The Official Clemson Tigers Thread

[Saint Brian]

Peters makes Clemson commitment

By Phil Kornblut

Deciding there was no reason to wait until later in the week, DB Garry Peters (6-1 180) of Conyers, GA committed Monday night to Clemson over Alabama. "It's a weight lifted off my shoulders and now I can focus on my senior season," Peters said. "It's like a shoe that fit perfectly. My family loved Clemson, my coaches loved it and all the coaches at Clemson felt just like my coaches in high school. It's a family atmosphere. And I can play early but it all depends on me. I'd like to play both ways, but we'll see." Peters also plays receiver but is considered first and foremost a lock down corner. Some of his other offers were USC, Tennessee, Auburn, Maryland, Central Florida and East Carolina. He becomes the 15th commitment and the third cornerback for the Tigers' 2010 class.

Expect Buice to commit on Saturday.

[NBA_Starter]

Peters makes Clemson commitment


Expect Buice to commit on Saturday.

Dabo is really raking them in!

[homestarunner93]

Expect Buice to commit on Saturday.

Yeah, I think Buice will commit. Hopefully with Buice and Desmond Brown, we can get Victor Beasley. They're supposedly all good friends, and they want to play together. Beasley is favoring Alabama, but if we get Demont Buice to commit before Beasley makes a descision, we might have a chance.

[NBA_Starter]

clemson, sc - dabo swinney put his team through a near three-hour practice on thursday afternoon at the practice fields behind the jervey athletic center. He finished the practice with a four-period (20 minute) offense vs. Defense competition. There was no tackling but it was a good opportunity to have the team work on their assignments.

It was the third day of the ncaa mandated five-day acclimatization period. The tigers won't put on the full uniform until monday morning when they have the first of four two-a-days between august 10-17.

"we had a good day of practice," said swinney, who is in his first full season as clemson head coach and thus his first preseason camp. "the receivers showed progress today. There is a strong competition going on. Jacoby ford is obviously the leader, but marquan jones has done very well and is poised to have a standout year. Kyle johnson made a nice catch on a long pass today from willy korn. Terrence ashe has looked good as well. The receivers are competing hard."

swinney was again impressed with rendrick taylor today. "he stood out again today. He is really a load to tackle, but he is light on his feet. He will see action at a number of positions. He ran hard today. Dwayne allen also stood out at tight end. He caught a long pass from taj boyd and made some other nice catches.





"on defense, scott cooper made some plays in coverage situations and deandre mcdaniel had an interception on a pass over the middle."

swinney also said the punting game was good today. "both dawson zimmerman and richard jackson had a good day punting the ball. They had hang time between 4.6 and 4.7 and that is what you want. We should be good on special teams overall. With c.j. Spiller and jacoby ford we should have the best return combination in the country."

swinney stayed after to practice as he is looking for a backup snapper and backup holder. Freshman matt skinner is the first team snapper and has done well, and mike wade is the first team holder. Among the snapper prospects is tight end michael palmer. Kyle parker worked as a holder during that session.

Offensive tackle j.k. Jay and preseason all-acc wide receiver jacoby ford were the only players who missed practice due to injury. Jay is out with a back injury and ford has a hamstring injury. Both ran on the side during the practice.

.

http://clemsontigers.cstv.com/sports...080609aag.html .

[NBA_Starter]

CLEMSON — A reporter asked Kyle Parker on Tuesday night if he had grown tired of talking about Clemson’s ongoing quarterback competition.

“It just comes second nature right now,” Parker replied, tongue only half-in-cheek. “I just throw the same answer out there every time. If something changes, tell me.”

And the rest of Clemson’s fanbase, too. The most fascinating position battle of the Tigers’ preseason practices doesn’t show signs of ending anytime soon.

Parker and Korn are locked in an apparent dead heat for the job, and the fight appears poised to stretch throughout August and possibly into September, beyond the Tigers’ Sept. 5 opener against Middle Tennessee.

Several weeks ago, new head coach Dabo Swinney called both quarterbacks into a meeting. His message?

“Basically, the consensus was, if no one separates, we’re going to go in and play two (quarterbacks),” Parker said. “Me and Willy are really confident in each other. The No.1 thing is that we need to win games. That’s the biggest thing.”

Korn agreed with Parker.

“He said, ‘We’ll see how it plays out,’ ” Korn said. “(He said) ‘both of you are probably going to be playing,’ and that’s all I know, really.”

Swinney probably hoped one quarterback would have set himself apart by now, but that simply hasn’t been the case. They were virtually equal throughout spring practice, although Parker gained a slight edge, at least in fans’ eyes, with his standout effort in the spring game, which featured vanilla schemes due to its regionally-televised status.

