The biggest areas of focus for Clemson’s offense during Sugar Bowl prep

Clemson has plenty of work to do as far as trying to find the best way to attack Alabama, which has the top scoring defense in the country.

But before the Tigers worry too much about the Crimson Tide, they are first focusing on themselves.

Clemson will hold about 15 practices before facing Alabama, and the first several workouts will be centered on getting back to the fundamentals.

Even though Clemson dominated Miami and put up 38 points in the ACC championship game, there are plenty of areas the coaching staff wants to clean up.

“Ball security, staying consistent on third down … (Miami) did some things up front with movement that we didn’t catch all the time. So there’s a lot of things from a fundamentals standpoint that we can work on,” co-offensive coordinator Tony Elliott said. “We’re going back to the basic things that got us here and making sure that we dial in on those.”

Clemson was without a doubt playing its best football at the end of the season as the Tigers scored at least 31 points in each of their final five games.

Clemson scored less than 30 points in four of its first eight games, including a 27-24 loss at Syracuse.

The challenge for the Tigers now is to carry over that momentum after a long break and to continue to do the small things well.

“It’s going to be even more important when you’re playing an opponent like Alabama that athletically is going to be able to match you,” co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott said. “So now it comes down to the nuances, the fundamentals, the team that plays with the best technique and does the little things better than everyone else. And so that’s really what we’re focusing on in practice in the bowl prep. Obviously, we’ve got to get ready for Alabama schematically, some of the things that we want to do. But really the focus is on ourselves and being able to be as efficient as we can and play a very clean game.”

The nearly one-month break for Clemson in between the ACC title game and the start of the playoff also gives the Tigers a head start on spring practice.

Players who are redshirting that have been on the scout team all season get more of an opportunity to work with the coaching staff.

“Every day after practice, we dedicate some time to them from an individual standpoint, from a competitive crossover standpoint, and then also from a scheme standpoint,” Elliott said.

It is still early on, but Scott believes that some young players on offense will benefit greatly from the extra practice time.

“We stay after for another 20 minutes, let the varsity guys do some conditioning, go inside, and we keep that younger group out there,” he said. “A guy like Chase Brice being able to get 20 minutes of individual one-on-one time with coach (Brandon) Streeter, I think, over a month can add up and really put him a little bit farther ahead whenever it’s time for spring ball.”

This story was originally published December 16, 2017 at 6:03 PM with the headline "The biggest areas of focus for Clemson’s offense during Sugar Bowl prep."