FOOTBALL: 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).
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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.