It can be hard to distinguish between the two at times. Both are elusive and can run well, and both have strong arms. Parker has a slightly stronger arm — he was firing too hard for receivers at times during the portion of practice reporters were allowed to watch Monday.

Korn is more accurate, and worked hard during the spring and summer to revamp a throwing motion distorted by a pair of arm injuries (broken collarbone and labrum injury) since arriving at Clemson.

In spring, he had an exaggerated windup that involved him bringing the ball down to his stomach before going back up for release, but the motion looked much tighter and natural Monday.

“I feel a lot better,” Korn said. “I continue to work on it, day in, day out, and try not to think about it, just go out and compete. I think about it a little in warm-ups, and thought about it a little today. I felt confident.

“This is really the time of year where everybody gets as good as they’re going to get. You’re playing every day, practicing every day, getting reps every day. We’re going to improve the most right now.”

Reporters noticed the difference in Korn’s release, and he clearly feels more comfortable with it as well.

“It feels like I’m getting the ball out a lot quicker,” he said. “I hit everything I probably would have hit in spring, but it looks normal compared to spring.”

Parker says he’s working on his release as well; he moonlights as a right fielder for the Clemson baseball team, and admits when he throws hard, he can throw the ball “like a baseball, not a spiral,” which he is trying to correct.

“I’m working on being consistent, going in there, knowing plays, where I need to go with the ball,” he said. “That’s the biggest thing about being quarterback — being comfortable back there and knowing how to make good decisions.”

If both remain consistent, it’ll make Swinney’s decision — whenever it happens — even tougher.

And he claims that’s just what he wants.

“As much competition and intensity we can create in practice, hopefully we’ll be better off on game day,” he said. “Those guys are thick-skinned guys. They’ve been there, they understand competition and that everything is evaluated. How you stretch is evaluated. It’ll make both guys better, with every throw, living and dying with one play.”

Or two quarterbacks.

“With the talented players we have, you can’t pick one guy and leave other players out,” Parker said. “I fully understand from (Swinney’s) situation, we’re going to go in there, go compete and try and make plays, make each other better.

“In the end, we’ll see what happens.”

http://www.goupstate.com/article/200...QB-competition

[Saint Brian]

Clemson's talented running back stable just got a little deeper, as on Saturday while in town on an unofficial visit, Gadsden (AL) runner Demont Buice verbally committed to the Tigers. The long-time Clemson lean becomes the first back to jump on board in the Tigers' 2010 recruiting class.

Justin Parker is in town for the whole weekend as well. I hope we get him too.

[Saint Brian]

Parker enjoys first trip to Clemson
By Phil Kornblut

LB Justin Parker (6-2 225) of Beaufort made his first ever visit to Clemson Saturday and was very impressed by what he saw. "It was a good visit," said Parker's brother Jeff who was with him on the visit. "The coaches, everybody, it was real good. It was one of the best visits. We sat down and ate lunch with coach Swinney and coach Brooks. And we talked to coach Steele, coach Rumph and coach Powell. And we talked with Woody McCorvey and especially spent some time talking to Jeff Davis. He liked everything about it. He said it was a lot better than he expected. He spent a lot of time with the players, like Brandon Maye and DeAndre McDaniel, asking them about Clemson football and life on campus." The visit is the final one for Parker this summer. USC and Clemson have been his favorites and that remains unchanged. "He's still saying USC and Clemson are at the top," Jeff Parker said. Justin Parker plans to attend games this season at USC and Clemson and could have a decision before the end of his season. He also has offers from Maryland, Wake Forest, NC State, Central Florida, Syracuse, Vanderbilt, Colorado, South Florida, Mississippi State and East Carolina.

I really hope we get this kid. He'll be the starter after Maye leaves.

[homestarunner93]

Justin Parker is in town for the whole weekend as well. I hope we get him too.

Now we need Buice and Brown to talk Vic Beasley into Clemson. I have a feeling he will probably pick Alabama or Clemson this weekend. I've heard Parker is probably going to wait until the end of the season to make his choice.

[Saint Brian]

Now we need Buice and Brown to talk Vic Beasley into Clemson. I have a feeling he will probably pick Alabama or Clemson this weekend. I've heard Parker is probably going to wait until the end of the season to make his choice.

I think Beasley is and Alabama lean and it will be hard to get him in the end. He believes he'll get playing time there very early on.

[NBA_Starter]

I think Buice will wind up playing LB for us.

[NBA_Starter]

CLEMSON -- Entering his first full season as a Football Bowl Subdivision assistant, Clemson wide receivers coach Jeff Scott has a lot to learn.

