Random Links and News

• Clemson has launched their own Official FB page, twitter accounts, and have their own Youtube accounts (which dont have the 10min time limit) for the university and the athletic department individually. Apparently they decided to let everyone else test the waters again before they did something so "radical".
• Travis Sawchik thinks KP has NFL QB potential. He does, in our opinion, but his height will turn off a few NFL'ers. If he puts up monster numbers and his accuracy improves, then height won't really matter though.

Cleveland Browns quarterbacks coach Carl Smith worked with Parker in high school. Smith said Parker has arm strength equal to many of the quarterbacks at the recent NFL Combine.

"Parker fits in with that group," Smith said. "Kyle Parker has plenty of arm. Drew Brees kind of gave new life to all the 6-foot quarterbacks, at least in the NFL. ... Parker has enough (strength) to withstand tackling.

"One of the things Kyle's got, I don't know if you could teach it, Kyle has spatial instincts. He knows when he can get it there ... He can turn it loose in a heartbeat."

• NCAA RPI still puts Clemson at #13, despite our rather shitty playing of late. We may not have a bullpen to make it in the Tournament, but we're still projected to make it in the Tournament with 7 ACC teams total. We just have an almost zero chance of hosting anything unless we really tear it up from here on out. Sawchik talks about it here.
• The Sports Business Journal's piece on the FedEx Orange Bowl no longer being sponsored by FedEx. Seems to be more mentions of ESPN than the ACC in that article.
• Some quotes from Dabo at the Aiken Prowl & Growl.
• Sakerlina releases salary info for their football assistants, and if you were wondering we actually pay 200K more total, so the SEC money isn't trickling into their staff just yet. Clemson won't raise theirs much higher than it is now however.
• Tony Barnhardt has made his picks for the ACC: FSU and UNC. I haven't thought about this hard enough to take any issue with his picks just yet, but from what I saw of UNC in their spring game, that offense is pretty inept. It'll be hard for me to not pick VT. On Clemson:

What we learned:  The defense is going to be more physical and more aggressive. This will be the second year that Clemson works under the system of DC Kevin Steele. There is depth up front and a bunch of guys who can make plays. Junior DE Da’Quan Bowers (10.5 tfl in 2009) was one of the most highly-rated players in the country coming out of high school and this year he will shine. All-America safety DeAndre McDaniel has 208 career tackles and 11 career interceptions.

 We also learned that while the Tigers cannot replace C.J. Spiller, they are not without some playmakers. RB Jamie Harper (418 yards rushing) and redshirt sophomore Andre Ellington (491 yards rushing) now get the chance to step out of the shadow of Spiller, who had 21 career touchdowns of 50 yards or more. Tight end Dwayne Allen is just a sophomore but he is going to be a star. The offensive line returns four starters. This year that group will be a little meaner and more physical.

**–What we still don’t know: Will Kyle Parker return as Clemson’s quarterback? Parker, who threw for 2,526 yards and 20 touchdowns last season, will have a decision to make come June, when he is expected to be taken in the Major League baseball draft. If the up-front money is big enough, Parker could give up his final three years of football eligibility. "I think he’s going to be back," said Swinney. "I just believe he would rather spend this fall running down the hill in Death Valley than riding a bus in Wichita." But it depends on where Parker, who leads the ACC with 16 home runs, is chosen. Last year every player but two chosen in the first round of the draft earned a signing bonus of $1 million or more.  Without Parker, redshirt freshman Tajh Boyd takes over. Boyd is talented, but he’s not quite ready to be a starting quarterback in the ACC.

 

Then finally there is this gem of an article with TDP and Ed McGranahan. TDP says he'll be here for quite some time, which I still don't see happening. I'd be surprised if TDP was at Clemson much beyond 2010 football.

Phillips said his contract runs through June 30, 2013. The original agreement included a provision which provided President Jim Barker an option to extend it through 2017.

"I’ve already visited with the president on that," he said. "I think the contract is where it needs to be for both the university as well as myself. I feel very comfortable for where it is."

Well I'd sit and collect money for being asleep on the job too for 3 more years....but hopefully Barker won't be here that long either. TDP then gives the reason as to why our programs are only mediocre as being the facilities, and that he wants to see it through to the end of WEZ III at least.

"When you’ve got some infrastructure issues you just don’t turn it over night," he said.

"Certainly I’d liked it to be in the first two or three years. It would have certainly made my job a lot easier, but it didn’t happen. By the same token, we weren’t just sitting there feeling sorry for ourselves. I think it’s pretty clear we went out and were very aggressive in developing our facilities to put our programs in position to be successful."

Phillips did not respond directly to a question about whether he planned to be at Clemson beyond the three years on his contract.

Clearly he wanted to see through the completion of the Westzone. There are plans for further upgrades for baseball and basketball. Momentum is building for an indoor football facility. And Phillips wants to sink more resources into academic support at Vickery Hall.

"You don’t wait until good things happen to try to develop your program because if you wait the chances good things are not going to happen," he said.

"I want our program to be as good as it possibly can be," he said. "It’s not fair to the program to not make decisions or work to improve the program. Nobody wants to step away from a program that’s struggling and not achieving at the level it’s capable of achieving.

"I believe that what we’ve done in the previous seven years is beginning to pay off."

If Barker would stop taking away $2-3 million from the AD then we'd have an Indoor facility in about 2 years. WEZ has had the oculus cut out of the plans, which makes it almost worthless to me. If you want Clemson to get to the top, it'll take a new leadership group to make that happen.