Following last Saturday’s scrimmage, Dabo Swinney was not pleased with his offense’s performance when it came to the procedural items, such as false starts, offside and bad snaps.
But the report was much better on Thursday, as third-ranked Clemson wrapped up its second and final scrimmage of the preseason at Death Valley.
“I think we went from ten penalties to two,” Swinney said afterwards. “We had no bad snaps (with the first or second team). We had a couple with our third group, our Pride Group. But the guys that we know that we have to count on to go play in a couple of weeks, they were excellent today.
“They were right on point and where they needed to be. It was good to see.”
Swinney says that is what he was looking for from his offense, especially on the offensive line. He wanted to see them improve.
“You get two scrimmages. I thought the guys that needed to improve, they did just that. The guys that we wanted to see some consistency from, I think we saw that as well,” the Tigers’ head coach said. “So, it was a good day. It was a much better day procedurally.
“The first scrimmage, we had ten penalties, a bunch of bad snaps. We had a couple of drops, and that was disappointing, but all-in-all, procedurally, it was very solid. It was much better.”
As for who might be the starter at center when the Tigers take on No. 5 Georgia on Sept. 4, it appears Swinney nor offensive line coach Robbie Caldwell are any closer to naming someone.
Swinney alluded to the fact they might not be able to name a starter until way into Georgia week.
“We will watch this tape tonight and then we will start honing into the personnel and how we want to rep,” he said. “Anything can happen. I mean it is two weeks from now. You still have to go practice. Nobody at this point is entitled to be the starter, you still have to go earn it every day.”
Swinney said Matt Bockhorst, who is expected to start at left guard, worked some at center in Thursday’s scrimmage, as did Hunter Rayburn and Mason Trotter. Earlier this week, Swinney said all three players are receiving first-team reps, but they are not ready to name a starter at this point.
“I think they have all done well,” he said. “Again, it is not something we are ready to roll out there. We will put a depth chart out here soon enough, but I have seen good things from all of them. I really have. Bockhorst has got a lot of work, the same thing with Trotter and the same thing with Rayburn, and Trent Howard, he has gotten some good work at center. He is a young freshman that we are excited about.
“So, all of those guys have gotten work and have done well in spots and not so well in spots, so we are still kind of working in that area.”
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