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.