Day 1 observations of Clemson’s defense

Clemson returned to the practice fields behind the Allen Reeves Football Complex late Friday afternoon for the first day of fall camp. The first seven periods were open to the media for viewing.

Here’s what The Clemson Insider observed on the defensive side from the viewing periods:

• The trio of Bryan Bresee (ACL), Jeadyn Lukus (shoulder surgery) and Tyler Venables (pectoral surgery) have all been given a clean bill of health and were all donning braces — as a precautionary measure — during Friday’s practice.
• Speaking of Bresee, the redshirt sophomore is back healthy and looks as dominant as ever.
• KJ Henry, who weighed in at 256-pounds yesterday, looks noticeably leaner. He previously mentioned at the ACC Kickoff in Charlotte last month that he had lost over 10-pounds during the offseason.
• Payton Page, who lost over 60 pounds during the offseason, looked like a completely different player and it showed.
• Lemanski Hall had to get on Zaire Patterson on multiple occasions. Clemson’s defensive ends coach had the redshirt freshman out of Winston-Salem (N.C.) re-do multiple drills.
• Keith Maguire did the same with TJ Dudley. The veteran linebacker got on the true freshman for not finishing a drill in what was his first ever fall practice.
• Sophomore Barrett Carter appears to be a player the Tigers are cross-training on the back end. He’s listed on the roster as a linebacker but also repped some at safety.
• Senior safety Jalyn Phillips was running alongside sophomore Andrew Mukuba, as Clemson’s first-team safeties.
• Cornerback Sheridan Jones was paired with Fred Davis II during individual drills, while Nate Wiggins was running with Malcolm Greene.
• At one point, true freshman defensive tackle Caden Story was on one knee and appeared to be dehydrated. The training staff tended to him and it wasn’t long before he was back working with his position group.