Fall practice is officially underway for Clemson at Doug Kingsmore Stadium, but the field will look a lot different this time around.
With key pieces of last season’s roster, including Davis Sharpe, Bryce Teodosio, Adam Hackenberg, James Parker, Kier Meredith, and many others having all since moved on from Clemson after last season, the Tigers have some big shoes to fill, but head coach Monte Lee is not worried. In fact, Lee has been pleased with what he has seen so far from this year’s young squad.
“We feel very good with where we’re at,” Lee told the media on Friday. “It’s a very selfless group and I just like the fact, quite honestly, it’s a very low maintenance group right now. It’s a very quiet group, methodical group. They just kinda go about their business and work and you kind of expect that.”
“We lost a lot of older guys that had a lot of personality on the team from last year, so these guys are kind of quietly going about their business and working really hard. It’s been a great pre-fall practice few weeks just with the individual skill work that we’ve been doing. It’s been a lot of fun and a lot of good quality sessions with the players.”
The Tigers are welcoming 19 newcomers this fall and with that comes a need for veteran leadership. With a lot of last year’s team moving onto their next chapters, Clemson will be looking to its veteran group to step up and lead right where they left off.
“Yeah, it’s going to be different,” freshman All-American Caden Grice said. “I’m more of a leader by example, but I’m looking forward to taking on that role as a vocal leader and try to push some of these guys so we can have the greatest season we can.”
Righthander Mack Anglin is also looking forward to taking on a new leadership role in his third season with the Tigers. The redshirt sophomore, who chose to return to Clemson after being drafted in the 13th round of the MLB draft earlier this summer, is excited to take on his new leadership role this season alongside a very talented top-25 incoming recruiting class.
“I’m really glad that it’s finally my time to lead being a junior now,” Anglin said. This young class and even the freshmen from last year, they’re all extremely talented, so it’s been a lot of fun just being back together and taking some younger guys under my wing, kind of showing them the ropes and working to get better every single day.”