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Here are all the position analyses we completed this offseason, and each includes an estimated depth-chart. We chose not to do one for Tight Ends specifically because their overwhelming improvement statistically is pretty obvious, and since we have such a short depth chart coming back at the position. Pearman and Napier both deserve credit for teaching/emphasizing the position in the offense and we'd guess nearly every Clemson fan would agree with that.

Defensive Line-Brooks/Rumph - Nearly everyone agrees that they have done a good job.

Offensive Line- Scott/Pearman - 76% of our readers agree that Brad Scott should be let go.

Running Back/ST - Andre Powell - 68% disapprove of Powell's job performance as RB/ST Coach.

Linebacker/Defense - Kevin Steele - I chose not to do a poll for Steele because I felt too many opinions would be colored by the GT losses and wouldn't look at the whole package.

Defensive Back - Charlie Harbison - Only 3% voted him 'acceptable' as a coach, 57% said he may be the best coach on the staff. A single soul voted that they disapprove of him.

QB/Offense - Billy Napier 94% approval rating for our first-year OC.

Wide Reciever - Jeff Scott - 59% approval rating for the new WR coach/Rec. Coordinator.

As for the polls on each of them, its clear that FF and I are not alone in our POV that some of our coaches are outstanding, while some are weak and a couple should be fired. You could interpret that the skewed raises for the entire staff are an indication of how Swinney believes their performance should be rated.

Today was Pro Day at Clemson, many seniors and former Clemson players like Cullen Harper and Nick Watkins were there to showcase their talents for NFL Scouts...until early this afternoon when they wanted to do some shuttle runs and some route running and decided the astro turf in our "indoor practice facility", as the AD would tell you our Indoor Track building is if you asked them why CU doesnt have an indoor practice facility, was too bad in some places to make proper cuts and make proper evaluation of our players.

They said they preferred to go outside in the rain over the turf inside the building. Embarassing. You'll recall Bobby Robinson sold us on the Indoor track building as a dual-role facility back in the '90s, but it really isnt. Its also obviously in poor shape when we've shown that IPTAY at least has the cash reserve to build one.

Now I have come out against the necessity of an Indoor Practice building before, because for the most part they do go unused. Some years are wetter and theyre needed, but for the most part I don't think they are used enough to justify the cost....that is unless you have the money available. Not even the entire SEC had one, as of 2 years ago, though UGA is building one, and Florida could have one tomorrow if they wanted it.

Phase III of the WEZ was given the go ahead about a week ago, and according to Greg Wallace's twitter feed, the cost is expected at $4.9 million. An indoor practice facility itself would cost in the ballpark of $5-7 million for a basic structure, but closer to $12-15 million for one on par (though this is an all-inclusive complex) with some of our wealthier competition. All of the expense could be done in two years with just the AD budget if Barker and Sikes Hall would not take $2.8 million away as a tax/surcharge on departmental budgets. If Barker was truly committed to the 10 year goals he laid out when he was named the Boss, then he'd not push the AD into the red with taxes every year.

Dabo commented on it this afternoon

"Maybe that will help us (raise momentum) a little bit today, when you've got head coaches standing out there. It's something that we've talked about, but we'll have to fund-raise for. There's a priority list on things that have to be done, but it's definitely something I would love to have here. I'm very thankful for what we do have. At least we can go inside and get something done. But it's a need.

"Couple of things: One is, we had a lot of rain this year. And that's not the norm, but we went inside a lot. You just can't go full speed in there. It's too dangerous as far as the surface is concerned, number one. But we can get something done, and I'm thankful for that.

"The other thing that you don't think about is, a lot of time in the summer we have skills-and-drills going on for these guys. And a lot of times it'll rain. When I was at Alabama, that was the thing I always loved. We never missed a day throwing and catching. Ever. You get your day in, you have your school and you get your workout. It's time to do skills-and-drills, and here comes the rain and you can't do it. Whereas when you have an indoor (facility), you never miss a moment.