One aspect of his job that he hasn’t had to tackle yet? The classic fire-and-brimstone speech.

Scott’s new charges, it seems, are always ready to go.

When your depth chart is as wide-open as Scott’s is right now, it’s easy to get fired up.

“There’s not a whole lot of motivating I have to do before practice,” Scott said this week. “They know come Sept. 5 (the season opener against Middle Tennessee) they want to be the ones out there on the field. It’s a very heated competition.”

The graduation of ACC all-time receptions leader Aaron Kelly as well as experienced, steady wide-outs Tyler Grisham and Nelson Faerber left a huge void on Scott’s depth chart. Beyond preseason All-ACC pick Jacoby Ford (who missed the first week of practice with a strained hamstring) the only returning wide-out with more than 100 snaps in 2008 is junior Xavier Dye, who had 193 snaps, six catches and 75 yards last fall.

Ford’s absence punctuated a summer marked by both competition and camaraderie among the young wide-outs. Last fall, redshirted freshmen like Jaron Brown and Brandon Ford watched and soaked up as much knowledge as they could from their veteran leaders.

Now, they’re fighting their young teammates to replace them.

“It’s a great opportunity,” Brandon Ford said. “We lost Aaron, Tyler and Nelson, and it’s open. Everybody wants to fight for a spot and play. I’m trying to take advantage of it now, use my redshirt year to try and get better and help my team as much as I can.”

Jacoby Ford is the clear leader at one spot, with sophomore Marquan Jones (who saw limited action last fall as a true freshman) drawing raves behind him. Coach Dabo Swinney spotlighted him as a potential breakout candidate this week.

“Most definitely, I’d say I’ve learned the playbook a lot better,” Jones said. “I’m aware of everything that’s going on. I’m recognizing defenses pretty good, not having many missed assignments or busts. Focus is the biggest thing.”

At slot receiver, former walk-on Terrance Ashe is “the head of the class,” Scott said, with Brown and former East Carolina transfer Kyle Johnson behind him.

Dye leads the race to replace Kelly, with sophomore Brandon Clear and Ford battling him hard.

Brandon Ford says the competition has remained friendly, but intense.

“Some days we challenge each other where one guy makes this play, one guy makes that play, and maybe one drops it,” he said. “We stick together as a group and stay confident. But when we’re on the field we’re going against each other.

“So it’s like you’ve got to do your thing out there, do it when you’re studying. Everybody wants to play, so you have to stay on task, and go out and do what you can.”

Jacoby Ford’s recent injury (he slightly aggravated a hamstring pull suffered running track this summer) has made that competition much tougher but also given Scott a better chance to evaluate his options.

“It gives younger guys more reps,” he said. “We can see which of those guys we can count on. It’s a good experience for them right now. It’s something we’ve got to prepare for and our guys have taken on the challenge.”

After all, even with a healthy Ford, these guys will be doing plenty of heavy lifting this fall.

“That’s exactly what we’ve got to do,” Jones said. “We can’t leave it all on Jacoby and C.J. (Spiller’s) shoulders. Although they’re outstanding players, we’ve got to help them out a little bit. That’s what we decided to do as a receiver corps.”

http://www.goupstate.com/article/200...tion-unsettled

[homestarunner93]

I think Beasley is and Alabama lean and it will be hard to get him in the end. He believes he'll get playing time there very early on.

I think he will end up picking Alabama as well, although it wouldn't shock me if he picked Clemson.

I think Buice will wind up playing LB for us.

I disagree, he will be a short yardage back.

[homestarunner93]

Here's a Beasley update, by the way:

Athlete Desmond Brown of Centre, Ala., running back Demont Buice of Gadsden, Ala., and linebacker Victor Beasley (6-foot-4, 220 pounds) of Adairsville, Ga., are close friends and stay in regular contact. The three have talked about playing college football at the same place. Brown committed to Clemson earlier in the summer, and Buice did so over the weekend. That’s leaves Beasley who plans to make a decision this week between Clemson and Alabama. Beasley recently visited Clemson with his parents. He was favoring Alabama prior to the visit but is now finding it hard to make a decision. “It went great,” Beasley said of the visit. “I brought my parents and they fell in love with the place. They (the coaches) showed me the depth chart and, if I came, where I would fit in.”

-Phil Kornblut

[Saint Brian]

I hate Phil Korncoot.

[Saint Brian]

Beasley closing in on decision
ATH Victor Beasley (6-4 220) of Adairsville, GA plans to announce his college choice Thursday at a news conference at his school. Beasley is down to Clemson and Alabama. He had been favoring Alabama but Clemson sources indicate the Tigers feel very good about their chances at this time.

We find out in two days.