Lyn-J Dixon – Page 4 – Syndication Server

Clemson’s veteran specialists perform as expected during camp

Dabo Swinney revealed something unusual following Clemson’s final fall scrimmage Thursday. “(B.T. Potter) actually did not have a good day today,” the Tigers’ coach said. Those kind of days have been far from the norm for the Tigers’ special …

Dabo Swinney revealed something unusual following Clemson’s final fall scrimmage Thursday.

“(B.T. Potter) actually did not have a good day today,” the Tigers’ coach said.

Those kind of days have been far from the norm for the Tigers’ special teamers, whom Swinney said he feels “really good” about heading into the season. Given the experience Potter and punter Will Spiers have, that’s not exactly a surprise.

Even long snapper Jack Maddox and receiver Will Swinney, who doubles as the Tigers’ holder, have been doing this a while as fifth-year seniors.

“We’ve got a lot of veterans, so that’s been a real plus for us,” Swinney said.

Potter enters his senior season as one of the top placekickers in the country. The Rock Hill native was a Lou Groza Award finalist last season when he converted 18 of his 23 field goals (three of those misses were blocked) and made all but one of his 62 extra-point attempts. He was the only player in the Football Bowl Subdivision with more than 15 field goals and more than 60 touchbacks.

Meanwhile, Spiers kept one of the ACC’s top kicking duos intact when he decided to take advantage of the NCAA’s eligibility relief amid the coronavirus pandemic and return for a sixth season. Spiers, who’s beginning his fifth season as Clemson’s primary punter, already holds the school record for starts by a punter (56) and punts downed inside the 20-yard line (81) and is coming off his best season yet.

Twelve of his 45 punts last season covered at least 50 yards. His average of 44 yards per punt was a career-best and the second-highest single-season mark in school history.

Fall camp has largely been more of the same from the Tigers’ veterans.

“Out of 16 days, this is the only bad day B.T. has had,” Swinney said. “He was just a little off today for whatever reason, but he’s had an amazing camp. I really like where we are from a personnel standpoint with the field-goal team. Punts have been great.”

As for the return game, Swinney has liked what he’s seen there, too. He said the first-team kickoff unit produced a “big return” during Thursday’s scrimmage.

Handling kickoff and punt returns looks to be some combination of Lyn-J Dixon, Kobe Pace and freshman running back Will Shipley, though receiver Justyn Ross, who was listed as the No. 1 punt returner on Clemson’s pre-camp depth chart, is likely to get in the mix there. Swinney said even freshman quarterback Will Taylor, who could also play receiver, will return some punts this season.

“I like how we’re handling things from a punt-return standpoint,” Swinney said. “So we’ve gotten a lot done. We’ve still got a lot more to do. We’ve got a lot of situational things still to work next week and kind of finish up that aspect of it, but B.T. and Will have been awesome.”

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Clemson gets situational as camp begins to wind down

Classes for the fall semester will start at Clemson on Wednesday, which usually signals the beginning of the end of fall camp for the Tigers on the football field. So with Tuesday’s practice being the last one in which the players had no time …

Classes for the fall semester will start at Clemson on Wednesday, which usually signals the beginning of the end of fall camp for the Tigers on the football field.

So with Tuesday’s practice being the last one in which the players had no time constraints, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney decided to use all two hours to focus on certain situations with them. That meant two-minute drills, goal-line scenarios, third-down plays, four-down territory and virtually everything in between inside the team’s indoor practice facility.

“A lot of situational work today, and it was really good for us,” Swinney said. “You don’t want to wait until you get into those situations in games and make some of these mistakes that we have been making. Go ahead and get some of that stuff exposed so that we can teach and get better from it. I don’t have any doubt our guys will do just that.”

Clemson is three days removed from its first fall scrimmage Saturday, which was dominated by the defense. Swinney said Tuesday’s practice was more competitive from an offensive standpoint, though he thought the defense still held the upper hand.

Swinney said the defense came up with a couple of interceptions off tipped balls and also won the 1- and 2-minute drills as well as a majority of the third-down reps, though the group did have what Swinney called some “boneheaded” mistakes.

Among them? A defensive back, which Swinney didn’t identify, pulling down an interception during an end-of-game situation and trying to run with the ball instead of immediately falling to the turf.

“Just situational stuff that we’ve got to teach,” Swinney said.

With classes starting in less than 24 hours, Wednesday will be a light day of work for the players before the Tigers hold their second and final full-scale scrimmage Thursday with the end of camp drawing closer. Swinney said the team will begin implementing prep for its Sept. 4 opener against Georgia into practice starting Monday before moving to full game prep toward the end of next week.

