Clemson Completes Major Portion of Preseason with Successful Scrimmage

Thursday's final scrimmage of the preseason officially ended the big portion of Clemson's preparation for the 2021 season. 

There are still two weeks to go before the season opener against Georgia, but the Tigers' 16 consecutive days of work culminated in Memorial Stadium, where it was the last chance for the players to send a message to coaches before the roster evaluation process began. 

"We've still got a lot of competitive work, some Clemson work," Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said. "The bulk of it is behind us from a physical standpoint." 

Here are some notes from that practice, according to Swinney:

• Clemson got good work in for open-field, two-minute, special teams and overtime situations. "Overall, a really good day," Swinney said. 
• There were no "major" injuries to report, although a couple of players got banged up. Swinney is pleased with the overall health of the team. 
• That said, Clemson receiver Joseph Ngata again missed the scrimmage, and his return from a hamstring issue is still unknown. 
• Clemson quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei had his best day. While he hasn't had a "bad" practice yet, according to Swinney, the head coach thought the sophomore signal-caller put it all together in the scrimmage. It helped that he received good protection from his teammates. 
• The number of procedural issues Clemson endured in the first scrimmage last Saturday went way down. There weren't nearly the number of penalties and quarterback-center exchange issues, especially with the first two teams. 
• There were some untimely drops that bothered the head coach. 
• Kicker B.T. Potter has had a sensational camp, Swinney said, but he struggled to connect in the scrimmage. 
• Swinney feels good about all the aspects of special teams, though. He highlighted both the punt and punt return units. There was a big return during the scrimmage. 
• While Justyn Ross getting tackled was one of the biggest storylines from the scrimmage, Swinney was also pleased with freshman receiver Dacari Collins, who made a huge catch following a couple of days in which Swinney thought Collins "hit the freshman wall."

The Tigers will get back at it later this weekend. For now, they'll rest mentally and physically before the final push to Charlotte. 

"Guys have worked really, really hard," Swinney said. "I'm proud of them."

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