"And also days like today. There's a lot of benefits to it. It can benefit other sports. It would be a very useful thing to have.

"And a lot of schools are doing it. I know Florida State is building one now. Georgia has theirs in the works. Duke's building one. Tennessee is expanding theirs. So at some point...

"Rome wasn't built in a day. But we're trying to build Rome. We're working on it. It's just not quite there yet."

 Now someone go wake TDP up and tell him.

via media.scout.com

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Dan Brooks was another home run hire for Swinney back in April after David Blackwell left for South Florida. He had not been retained on the staff by Lane Kiffin and was in an administrative facilities management role for Tennessee when Steele and Dabo called him up and offered him a job on the field coaching again. His track record includes coaching stops at Florida under Pell and Galen Hall, UNC under Mack Brown, and then Fulmer at UT.  At all these places he built up a strong record of recruiting prowess and many times his DL led the ACC/SEC in sacks.

A Native of Sparta NC, and his primary responsibility was recruiting the Western NC/SC areas for Tennessee, where he stole Shaun Ellis (Mauldin), Albert Haynesworth (Hartsville), four-star lineman Terrea Smalls (Timberland), and highly regarded linemen Anthony McDaniel of Columbia, William Brimsfield of Neeses, plus touted athletes Jeff Coleman, Ikie Curry, and Dominique Stevenson (Gaffney), just to name a few. I hated that those Gaffney players left the state, especially Coleman.

Chris Rumph, a former Gamecock player from St. Matthews SC, overcame the clear lack of intelligence it requires to choose USC and has become a valuable assistant coach directly in charge of Defensive Ends. His first coaching job was as GA at SC, then HC/OC at Calhoun County HS, then SC State (DBs), Memphis (OLBs), and finally Clemson in 2006. Since coming to Clemson, he has supervised the growth of Gaines Adams, Phil Merling, Dorrell Scott, and future draftees Ricky Sapp and Da'Quan Bowers.

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More photos » Mary Ann Chastain - AP

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Just a few notes and links as practice was open to the public. I usually like to wait a few days to get a better impression of how things are going so the blogs will be spaced out on the subject, but there are already many articles out.

• A couple on Tajh Boyd already from Sawchik and Greg Wallace.

 

"It's a lot of pressure to walk out there and take his first reps and be with the 1s," Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. "(There are) veteran offensive linemen, veteran tight ends, a couple senior wideouts, a couple veteran backs and he's out there trying to run the show.

"He was poised."

There's no question about Boyd's arm, release or charisma.

Teammate and roommate Bryce McNeal said, "I've never seen him throw a duck." Boyd's arm might not quite be at Parker's elite level, but Boyd gets the ball out quickly and with plenty of rpms.

Still, Swinney says there is fundamental work to be done with Boyd, including simple things like handing the ball off correctly and working on footwork.

• The Clemson BOT Compensation Committee approved raises for the assistant coaches, particularly the big ones for Steele and Harbison. This means that the cash is not coming from the stipulation in Dabo's contract that allows him to take his raise (to 1.8mil) and spend it on them. He can still and may have to take some of that money for the additional support staff positions he wants in S&C, which are currently part-time jobs. I also think you should keep an eye on the folks in the running for the open BOT seats. We're stuck with these dipshits, so you better look at what we end up with. Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll can Barker.
• Dwayne Allen thinks he's the bomb now, even though he tried to catch with his body and not his hands yesterday, and ended up dropping passes. He's doing the same things Palmer did as the #1 TE now, all the motions and being flexed out.
• As of now Bryce McNeal weighs in at 179, and they want him at 185....Jacoby-sized basically. The rest of the WRs had the dropsies in practice, which isn't so big a worry on the first day of practice. They had the dropsies last year.
• Corico Hawkins is up to 235, running exclusively at MIKE he says, and B. Maye was out of practice with what Wallace says is his knee issue from before the bowl game. Someone else said it was his foot, so I'm not sure. Its not serious. A look at the spring depth chart hints at what we expected, Maye could end up at WILL. Note that those weights are not all right.
• Alot of other guys have bulked up, like Ellington, Maxwell, Hawkins, Rod McDowell. McClain might've lost some weight, while Hairston didn't listen to the NFL's suggestion about losing his gut.