But Swinney said there are still plenty of key personnel evaluations he and his staff need to do between now and then. Clemson still needs to find a featured back in a backfield where there hasn’t been much separation among Lyn-J Dixon, Kobe Pace and Will Shipley to this point. The Tigers also have to settle on a starter at center, which will be part of determining Clemson’s best five along the offensive line.

Those kinds of decisions are looming. Tuesday was all about putting everyone in more competitive situations to help provide the Tigers’ coaching staff more feedback before making those choices.

“A lot of work to do, but I feel good about what these guys have accomplished the last couple of weeks,” Swinney said.

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Competition rages on in Clemson’s backfield

Earlier in the week, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said there wasn’t much separation among the Tigers’ running backs, going as far as to say all of them were still in the mix to top the depth chart at that position. That apparently wasn’t just …

That apparently wasn’t just coachspeak.

While Lyn-J Dixon and Kobe Pace have been getting the bulk of the first-team reps during fall camp, true freshman Will Shipley also got some carries with the first team during Clemson’s first scrimmage Saturday. It’s making for a tight competition to replace the ACC’s all-time leading rusher, Travis Etienne, who’s now in training camp with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

“They all got in there and got some work with the ones,” Swinney said.

Dixon enters his senior season with 208 career carries while Pace, a sophomore, had 23 touches (18 carries, 5 receptions) in limited playing time as a true freshman. Offensive coordinator Tony Elliott noted Pace had some impactful runs in the scrimmage, including one in the red zone where he pushed the pile for a touchdown.

“It was tough sledding today with what they were doing on defense,” Elliott said of the running game. “They had a bunch of guys around the box and playing aggressive, so we had try to do some different things — try to move the pocket, get the ball on the perimeter and use some RPO stuff.”

With the edge in experience, Dixon or Pace could be considered the favorite to be the first running back to take the field with Clemson’s offense in the season opener against Georgia on Sept. 4. But Shipley, who has consistently drawn the praise of coaches and teammates in camp for his speed and unusually advanced level of maturity for a first-year player, may be their stiffest competition.

The five-star signee, who’s been on campus since January, began camp rotating in with the second-team offense and has even gotten some first-team reps during certain team periods, but he’s not the only newcomer making an impression on Swinney and the rest of the coaching staff. Phil Mafah, another early enrollee who’s going through his second installation of the offense, repped mainly with the twos during the scrimmage, Swinney said.

Yet Swinney admitted Saturday wasn’t exactly the best situation in which to evaluate the backs and the running game as a whole. Clemson’s aggressiveness on defense was purposeful in trying to put D.J. Uiagalelei in uncomfortable situations in order to test the sophomore quarterback, so the passing game was more of the offensive focus in the first scrimmage.

That figures to change when the Tigers scrimmage again Thursday. Until then, the separation is likely to remain minimal in the backfield.

“Sometimes it’s a mixed bag because there are certain things you want to work on, and maybe it doesn’t match up to what you’re seeing on defense,” Swinney said. “Both sides are working on their stuff, you know? … So there were certain aspects we wanted to work on today.”

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How is Clemson’s running back competition shaping up?

Clemson has no small task when it comes to finding its next workhorse at running back, and whether or not a featured option even emerges in the Tigers’ backfield is still a question without an answer. But there is no shortage of candidates. Travis …

But there is no shortage of candidates.

Travis Etienne is no longer around. The ACC’s all-time leading rusher is in Florida going through his first NFL training camp with the Jacksonville Jaguars, but Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said he likes the potential of the running backs still on his roster even if they don’t yet have the production to go with it.

The task for Swinney, offensive coordinator Tony Elliott and running backs coach C.J. Spiller over the next three weeks is settling on the depth chart there, which remains fluid six practices in.

“From top to bottom, it’s a really good group,” Swinney said. “Certainly, those top guys, they will all have an opportunity.”

Lyn-J Dixon and Kobe Pace entered fall camp listed as co-starters, and there hasn’t been much separation to speak of so far. Dixon, a senior, is the more experienced of the two having spent the last four years as Etienne’s primary backup, but Pace has gotten his fair share of reps with the first-team offense during portions of practice that have been open to the media for viewing.

Asked exactly how those first-team reps have been split between the two, Pace said it’s essentially been 50-50 but left some lines to read between with his answer. Ultimately, though, Pace said he isn’t exactly keeping count.

“I’m not going to say I’m getting the most reps because it doesn’t matter,” Pace said. “Whoever runs out there should get the job done.”

