Mid-Week Roundup
by FIGUREFOUR on Mar 24, 2010 7:00 AM EDT
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PrintFOOTBALL: The Tigers are back on the practice field this week after some time off over the Spring Break period. As you can immagine, speculation is running wild as Kyle Parker has been killing it on the diamond so far this season. We will not take the time to even look into this option at this time. I will say that Donny McElveen, a walk on from Summerville, has gotten quite a bit of run lately as part of a group challenging for the spot behind KP and Boyd, especially since Michael Wade is playing musical chairs all over the place in an effort to get more playing time. The G-Vegas news put together a nice summary of McElveen's path to Clemson (click herefor story). As most of you know, DM is the grandson of legendary Summerville coach John McKissick.
I will go ahead and save you some time by linking up the P&C article highlighting some interesting points that the critics will be watching this offseason (click here). We desperately need to build some reliable, quality depth up front with the loss of J.K. Jay due to back injuryand Cloy's broken leg suffered in Tampa last December. We really have no credible production returning at WR and will be interested to see if J Scott can get this unproven group to run proper routes, catch, and block in an acceptable fashion (again, you can read our views on how dire this situation has become and how desperate we need some contributions from this group here).
(more after the jump)
Finally, I am getting tired of hearing everyone (particularly Cockfan) prognosticating utter failure out of this group with the absence of C.J. Spiller next season. This team will learn how to be more of a TEAM than dependant on the legendary performances Spiller provided on a weekly basis. I completely understand how big of a BAMF CJ really is (no one can argue this point). Clemson will miss his contributions enormously on special teams and creating yardage by getting into the open field. I may be alone in this opinion, but I honestly believe that Andre Ellington may be a better Running Back than Spiller was, however. I am really excited about seeing more of the single cut explosion to the LOS and through the hole that he brings to the table. This cat can move, and I know he has a big future ahead of him at Clemson. It will be up to the receivers and return men to pick up the slack created by Spiller's graduation. We will (obviously) expand on this subject as the fall draws closer.
BASEBALL: Clemson begins this week ranked in the top 12 of all major college baseball polls. The Tigers have been riding Kyle Parker's bat and Casey Harmon's arm through the first part of this season. With Clemson traveling to top-ranked UVa this weekend, the Tigers will need to continue to get production out of these guys to win this series. This huge late-March series will set the tone for ACC supremacy. Hopefully CU can cut down on errors that have plagued this squad to date.
GOLF: Let's give a big shoutout to the Tiger golf team. The CU golfers won the Furman Intercollegiate for the first time since '93. The Tigers' Ben Martin took medalist honors as CU cruised to a 14 shot victory. Five Clemson golfers finished under par for the event. Once again, the Greenville Fishwrap is on top of things, as shown here. With the weather turning and the flowers blooming, you can bet FF will be eager to chat up more golf related stories as (professional) Major Tournament golf gets closer.
I won't get into the basketball subject today, but expect to see season ending thoughts and a wrapup out of STS in the near future.
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FF, I'm with you on Ellington's bandwagon
As incredible as Spiller was/is, I think Ellington can be just as good, if not better as a running back. Spiller was a feast or famine running back. I can see Ellington being more consistent on a carry by carry basis.
Sorry, but I disagree.
Ellington and Harper will make for a fine tandem in the backfield, but Spiller is a special type of player, Ellington could be good but saying he is going to be better than Spiller is a reach in my opinion. Now it’s not that I don’t think Ellington is good, but we all just watched CJ Spiller kill opposing defenses for 4 year, break records, and get robbed of at the very least a trip to NYC for the Heisman trophy, and that’s a lot of pressure to put on Ellington this early. That said Harper/Ellington should be one of the top backfields in the nation this season as long as the O-line holds up.
I'm talking about from a pure production stand point at running back
Spiller only had one 1000 yard season.
Spiller was also the kind of guy that would give you little gains or losses on some series and then a few series later break one. That is because he was always looking for a crease on the outside to break it for a TD. I was just saying that I think Ellington can be more consistent in that area and help Clemson sustain more drives. He also won’t be the homerun threat that Spiller was either.
I agree with you.
Ellington and Harper will do just fine in the backfield, especially if the offensive line will live up to its potential. The real issues on this team are WR and LB, and possibly QB if KP leaves for MLB, which is looking more and more like a possibility given his production on the diamond. The return game will also take a step back without CJ and Jacoby, but I believe Gilchrist was supposed to be a pretty good return man coming out of HS.
By the way, if Parker does leave for MLB, then they should probably let Michael Wade concentrate on being the backup QB instead of splitting time at QB and DB. At least he has been in the system a long time and knows the offense.
There is something in these Hills!
Spiller theory is garbage.
These type of predictions are not logic based. There are too many variables. From Gamecock fan, “Well Spiller and Ford acounted for 80% of your offense, so ya’ll are screwed.” Ummm…if SC had had Spiller and Ford they would have accounted for a large chunk of their offense too. Any team would have relied heavily on both these guys. Why would you not?
I heard we were going to struggle last year because well we lost James Davis, Aaron Kelly, Tyler Grisham, and Cullen Harper. But we were better offensively.
I agree that Ellington probably is a better pure running back. Spiller was always just the best athlete on the field by a long shot. He’d out athlete people rather necessarily having great instincts or football iq. Sure he had some of those intangibles to go along with athletism but not to the point where Ellington is. I always thought Spiller would have been completely and utterly unstoppable ie Bo Jackson in Tecmo Bowl if he James Davis’ vision.
