.
–Reserve wide receiver Ronan Hanafin was not dressed and was seen with a boot on his left foot.
–Starting wide receiver Tyler Brown was wearing a green jersey, which means he can do all individual work, but will not participate in any tackling drills. Fellow receivers Antonio Brown and Brannon Spector were also in green jerseys.
–New defensive end coach Chris Rumph was animated again on Thursday. He told freshman A.J. Hoffler during a drill to “get your weak butt in the weight room and you will not have to play with two hands.” Rumph later told his defensive ends, “We are burning daylight. We got butt to kick.”
–However, it was a much calmer Rumph in practice Thursday. Still, if you run the drill incorrectly, Rumph will hit on the side of the head, literally. This time, it was defensive tackle DeMonte Capehart working with Rumph who had pads on both hands and gave him a love tap on the helmet after the mistake he corrected.
–Rumph later kicked Jahiem Lawson out of a drill and when Hoffler jumped in to replace him, he threw Hoffler out and said, “If I kicked him out, I don’t want you.”
–Defensive tackles coach Nick Eason got on to Tre Williams a little bit and had him doing up downs in the middle of practice.
–New offensive line coach Matt Luke came up to center Will Putnam following one drill and asked him, “If a guard does not expect (what the D-tackle) was going to do, what happens?”