5 Things We Learned at Monday's Practice
The Clemson Tigers opened up Day 3 of camp Monday, and here are five things we learned from watching practice.
1: There is a ton of leadership on both lines:
The offensive and defensive lines are tired of the offseason talk about them being soft last season. In fact, on the defensive side of the ball one freshman did not finish a drill the right way and was told by a senior, “finish the motherf***ing play. We don’t do that!”
The same was heard on the offensive side of the ball, when another senior jumped all over a freshman.
2: Little things matter:
While working on kickoff coverage, Nate Wiggins was holding a bag for the gunners to run into. However, he was lazy with holding it, allowing it to fall to the side, when Swinney yelled at him from across the field to, "Hold the bag right Nate. Do the little things right!"
3: Running back rotation appears to feature a freshman:
The running back rotation appears to be Kobe Pace, Lyn-J Dixon, true freshman Will Shipley and Darien Rencher.
The obvious question is what has Pace done to be No. 1 ahead of Dixon?
The second question becomes: will Shipley eventually take over the No. 2 role?
4: WRs in yellow is no bueno:
The 2021 group of WRs has the potential to be the best ever at Clemson, but only if they stay healthy.
On Day 3, Beaux Collins and Troy Stellato were both in yellow jerseys. While understanding that injuries happen, and recovering from injuries takes time, this is a reminder of how the injury bug can bite and bite hard—better now than in three weeks.
5: What is expected at Clemson hasn't changed:
If you ever walk through the facility, you will see a quote that says, "When you do the common things in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world."
That message was reiterated by head coach Dabo Swinney to wide receiver Joseph Ngata. After Ngata made a catch, Swinney told him, ":It’s (throws) aren’t always going to be perfect, but I need you to expect to make the impossible. That’s what we do here, we make the impossible."