I am honestly appalled that Booker made 1st-team All-ACC, kinda shows me where the big men are at this year in the conference. I have no idea why Jerai Grant didnt make All-Defensive either, he does his job pretty damn well if you ask me, better than Booker does his.

SCACChoops.com has a bracket contest for the ACC Tourney, you can win a subscription to ACCSports.com/ACC Sports Journal for 4 months. Big deal, I know. Realtime RPI has us entering as a 7 seed in the NCAA right now, as do some others. ESPN has us as a 7-10 matchup with Texas, but I can see no reason why we drop to a 10 with our RPI. If we beat NCSU then we're a lock for 7 I think.

More photos » Mary Ann Chastain - AP

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"I’m real excited about getting onto the field and starting with this 2010 team," he said. "We’ve answered a lot of questions this year. We’re at a different point with this team. We’ve been through the fire. It’s not new. We know how we want to practice, what we want to practice. Last year, we signed 12 [in the recruiting class]. We feel good about this class we’re bringing in here. Minimally, we should be better. We should be a smarter team, staff. That should show from day one.

"If we can do the job the right way, it will help us play at a high-level every week. It’s a focus area for us. We’re good enough. As we evaluate all of the film, we’re pretty pleased with all of the information. We’ve got to take a little bit more pride in our consistency. If we can do that, we can have a very good year." (source)

Clemson started spring practice yesterday, and now comes the time when you hear of the offseason all-stars who get built up to superhuman levels and then come crashing down during the season. Last year it was Antoine McClain that got rave reviews from everyone, and then missed the most assignments of any starting lineman. Oh, and remember Rendrick Taylor, the Football King of Spring?

We've done our Positional Analyses (and the last one for the DL will come out this week), so I don't see any reason to do a spring preview. I would just keep in mind that whatever news is reported, here or elsewhere, in the next few weeks should be taken with a grain of salt. It is still just practice and scrimmages, its not performance under pressure in Fall against Auburn or UNC. Some guys don't practice worth a damn (Walker) and some light people up in practice so much that you'd think they are made of gold (Taylor).

This spring, we'll be looking at a few question marks.

1. WR corps. Can the young guys catch yet? Can they run routes any better and get open when we dont have Spiller and Palmer to catch the passes?

2 .Left Guard and the Tackle situation. Right now, David Smith is being moved to LG, but I don't see how he beats Mason Cloy for it in August if he's 100%. I think Norris should be moved to LG for Spring since he reps as a Guard already, but Brad disagrees. Technique things are the same for both positions so Smith can still learn at Guard, but I'd rather have him rep against the quicker Ends/LBs he'd see in Fall when he's moved back to Tackle.

Now with Price repping at 2-RT, Walker will have no one to light a fire under him. With his reputation so far as a lax practice player, we might come out disappointed with Walker in a few weeks. Brandon Thomas will start repping at 2-LT as a redshirt freshman. Recall that the 2's roll out as a unit in practice, so you cant tell Smith to rep at 1-LG and then 2-L/RT successively, so the depth chart is a bit misleading.

In reality, Smith would step in at either L or RT if Hairston or Walker went down. Putting in Price or Thomas shouldn't cause you to have a meltdown.

3. I have a suspicion that Tajh Boyd will be built up so much by writers this Spring that he will be the favorite player on the team this fall by TardNetters, especially if he doesnt play. Everybody loves the backup, and you'll hear people screaming for Boyd at the first sign of Parker struggling. Just remember, Parker has one year of reading NCAA defenses, and that experience counts. I also suspect you'll see at least 10 articles about Parker's baseball/football dilemma.

