CLEMSON, SC - We were informed this morning that someone in the local Clemson media corps has tested to positive, and out of caution, the remainder of our interviews during camp will be on Zoom like last season. Personally, I've been vaccinated since early May, and I presumed that everyone else in the Clemson media was as well. I don't know what kind of idiot would go show up at interviews unvaccinated without a mask! Maybe it was one of those variant strains that is impervious to the vaccine.
Anyway, we got to speak to Dabo, Tony Elliott, Tyler Davis and Myles Murphy on Zoom this evening after their first stadium scrimmage of camp. The defense dominated the day and was extremely stingy. DJ and Hunter Helms were able to move the offense, but they weren't able to score until late in the scrimmage. Remarkably, the defense had zero penalties today! That's pretty rare, especially for a first scrimmage, and it indicates that this defense is as disciplined as it is talented. On the other hand, Dabo said there were penalties aplenty by the offense, as well as a fumble. Dabo said 2 or 3 players were banged up, but he didn't think it was anything too serious. A source who was at the scrimmage told me that he thought it looked like Andrew Booth might have strained his peck, so I'll follow up on that on Monday. He also said that Pace scored one of the two touchdowns on a short run, and Dacari Collins scored the other on a short TD pass. Dacari also had a nice 30-yard catch from Hunter Helms. It sounds like Pace was running with DJ and the 1's for most of the scrimmage, and Will Shipley was running with Helms and the 2's. Dixon was with the 3's for the most part, which confirms what I suspected would be the eventual pecking order this season: Pace/Shipley followed by Dixon. The freshman quarterbacks, Will Taylor and Billy Wiles, didn't do a whole lot in the scrimmage, but Taylor did demonstrate his athletic ability despite the touch rule for quarterbacks. Taisun obviously sat out the scrimmage, as he is not 100 percent yet. Ross made his camp debut Friday but missed the scrimmage because NCAA rules require him to acclimate for 3 days without pads.
The Tigers will get Sunday off and be back at it on Monday. The full interviews are below!
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