But one of Clemson’s running backs will take the field first when the Tigers open the season Sept. 4 against Georgia in the Duke’s Mayo Classic. Pace said he’s gotten more comfortable with the playbook since last season when he got 18 carries and caught seven passes in nine games as a true freshman, which he believes should help in his bid to do that.

Meanwhile, Dixon said he still wants to improve every facet of his game if he’s going to separate himself from the pack. The 5-10, 195-pounder has rushed for 1,372 yards and 13 touchdowns in 39 career games and ranks second only to Etienne in school history in yards per carry (6.6), but whether it’s durability, receiving skills or pass protection, Dixon said he still has a lot to prove to his coaches considering the role he’s pursuing.

“Even though I know I could be good at something, I want to be great at something,” Dixon said. “So I’m going to keep working on everything and perfecting my craft with everything I do.”

There’s also true freshman Will Shipley, who’s created plenty of buzz during camp. The five-star signee has impressed with his natural leadership skills and raw speed, which some teammates believe may be the best on the team. There’s also not quite as steep a learning curve at this point for him and fellow freshman Phil Mafa, who have been with the program since January after enrolling early.

“They don’t look like freshmen at all,” Swinney said.

Sixth-year senior Derien Rencher has largely been used as a reserve during his time with the Tigers, but Swinney said he fully trusts the 5-8, 195-pounder when he gets in a game. It’s made for plenty of heated competition that will continue among the backs as they aim for their spots in the pecking order.

“It’s like you can’t take no day off, so you’ve got to keep working and keep working hard each and every day,” Dixon said.

Swinney said every back is still in contention for the top spot on the depth chart. And given how tight the competition has been so far, he didn’t rule out the possibility of that fluidity remaining in place once the season arrives.

“All those guys have done a good job, but it’s going to be a tough competition,” Swinney said. “And it’s not like we’re going to just play one guy. That could be a game-by-game, week-by-week type of deal just based on how it all shakes out. But they can all play.”

Bockhorst provides offensive outlook, anticipates having ‘an explosive’ offense

Matt Bockhorst had plenty to say during the ACC Kickoff in Charlotte on Thursday. Bockhorst came to the defense and praised his own unit, but he also took time to commend all the pieces and position groups around him offensively. He provided quite …

Matt Bockhorst had plenty to say during the ACC Kickoff in Charlotte on Thursday.

Bockhorst came to the defense and praised his own unit, but he also took time to commend all the pieces and position groups around him offensively.

He provided quite the offensive outlook from running back to tight end to wide receiver, giving a mini-preview of each position group.

Clemson’s starting left guard was asked what type of offense he expects to hit the ground running when the Tigers are back in Charlotte to face off against Georgia on Sept. 4.

“An explosive one,” Bockhorst said, without much hesitation.

Bockhorst acknowledged the high-profile losses that Clemson has experienced on the offensive side of the ball. Everyone that the Tigers had drafted in April’s NFL draft was on offense: Trevor Lawrence, Tarvis Etienne, Jackson Carman, Amari Rodgers and Cornell Powell.

Clemson’s anchor on the offensive line really went into detail about what to expect out of the Tigers backfield, especially for life beyond Etienne.

“We got some pretty good young guys too,” Bockhorst said. “That guy over there D.J. [Uiagalelei] playing quarterback, he’s not too shabby. And then from a running back perspective, I’m even more excited because of the amount of guys that we have. I think that you’re going to see a running back by committee and that’s fantastic because you can just keep going, you can keep going. We’ve got some young guys and old guys. Lyn-J’s been here for a long time. You got guys like [true freshman running back] Will Shipley coming in that are going to compete.”

Bockhorst spoke highly of senior running back Lyn-J Dixon, who was named as one of 82 players on the watch list for the Doak Walker Award, which is presented to the nation’s top running back at the end of the season.

Dixon enters the 2021 season as the elder statesman in Clemson’s running back room. For his Clemson career, he has 1,372 rushing yards on 208 career attempts with 13 rushing touchdowns.

“Lyn-J Dixon, I love that dude,” Bockhorst said. “He’s great. Everyone’s given the attention to Travis over the past four years and Travis was an exceptional player, but Lyn-J has had a pretty big role too. He’s made some big plays and he’s got the ability too. But at the same time, I think to have the depth..to have the ability to do that is something that most teams don’t have. Since we have this depth and we’ve got 3,4,5 guys that can play, that changes the dynamic.”

Bockhorst doesn’t know if Dixon will be the first guy out there against Georgia but made it clear that he doesn’t believe that the first guy who’s in the backfield will matter much because of an expected rotation. That very well may include a couple of true freshmen.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, Shipley is the newcomer that excites Bockhorst the most.