4. Linebackers. We need them to step up. They are talented, at least according to the recruiting sites, but none really has done anything yet. We'll see a definite rotation this spring but I suspect if a few guys continue to put on some weight, then things will change in Fall and the post-spring chart will be meaningless. I would not be surprised to hear us sticking to more Nickel and running out Meeks as a pseudo-SAM backer like we did with DMac 2 years ago.

5. Corner. Most of you, myself included, think that Maxwell will have one spot locked down soon enough. He did admirably last year. The other though is up for grabs. It could be Brewer, it could be Sensabaugh, or maybe someone like Spencer Adams will get moved over with the speed he has, but I think/hope Gilchrist steps into it.

Year 2 of a defensive scheme reaps the most gains, especially a complex one like we run. If the defense is not well ahead of the offense this spring I would be concerned. Bowers needs to step up his game to make up for the loss of Sapp, but I'm excited by having both Safeties back and expect quite a bit of 2 High Shell coverage.

Swinney will seek a new commitment to excellence this year, says Greg Wallace. We'll see.

Brad Scott's musical chairs and poor recruiting along the offensive line has kept Clemson down the last few seasons.

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Now the review everyone is interested in.

I think most of us would agree that Clemson's offensive line did improve over last season's woeful performance. In pass blocking, they did a quite admirable job if you take the long view over the season. However, here we'll look at this season's performance in more depth, and evaluate the offensive line coaching. In the offseason, Dabo Swinney effectively admitted that the OL position needed supplemental coaching by hiring Danny Pearman to oversee the Tackles and TEs. We will not be evaluating the TE position specifically.

In 2009, Brad Scott was still "the" OL coach. If you watched any games, and paid attention on the sideline views, you'd see Brad on one knee explaining things to the seated linemen as a group. Pearman would be standing over his shoulder uttering a few words, if he was noticed, to the tackles or Mike Palmer. Pearman may be officially the Tackles/TE coach, but its Brad's group. Danny is just another set of eyes and another teacher in practice and his addition to the staff as Tackles coach (and not simply TE coach) is essentially an admission that the OL needs extra help. Brad approved their offers to Clemson when they were recruited and taught these guys from day one. Therefore, any blame or praise goes chiefly to him. Even Pearman's addition cannot be expected to reap rewards in year one; it takes more than one year to fix successive years of bad coaching.

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Andre Powell was named RB Coach and Special Team's Coordinator in February 2007, following the 2006 season which saw our ST unit attempt to keep every opponent in games and even give them away. Special Teams was never a core focus of Tom Bowden, though he did somehow manage to have a few teams that were solid in this critical department. Powell did fix the issues with the 2006 team, but its hard to imagine a team being worse at defending returns than that squad was. Any coach with attention to detail there could've succeeded at some improvement.....except maybe Jack Hines.

Powell, an Indiana grad from Lockhart, SC, had been on the staff at UNC and Virginia for years, coaching Willie Parker, Tiki Barber, and Thomas Jones. He had UNC 2nd in the ACC in kickoff coverage in 2006, a sore spot for Clemson that same year. However, Parker languished deep on the UNC depth chart and somehow made it on the team at Pittsburgh, and then became a Super Bowl MVP. Parker was never a star at Norkerlina.

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When Steele was brought to Clemson late last December, I knew we had found a good one. He has a long history of good coaching and great recruiting, though he's rarely stayed in one place too long. His longest stops were at Nebraska and FSU, 4-5 years. His initial contract that lured him from Alabama was in the ballpark of 375K, and after Tennessee's overtures last month, it appears he'll get a bump to the mid 500K range.  

Many of you think he's overpaid for his results. I think you cannot properly evaluate a defensive coordinator until after his 2nd year installing his system, and the system is quite complicated. We've covered Kevin Steele's defensive philosophy considerably here at STS, all available on the right sidebar under defensive strategy, and its basically carbon-copy Saban. FYI, Saban ran a 4-3 at LSU and runs a 3-4 only 40% of the time at Alabama. This post will not rehash much of that information.

The Season review highlights the final rankings of the defense.

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