The Clemson football team caught a break on Wednesday when clouds rolled in prior to the start of practice and cooled things down.
“It has been hot, hot, hot, and somehow we got lucky today,” head coach Dabo Swinney said after practice behind the Allen Reeves Football Complex in Clemson. “We got a good practice in. We had a good competitive today. I think we had ten periods of Clemson on Clemson, so that is a tough day’s work.”
Things will get tougher on Thursday.
The football team will make its annual pilgrimage across the moat to Jervey Meadows, where it will have its first of three practices there during preseason camp.
“This is that time of camp. We have been going a week. It is that time where they are getting a little fatigued, so we want to make it a little tougher,” Swinney said.
Swinney calls it old-school training. Getting away from the modern facility they have at the Allen Reeves Complex and the Poe Indoor Practice Facility.
“We do it for a lot of reasons. We are so blessed here,” the Tigers’ head man said. “Live modern, train old. Just a little few days of training old. Hopefully, we can continue to have that appreciation for what we have here. It is just kind of a rite of passage for us in camp around here.”
Besides practicing at Jervey Meadows, Clemson will also have a quick turnaround between practices.
“We are right back on the field at 9:30 in the morning. So, it is just a little different challenge this next couple of days,” Swinney said. “We will be in the Valley tomorrow night with a walkthrough and then right back Friday morning (to Jervey Meadows).
“So, between today and Friday, there is a lot going on. Hopefully, we will get the work done that we need to get done and then on Friday afternoon we will get a little break and we will go hang out at the lake and cool off and be ready for a full scrimmage.”
The scrimmage will be at Death Valley on Saturday.
What will also make tomorrow tough is that it will be the first day in full pads for Clemson.
“We get our first live work tomorrow. It will be the first day in full pads,” Swinney said. “We got a lot of the situations in (today). Tomorrow we will get some short-yardage and some goal line. Get a little two-minute (drill) on Friday and then on Saturday we will touch on a bunch of situations on offense and defense.”
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