“I really like Will,” he said. “I think that once again, talking about having success as a young guy in this program, you come in and relentlessly work hard and you’ll find a way. Not to mention that he’s an incredibly talented guy and I just think that a lot of guys respect the way that he carries himself. We got a deep running back room, a very deep running back room, but I’m excited to see the way he competes this year and I really believe that he’s going to be a strong contributor for our team.”

Speaking of newcomers, Bockhorst was asked just about his early impressions from freshmen offensive linemen Dietrick Pennington and Tristan Leigh thus far.

“Obviously, they’re huge,” Bockhorst said. “I just think it’s good to see some size walk through the door. I know that was something that we wanted to emphasize and you can tell that they’re recruiting that, so that’s good to see. Obviously, they’re both specimens. Dietrick, you just look at the dude, he looks like he plays in the NFL.

“Those dudes have really fit in and kind of just made it work. It’s hard for freshmen anytime, but they’ve done a really good job of getting with the program and falling in line. I’m excited about both of those guys and Tristan as well. Obviously, you can see why he was a highly recruited, very twitchy guy. I’m excited about those and hopefully, they can potentially help this camp. You never know.”

From there, Bockhorst wanted to make sure he acknowledged just how stacked Clemson is at the tight end position.

“I think this is the best tight end group, without question, that we’ve had during my time here,” he said. “We’ve got really good players, but we’ve got a variety of types of players.

“You got [senior] Braden Galloway, who’s more of a receiving type. [Redshirt senior] Luke Price is back from a torn ACL, he’s that more fullback type of guy. [Junior] Davis Allen can do it all and we got [freshman Jake] Briningstool, we got [redshirt freshman] Sage Ennis. We’re loaded at tight end, we have plenty at tight end.”

Last, but certainly not least is the wide receiver position.

There obviously remain some health concerns with the unit headed into fall camp, but if the receivers can avoid that injury bug stipulation, they have quite the season ahead of them.

“That’s Clemson’s brand is the receivers,” Bockhorst said. “If we’re healthy like we’re supposed to be, then good luck to anybody else.”

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Is Spiller more open to a pecking order heading to fall camp?

In the last seven seasons Clemson has had two different leading rushers, Travis Etienne and Wayne Gallman. As the Tigers prepare to enter fall camp in a couple of weeks, they find themselves in unfamiliar territory without a leading candidate who …

In the last seven seasons Clemson has had two different leading rushers, Travis Etienne and Wayne Gallman.

As the Tigers prepare to enter fall camp in a couple of weeks, they find themselves in unfamiliar territory without a leading candidate who has emerged as the starting running back.

Running backs coach C.J. Spiller beat around the bush when asked about a pecking order at the Clemson Football Media Day on Tuesday.

But Spiller doesn’t feel like his unit necessarily needs an alpha dog in order to be successful when the season kicks off.

“As far as having that one lead dog I don’t think we need that because it will take a collective effort from everybody,” Spiller said. “In years past you always had Travis but as a running back it is going to take multiple guys for us to be successful.”

Clemson does not lack talent in the running back room with Kobe Pace, Lyn-J Dixon, Phil Mafah and Will Shipley all vying for carries. In Spiller’s assessment all four tailbacks and Darien Rencher are needed for the group to maintain the high standard for the Tigers.

“You have to make sure everybody in your room is prepared because if somebody goes down that doesn’t mean the standard goes down, the standard won’t go down and it will be set at a high level,” Spiller said. “Guys that came through here like Terry Allen, James Davis, Wayne Gallman, Andre Ellington, Reggie Merriweather set that standard.”

Pace showed out in the Orange and White game this spring as he led both squads in rushing with six carries for 64 yards and a touchdown and impressed the coaching staff throughout spring practice. Dixon asserted himself as the No. 2 while Etienne toted the rock and brings experience to the unit as a senior.

The freshmen Mafah and Shipley will also compete for carries immediately during fall camp. Shipley enters with high expectations as a five-star talent that was rated as the No. 1 all-purpose back by some services with his speed and knack for winning games. Mafah brings a unique mix of speed and power that he showed in the spring.

“As far as ball carrying yes because you never know what is going to happen in the game,” Spiller said. “There is a high standard in our room so it doesn’t matter who runs out there those guys on the sideline watching you will expect you to get the job done.”

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Replacing Etienne will not be easy, but it is not why you think

Going into spring practices no one was really sure what to expect at the running back position at Clemson. The coaches had the task of replacing the ACC’s all-time leading rusher in Consensus All-American Travis Etienne. That was not going to be an …

That was not going to be an easy task, or so they thought. The Tigers’ ability to recruit the position at a high level seems to be paying off. So much so, new running backs coach C.J. Spiller says he will have no pecking order when it comes to the depth chart coming into fall camp, which will begin next month.

