The Clemson football team had their first stadium scrimmage of the spring and everyone came away impressed with just how good Dexter Lawrence is.
The Clemson football team held its first scrimmage of the spring and there were many positive notes that came out of the day, including an impressive showing from freshman defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence and running back Adam Choice.
The Tigers scrimmaged in Death Valley Wednesday afternoon in its eighth of fifteen practice sessions.
Coach Swinney said that had the Tigers played a real game today, they would have lost to a lot of teams, but luckily Clemson football still has the rest of the spring to work out kinks and summer workouts before they get ready for fall camp in August.
"“It was a little ragged and we would have gotten beat by a lot of teams today,” said Head Coach Dabo Swinney via ClemsonTigers.com. “We didn’t do a real good job in a number of areas. We had some snap problems, we jumped off sides and had some missed tackles."
On the first play Dexter Lawrence came into the game, he intercepted a pass and was tackled by wide receiver Hunter Renfrow.
"“Dexter Lawrence had an interception on what might have been his first play of the scrimmage. He then ran down the sidelines (32 yards) where Hunter Renfrow made a great tackle on him.” There is over a 100-pound difference in weight between Renfrow and Lawrence, a freshman defensive tackle who entered Clemson in Janaury."
Lawrence finished the day with three tackles and a sack.
This is just a testament to the kind of player Dexter Lawrence is. He is extremely talented and has the ability to be one of the best defensive linemen to ever play Clemson football.
He is only going to get better as he spends more time in the conditioning program and learns the playbook. This guy is good and I’m extremely intrigued to see what he does in the spring game when all Clemson fans get to see him on the field in a Tiger uniform for the first time.
Here are some other notes coming out of the scrimmage.
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Defense:
- Albert Huggins had a team-high three tackles for loss.
- Kendall Joseph and J.D. Davis led the defense with seven tackles apiece.
- Cordrea Tankersley had an interception.
It seemed the defense struggled in short-yardage situations, but a lot of that has to do with the inexperience. It’s going to take some time for the Tigers to get into their roles, but a positive note was that the secondary was pretty solid. Guys like Carlos Watkins, Ben Boulware, and Christian Wilkins, for obvious reasons, did not see a ton of playing time. The coaches are looking to see who will step up in the two-deep spots and who will win the open starting positions.
Offense:
- Deshaun Watson completed 6-of-11 passes for 63 yards and two touchdowns passes.
- Hunter Renfrow and Jordan Leggett caught the TD passes from Watson.
- Adam Choice had 11 rushes for 51 yards to lead all rushers.
- Tyshon Dye had seven carries for 32 yards with two touchdowns.
- Wayne Gallman scored two touchdowns in short-yardage situations.
- C.J. Fuller had 11 carries for 29 yards.
- Trevion Thompson had three catches for 114 yards and a touchdown catch from Nick Schuessler.
Wayne Gallman, Deshaun Watson, and several others only saw time in short-yardage and short-field situations because of obvious reasons. The same as the defense, the coaches want players to step up and fill in the depth chart. The Tigers played four different quarterbacks and I believe the most encouraging news out of today is that Adam Choice looked good.
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We will continue to give you updates out of Clemson football’s spring practices leading up to the Spring Game on April 9th. It will be interesting to see who steps up and claims spots on both the offense and the defense.
I will also be interested to see what the special teams look like in a game-situation.
What’s your thoughts on the first scrimmage, Tiger fans? Comment below with your analysis and what you want to see from the second half of spring practices.