Defense dominates Clemson spring practice
Clemson’s second scrimmage of the spring practice season Wednesday was dominated by defense, according to Tiger coach Dabo Swinney.
Brent Venables’ group picked off two passes and made numerous stops while the Clemson offense was plagued by “self-inflicted” mistakes throughout the two-hour, nearly 100-play scrimmage inside Memorial Stadium.
“We did some good things in the running game, but we were really, really poor in finishing drives,” Swinney said. “Good plays don’t equal points. You’ve got to finish drives and we didn’t.
“I thought it was a tremendous, tremendous performance by the defense, really all day. They gave up a couple big plays and then they rallied and got stops and got pass breakups, blocked field goals. They did everything that they needed to do to get stops.”
Safety Jayron Kearse had a 30-yard interception return for the second scrimmage in a row. He also had a tackle for loss and a pass deflection. Early enrollee cornerback Kaleb Chalmers had a 30-yard interception return. Defensive tackle Carlos Watkins had a sack, a tackle for loss and two blocked field goals, and defensive end Kevin Dodd had a sack.
“I definitely feel like today was a good day for us,” Kearse, a rising junior who lines up in multiple spots on defense, said. “We made improvements from last week. I definitely feel like we’ve improved at all levels of our defense.”
Venables, the defensive coordinator, didn’t think his unit was as sharp as it could be, and there was poor tackling, including a missed tackle that allowed a touchdowns. Swinney said the Tiger “D” also allowed a long drive that started on the Clemson 1 and allowed the offense to go 65 yards in two plays during a two-minute situation.
“I did think we were competitive,” Venables said. “When we were sloppy, we came back and responded. We’ve got next week to correct some mistakes and correct some fundamentals.”
Swinney was disappointed in how the offense kept digging itself holes. A receiver lined up offsides on the goal line. The O-line was penalized for offsides on back-to-back plays; it was both the veterans and the newcomers sharing the errors, Swinney said.
“It’s hard to overcome those type of things,” Swinney said. “More disappointed with the older (offensive line) guys. Didn’t quite have their mind where it needed to be today.”
Swinney also said the kicking game didn’t have a very good day, but he was pleased to see running back Zac Brooks break off a 44-yard run. Wayne Gallman led all rushers with 51 yards on 15 carries and scored during a red-zone drill. Tyshon Dye scored two touchdowns during goal line plays.
The young quarterbacks — Tucker Israel and Kelly Bryant — both “did some good things.” Swinney said Israel, who had a 38-yard completion, had his best performance of the spring, and Bryant, a Wren product, had two 11-yard runs.
Nick Schuessler, a rising junior who’s running with the first team while Deshaun Watson continues to rehab, managed situations better than he did last scrimmage, Swinney added. Schuessler was 9-of-15 passing for 128 yards, and he threw a 60-yard TD pass to Mike Williams.
Swinney was also pleased with how snaps were handled after having “100” bad snaps in last week’s scrimmage.
“Hopefully, we’ll come back Monday and see some of these guys improve from mistakes,” Swinney said.
Swinney announced that rising junior tight end Jay Jay McCullough is back with the team after serving a suspension that’s lasted since last November. McCullough didn’t participate in Wednesday’s scrimmage because of a high blood pressure issue, but Swinney hopes he’ll be available Monday, when the Tigers return to the practice field.
“I like how he’s responded,” Swinney said. “He’s very appreciative to have the opportunity. I think he’s going to take full advantage of it. Really glad to have Jay Jay back.”
This story was originally published April 1, 2015 at 9:30 PM with the headline "Defense dominates Clemson spring practice."