Perhaps that prediction is
but saying that losing 85% of receiving yards and 70% of rushing yardage won’t have an effect implies that the young guys all can replace them.
by Bud Elliott on Mar 24, 2010 12:36 PM EDT up reply actions
Receiving yards might be tougher to replace
since nobody on the roster has shown that they are capable of stepping up and making up the difference. Ellington and Harper have both shown that they are at least capable of replacing Spiller’s production running the football.
Special teams is another issue. I don’t think that we will be able to rely on a ST’s TD every other game next year.
It implies no one the hell knows...
There are just way too many variables. So while you can speculate that’s all it is. And I never said it wouldn’t have an effect, I just said it’s a very hard thing to predict.
We do lose two very productive players in Ford and Spiller. Obviously we were lacking in the WR dept. anyway so Ford was our only go to guy last season. There is much uncertainty at the WR position this Spring but there was uncertainty last spring that Ford could be a reliable WR – there were many Clemson fans who believed Ford didn’t have the hands to be a WR and was a mere gimmick player. Many people argued Spiller was an injury prone player who couldn’t run between the tackles and that we’d greatly miss James Davis. We had a freshman QB coming in for an outgoing Sr. so there would automatically be less production there. All of those theories were mostly wrong. They are rational statements but they turned out not to be right.
Last year we lost two Sr.safeties who had started an ungodly amount of games between them to the NFL draft and were better at the safety position. Who would have predicted that?
This year we lose two guys who had huge production on offense last season. But we gain a young offensive line with a year more experience. We gain a Fr. QB with a year more experience. We gain a young OC with a year more experinence. We gain a group of offensive position coaches with a year more experience together. A head coach with a years more experience. We return a couple of very talented backs with game experience and one in Ellington that was highly productive last season. We have an ultra talented TE who had a good freshman year who is now the man. And we have a whole bunch of question marks at WR.
So how will our offense perform as compared to last year? I don’t know. Does having more coaching experience and more player position experience offset two ultra-talented players who also have talent filling their voids? It remains to be seen. I just wouldn’t say that just because we lost Spiller and Ford that we will automatically be worse offense.
I agree with the assessment,
If the coaching staff as a whole is stronger than the previous regime, the experience will only add to it, and possibly overcome the deficiencies of it’s parts (not naming specific position coaches). But one thing is certain, the receiving and linebacker core needs to step up. The o line got better (well it really couldn’t have gotten worse from 08), the front four & secondary remained constant despite the lose of impact players to the draft, and the QB position provided better play from the year before ( with help from better pass protection). It could mean the difference between another trip to the ACCCG and BCS shot or another Music City-like trip.
If anyone KNEW how the team would do next year then we would not have a lot to discuss right now.
Let’s just say I don’t think the RB’s, QB, or OL will be what holds us back on offense, because the receivers are clearly the biggest question mark. Dabo praised the receivers the other day, but I just don’t know how much of that is coach speak and how much is really true.
There is something in these Hills!
I like Parker
I like what Parker seems to bring to the table, but I’m intrigued by Boyd. I’m interested to see if Parker went pro and Boyd takes charge how the offense would change. Would they keep it the same or would Dabo go to more of an Offense when Woody was here.
I think the biggest issue with Boyd taking over would be his knowledge of the offense. He was utilized on scout team last season (redshirt time) so he really is in about the same situation that KP was in this time last year. Hopefully he will make good use of the time Parker is spending away from the field to better understand both the offense (x’s and o’s) as well as how his teamates perform under specific circumstances. A key element to playing QB is knowing exactly what to expect out of those around you (WR’s, linemen, backs, etc…). Further, he will need to apply this knowledge to different looks given by defenses.
Clemson Sports Analysis and Insight
www.shakinthesouthland.com
An item that was not mentioned here was how Allen will respond to being the #1 man.
Michael Palmer was well utilized in both passing and running plays. There is no doubt that Allen is more athletic than Palmer, but can he improve his blocking and hold onto more passes? If so, we he will have a monster career both here and in the pro’s. There is no doubt that Napier can and will try to put the ball into his hands, so those looks will be there. How he reacts in a three point stance and when he is placed in difficult situations in the passing game will be interesting. Allen could be the key cog that makes this offensive machine turn (both in the rushing game and by taking pressure off of the receivers).
Clemson Sports Analysis and Insight
www.shakinthesouthland.com
Allen can replace M. Palmer as far as a blocker.
When Allen is focused he blocked better than Palmer imo, and Palmer was was a good blocker in space. Now as far as having stick-em’ hands and route running, that will be where he has to step up. Palmer excelled at adjusting to the pass in the air, catching away from his body (NFL-like ability) and his footwork. Allen should have a good year but I’m not as worried as much as who will be Allen’s replacement.. Allen had a year to red-shirt and he was a highly regarded TE recruit. The only play now TE that is coming in is Vic Beasley (like to see him rs) and he probably won’t red-shirt if Pearman can’t find two other guys at least to be the 2nd and 3rd TEs. Hopefully D. Smith (I hope they moved him from defense) and D Traylor can step up and allow Cooper (likely) and Beasley (doubtful) to red-shirt. I didn’t like it when Palmer was forced into playing his freshman year due to a lack of depth at the tight end, because he would have been useful again this season.
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