Besides having a career 1,000-yard runner in Lyn-J Dixon, Clemson also so saw tremendous progression from sophomore Kobe Pace, as well as in freshman running backs Phil Mafah and Will Shipley. The Tigers also have Darien Rencher and Michel Dukes in the mix, too.

Lyn-J Dixon, Sr., 5-10, 195: The rising senior enters 2021 with 1,372 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns on 208 career attempts and 183 yards on 18 catches in 38 games. He enters his fourth season ranked second in school history, behind Etienne, in yards per carry (6.60). He was banged up a good bit in 2020 due to a knee injury he suffered in the preseason. However, he played well for the Tigers down the stretch. Dixon rushed for 46 yards and scored a touchdown against Pittsburgh in Game 9. He also recorded a 19-yard touchdown run against Virginia Tech in the regular-season finale and had a 15-yard run against Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl. In the Spring Game, he carried the ball just four times, but he averaged 6.3 yards per carry.

Kobe Pace, So., 5-10, 215: As a true freshman in 2020, Pace carried the ball 18 times for 75 yards, while playing in nine games. He also caught five passes for 26 yards with one touchdown. In his 18 carries, he was not stopped behind the line of scrimmage. He scored his first career touchdown on a 7-yard reception against Georgia Tech. Pace led all runners with 69 yards on six carries in the Spring Game, including a 26-yard run.

Phil Mafah, Fr., 6-1, 220: The freshman ran for 38 yards on six carries, including the game winning score in the Spring Game. In three years at Grayson High (Loganville, Ga.), he rushed for 2,526 yards on 288 carries, an 8.8-yard per carry average, and scored 37 total touchdowns. He had 10 100-yard rushing games in 29 career games. Hailing from the same high school as former Clemson great and current New York Giants running back Wayne Gallman, Mafah is a different type of back than Gallman. He possesses an outstanding combination of size and speed. He is a downhill runner who is known for running between the tackles at 220-plus pounds, but also has enough speed to race past defenders and take the ball to the house. Mafah’s athleticism shows up on film, and he has the ability to make defenders miss in space.

Will Shipley, Fr., 5-11, 200: He was invited to play in the Under Armour All-America Game and was the Gatorade Player of the Year in North Carolina and Charlotte Observer Player of the Year for 2019. He was the MVP of the 2019 state championship game when he rushed for 256 yards and scored four touchdowns in a win over Lee County. He rushed for 4,173 yards on 503 carries (8.3 yards per rush) in his three-year high school career, and also had 1,411 receiving yards on 84 catches for a 16.8-yard average. He scored 80 touchdowns in his career. Shipley, is a threat out of the backfield catching passes in addition to the weapon he is in the run game. He looks like a power back at 5-foot-11 and around 200 pounds, but also has top-end speed — as evidenced by his sub-4.5 second 40-yard dash time — and can not only run by defenders but has the physicality and toughness to run through tackles as well. He is adept at using his excellent vision to follow blocks and find running room.

Michel Dukes, Jr., 5-10, 205: Dukes has played in 18 games in his Clemson career, including eight games last year. He has rushed for 205 yards and scored two touchdowns on 40 career carries. In 2020, he ran the ball eight times for 55 yards.

Darien Rencher, *Gr., 5-8, 195: Originally a walk-on, Rencher turned into a team and community leader last season. The graduate student enters 2021 having recorded 74 carries for 375 yards and three touchdowns while playing in 35 games in his career. In 2020, he won the Disney Spirit Award, which is presented annually to college football’s most inspirational player, coach, team or figure. On the field, he played in all 12 games and rushed 24 times for 137 yards with one touchdown and caught two passes for 15 yards. His 50-yard touchdown against Virginia Tech in the season-finale was the second longest run of the season by any Clemson player.

Note: *redshirt

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Notre Dame vs. Clemson: Positional breakdown advantages

A breakdown of each position for Notre Dame and Clemson and who has the advantage.

This is the game of the year in the ACC, if not all college football, at least in the regular season. No. 1 Clemson travels to South Bend to take on No. 4 Notre Dame. This highly anticipated game will feature a number of future NFL stars.

A look at each position and which team has the advantage in Saturday’s huge contest.

Don’t forget to take a look at each of our tales of the tape as well (wide receivers, running backs, and quarterbacks)

(Some photo’s courtesy of Notre Dame Athletics)