A few practice observations

posted by LW, Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Above is a photo of your intrepid correspondent covering yesterday's football practice.

Well, not really. But it was pretty darn cold. Cold enough for me to be thankful that my back seat, a disaster area featuring about two years' worth of junk, included an extra jacket (thanks ACC!) and a toboggan (thanks Reserve on Lake Keowee--wait, I actually paid money for that).

Jotting down practice observations was a difficult endeavor with frozen, wind-whipped hands, but I did manage to get a few things on paper.

-- Field goal kickers looked pretty good from my vantage point. Did a nice job of kicking into the stiff winds.

-- Kourtnei Brown out with some sort of ankle/foot injury he suffered two weeks ago.

-- Mason Cloy looks a lot more mobile, doing more running on the ankle he broke in the ACC title game.

-- Brandon Maye still in yellow because of a stress fracture in his foot (he later told me he'll be full-go at Wednesday's practice; more on that later).

-- Coastal Carolina coaches in the house. David Bennett will be a really good recruiter if and when he ends up at a bigger school. Just has a down-home, engaging personality. And he seems to have put together a staff that has those same qualities.

-- Once again, Kyle Parker shows no ill effects from his time away with baseball. Just firing lasers all over the place.

-- Tajh Boyd looks good. Not as sharp as KP, and that's to be expected. But I wonder about his ability to be accurate while on the run. Seems his passes tend to sail when he's doing that.

-- From my vantage point, looked like the OL more than held its own during inside drills. Ellington and Harper popped a few runs, both on cutbacks and straight up the middle. Kevin Steele kept asking if there was anyone up front who wanted to dominate his opponent.

-- Coaches know infinitely more than I about this stuff, but Jamie Cumbie looks out of place as a tackle. He's just not able to get low enough because of his height, and the swim move he uses doesn't seem to be consistently effective. If they could turn back time and do it all over, would the coaches make Cumbie an OT? As it stands now, though, Cumbie is supplying needed depth on the interior D-line. They have a pretty good thing going with Moore, Cumbie and Chavis behind Jenkins and Thompson. The competition for playing time is creating a lot of intensity from those guys.

-- From what I recall, the defense played a good bit of zone in the bowl game against Kentucky. Saw more zone yesterday, though that's not necessarily a reflection of any philosophical shift from Steele. So much of spring practice during the early stages is about installation, so yesterday might've just been a day where they were installing some of their zone stuff.

-- Vic Koenning always was reluctant to play man because he thought his players weren't mentally capable of handling it, but zone seems a lot more mentally challenging in terms of the responsibilities and communication, particularly in combo coverages where you're playing zone underneath and man behind it, or vice-versa.

-- Man, backup QBs Donny McElveen and Taylor Ogle have painfully slow releases and velocity. Maybe my perception is distorted from watching KP and Boyd sling it all over the place. But it looks like McElveen and Ogle are in slow motion by comparison.

-- The Tigers went through a scrimmage situation toward the end of practice, and here are some notes:

Marquan Jones goes over the middle to corral a pass, but loses it when DeAndre McDaniel comes from behind and dislodges the ball. It would've been a tough catch to make, but WR coach Jeff Scott tells Jones he should've caught it by cradling it with two hands.

Really nice fingertip catch by Bryce McNeal in the flats. I mean, he literally snared it off one of his fingertips. He looks smooth out there, and you can tell he really benefited from the redshirt.

Boyd throws down the middle for McNeal on what appears a post route, but Jonathan Meeks soars in for the pick. Looks like Boyd threw it a little late and a little short.

Harper takes a swing pass and plows Corico Hawkins. Been impressed with Harper throughout the spring. Runs hard and with purpose just about all the time.

Parker's deep throws are sailing a little bit. But you tend to grade on a curve with both him and Boyd because of the wind.

Parker changes the play at the line, then the defense responds by completely changing its look. Interesting and cool. I don't recall seeing a lot of this last year, but Maye later tells me they did some of it. Nick Saban does a lot of this at Alabama, and it's a really nice tactic in terms of confusing opposing quarterbacks.

Beautiful catch by Brandon Ford deep down the left sideline. Spencer Adams had him stride for stride, and there was plenty of contact. But Ford calmly went up and plucked the ball out of the air for a huge gain. You can see what Dabo Swinney is talking about when he says Ford has the best ball skills of anyone. Just really smooth and natural. If only he had more speed and quickness.

Moving on to some links....

Travis Sawchik of The Post and Courier lists five offensive reserves to watch during spring practice, and No. 4 tends to stand out.

4. QB Donny McElveen

With Kyle Parker owning a 1400 (on-base plus slugging percentage) and having already smashed a team-best nine homers for Jack Leggett's team, all eyes are fixed on Plan B at quarterback -- redshirt freshman Boyd.

But if Parker should elect to play baseball exclusively this fall, Boyd will need a backup, and that could be the grandson of Summerville High coach John McKissick.

McElveen, a two-star recruit according to Scout.com, turned down a scholarship offer to Central Florida to walk on at Clemson last fall. The staff likes his tools, and with the departure of Willy Korn, combined with Parker's uncertain playing status, the 6-2 redshirt sophomore has become a darkhorse at QB.

I'll go out on a limb and say Michael Wade will be the guy at backup if something happens to Parker or Boyd.

Here's a Greenville News story on McElveen, who turned down offers from Central Florida and East Carolina to walk on at Clemson.

“They offered an opportunity to compete. That’s all you can ask for,” McElveen said. “If you want to play somewhere big, you’ve got to go and compete. So if they give you the opportunity you might as well take advantage of it.”

You might've heard of McElveen's grandfather. Guy from Summerville named McKissick.

In the Independent-Mail, David Smith is making a move at left guard.

“The light came on for him the last half of the season, and he hasn’t looked back,” Swinney said. “He’s confident, he’s strong, he’s physical. He’s been impressive on film as we’ve graded (the linemen) out. We feel confident he can be a starting guard, we feel confident he can be a starting tackle.”

And later...

“This time last year, we aren’t having this conversation. But he’s really proven to be a valuable commodity for us, a valuable asset. And I think that David Smith is a guy that if he’ll keep progressing, the sky’s the limit for him. He can make some money playing this game. He’s very talented.”

Barry Jacobs of The ACC Sports Journal writes about a familiar story for the ACC in the NCAA Tournament.

He had this to say about Clemson:

Clemson was bounced in the first round for the third year in a row, this time by No. 10 Missouri. Coach Oliver Purnell is now 0-6 in NCAA competition at Old Dominion, Dayton, and Clemson. Coupled with a second straight 0-3 ending to the season, the impression that a fatal flaw exists in Purnell’s approach is inescapable.

North Carolina is finally learning to finish and thus finds itself on the cusp of a trip to NYC.

Hey, take a look at who's in the running for the vacancy at UNC Charlotte:


And take a look at who else might in the mix:


Oops...


LW

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