The Clemson football team has officially finished up its 2021 spring season and it was largely a successful session with minimal serious injuries.
The Tigers did have a few players missing out due to surgeries, but they are all expected back by the fall and the biggest injury came to backup QB Taisun Phommachanh when he suffered a torn Achilles in the spring game this past Saturday.
That being said, it was overall still a nice spring and the work established over the course of these past two months will be the cornerstone for the Clemson football team when the Tigers take the field again in the late summer to begin preseason camp.
One ‘big picture thing’ that needs to change within College Football before we see Clemson football running through spring practice again
It was talked about quite a bit and there was a sentiment that it might happen this spring season, but it never came to fruition.
College Football needs to allow for an actual live scrimmage- an exhibition- to take place during the spring. Maybe this is an exhibition where we see Clemson take on an in-state FCS team. Maybe it eventually expands to something bigger, but we need to see a real-action game take place in the spring.
It just makes too much sense.
You can only learn so much about your team when they’re matching up against one another, but when you put them against an actual opponent- even if it’s a subpar opponent- it gives you a chance to see how they will play together and what the strengths and weaknesses of the team are in a big way.
In addition to the benefits of team development in the spring, this is also a major financial gain.
Fans will tune in to watch exhibitions and they’ll show up in droves to watch the games in-person. The gate and proceeds can be split between the Power-5 host and the team they’re bringing in to play, which would be a huge payday.
It’s a big picture idea and something that might not make its way to logistically happening until many years down the road, but it’s something that needs to change.
It’s something that would be in the best interest of everyone from Athletic Departments, fans, player development, team building, television broadcasts and so much more. It didn’t happen this year, but there’s no reason it couldn’t be in place to happen by next spring.