Spring Practice Insider: Visitors galore, and offense goes head to head with the defense

Riley works with the quarterbacks at practice (Photo by Merrell Mann).

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Mon Mar 06 17:57:23 GMT-04:00 2023

CLEMSON – A new offensive coordinator, a lot of visitors, and beautiful weather highlighted the first practice of the spring.

New offensive coordinator Garrett Riley was front and center as the Tigers took to the practice field Monday afternoon. Riley, hired in early January, brings his Air Raid offense to Clemson. That brought one of the early visitors to campus as well.

Samford head coach Chris Hatcher, who has also had stops at Murray St., Georgia Southern, and Valdosta St., was on hand to watch Riley. He said he has a prior relationship with Riley because they run the same offense, and had made plans to spend spring break in Fort Worth to watch TCU. Instead, he’s here to watch Clemson’s practices.

As a team last fall, the Bulldogs ranked 10th in the nation in total offense (448.7 ypg.), ninth in passing offense (307.5 ypg.) and sixth in scoring offense (37.9 ppg.).

*Former players Xavier Dye, Bryan Bresee, KJ Henry, Rodney Williams, and Chad Diehl were on hand. Bresee and Henry were both walking out in the middle of the field during warmups, joking and laughing with their former teammates. Clemson now has an NFL locker room attached to the practice field, and head coach Dabo Swinney joked that Henry has said he is simply going to move in.

Bresee told me he feels like he had a great NFL Combine and can’t wait to see his next step.

*The first session was a lot more interesting than it has been in the past. Usually the offense runs through the tempo session against air, but this time the offense went against the defense. As in, the first-team defense against the first-team defense. And right on down the line. And in one of the early periods Cade Klubnik was picked off by a noticeably thicker Andrew Mukuba.

The tempo also seemed to moving a little faster than we’ve seen. There were fewer checks, and the middle of the field was a frequent target (which I love). It will be interesting to see just how he incorporates the tight ends into his offense, especially with an tight end like Jake Briningstool, but I saw the tight ends all over the field – in the slot and outside.

*Clemson signee Avieon Terrell was on hand. He will enroll in the summer. He was greeted warmly by head coach Dabo Swinney, who jogged over to the sideline for a hug.

*The early quarterback rotation was Cade Klubnik, Hunter Helms, Christopher Vizzina, Trent Pearman, and then Paul Tyson (limited with injury).

*Antonio Williams and Will Shipley were the first out at punt return, followed by Hamp Greene and Hampton Earle.

*Tristan Leigh was first out at left tackle, with Blake Miller at right tackle. Center was Will Putnam, Trent Howard was at left guard, and Mitchell Mayes was at right guard. Starting right guard Walker Parks (ankle) and starting left guard Marcus Tate (knee) are out this spring.

*Second-team offensive line, left to right, was Collin Sadler, Bryn Tucker, Ryan Linthicum, Ian Reed, and Dietrick Pennington.

*Punter Jack Smith, who we know has a big leg but was inconsistent last season in practice and failed to crack a starting role, was booming his punts Monday. If he can gain that consistency he lacked last season, he could be a big weapon special teams.