CLEMSON – Clemson held its fifth day of spring practice at the Jordan Family practice fields behind the Allen Reeves Football Complex Wednesday. Media members were allowed to watch the first five periods.

Here is what we saw.

– A litany of familiar faces were at practice Wednesday, with several former players coming to watch the Tigers train ahead of Clemson’s Pro Day on March 12. Former wide receiver Antonio Williams, center Ryan Linthicum, defensive end KJ Henry, and offensive lineman Blake Miller were in attendance, watching their respective position groups. 

–Linebacker Sammy Brown was dressed out in a green jersey, after defensive coordinator Tom Allen said Monday that the veteran has, “been out for a little bit, but he will be back soon.” Head coach Dabo Swinney shared that Brown had a minor wrist surgery this offseason.

– An injury did not stop Swinney from getting after Brown Wednesday, however. Over the loud speaker, Swinney confronted Brown about not doing a kickoff drill that most of the team was doing. He asked, “Where is Sammy Brown?” When Brown showed where he was, Swinney got on to the first-team All-ACC linebacker, telling him he should work every drill he can work and saying, “Sammy Brown should be on the field for every drill.” Swinney said that he had “wasted a period.” Clemson’s head coach also called out a few others by name for not giving “game rep” effort.

– Similarly to the first practice we saw, offensive and defensive players were again running certain drills together for a period. Today, one of the drills started with a defender laying down in a pushup position. When the whistle was blown, the defender popped up and went to guard a receiver who had just caught a pass. Contact was limited, but the energy was high.

– Misun “Tink” Kelley, listed as a wide receiver and defensive back on the 2026-’27 roster, was practicing with the defensive backs during our time out there. He primarily played defensive back last season, but got several offensive snaps in years before. 

– Of all the defensive groups we observed, the safeties, led by former Tiger Nolan Turner, may have the highest intensity of any position at first glance. Returner Ronan Hanafin, as well as transfers Corey Myrick and Jerome Carter III, bring a lot of verbal and physical leadership, attacking every drill with high competition.

– Nicklebacks coach Corico Wright, a former Clemson linebacker who joined the staff this offseason, brings a lot of fire to the drills we saw — from basic bounding drills to more intricate work. If a player did not have the correct form, Wright let them hear about it.

– Cornerbacks and assistant head coach Mike Reed was getting in some footwork drills with his corners, using large foam blocks, while the safeties worked on catching the ball. Incorrect reps were repeated with detailed corrections from Reed.

– Clemson officially announced Wednesday morning that it hired former Green Bay Packers special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia to lead the Tigers’ special teams. At practice today, Bisaccia was very involved in field goal simulation drills in the first period, even getting eye-level with the players as they lined up. 

– Bisaccia was telling defenders to jump up and reach their arm over on every rep, to practice blocking field goals. He was not yelling at anyone, but was handing out assignments for each rep.

– About equal numbers of defensive and offensive players worked on the special teams drills. From a rough estimation, it appeared that over half of the healthy players participated in these drills.

–photo by Dawson Powers for The Clemson Insider