Eye on the Tigers: March 2012

A few observations and nuggets as we close the week of spring practice:

-- Sounds like there's been a lot of shuffling so far on the offensive line. Makes sense with so much inexperience up front.

Ryan Norton has been playing some guard behind Kalon Davis on the left side. The freshmen are getting some long looks right now. We've heard good things about freshman Patrick DeStefano. He could be a strong contender for a second-team guard spot behind Davis and Tyler Shatley.

Norton has struggled some with his shotgun snaps when he's played center.

Overall, the returns we've received on the offensive line have been good. Still plenty of questions, particularly at left guard and right tackle, but it's better than people anticipated it would be at this point.

-- The interior defensive line is facing major question marks after the loss of Brandon Thompson, Rennie Moore and Shatley. Hard to believe DeShawn Williams is the most experienced returning player on the interior, with all of 138 snaps.

That said, it was interesting the other day when Brent Venables told me he's more concerned with his depth at defensive end. The Tigers are in good shape at starter with Malliciah Goodman and Corey Crawford, but beyond them it's a huge mystery.

I wonder if Vic Beasley is suited for defensive end. He's a freak of an athlete, and you'd think if he didn't start making a move at end they'd put him somewhere else (maybe tight end?) to get him on the field.

This isn't to write off Beasley's chances of making an impact at defensive end, but the reviews we've heard haven't yet been glowing.

-- As we told you earlier this week, the Pistol doesn't appear to be a mere little wrinkle Chad Morris plans to use from time to time. They've been running a ton of it thus far during spring practice, and it appears it'll be a big part of the offense.

Last year, Morris had to use some smoke and mirrors to generate a running game because the offensive line wasn't consistent enough in moving people off the ball. Morris told us in an interview last month that he wants to run the ball vertically instead of horizontally, and there was a lot more of the latter last season.

The Pistol opens up more possibilities with the between-the-tackles running game Morris desires. It takes the pressure off the tackles somewhat, and it puts a lot of responsibility on the guards. If Shatley, Davis and others can be consistent at the guard spots, the Tigers could end up with a successful A-gap running game out of the Pistol.

-- Here's one positive about Venables that we haven't discussed to this point:

The folks we talk to say the linebackers played laterally much more under Kevin Steele than they will under Venables. There's been a lot more downhill running by the linebackers thus far, a lot more attacking and moving forward instead of waiting for ball-carriers and blockers to come to them.

It also sounds like Venables is more hands-on than Steele as a teacher, going through assignments himself and demonstrating the proper technique.

-- We've heard Wednesday's practice went much better after an ugly showing Monday during the first session after spring break. Wednesday's practice was very physical, with a lot of time devoted to inside drill.

Today's practice coincides with the high school coaches' clinic, so the staff will probably make it interesting for the attendees. I'd expect we'll see quite a bit of live situations.

-- As we reported this morning, Clemson is working to salvage the dates with Georgia in 2013 and 2014. Terry Don Phillips told an Atlanta radio station that the Tigers and Bulldogs will play.

A little more insight:

Clemson probably will take a hit financially if it doesn't have seven home games in 2014, but it's a hit the athletics department is prepared to take. Reserves are in good shape, and there's so much desire to play Georgia that it will be considered money well spent.

They'll probably re-work the contract to make Georgia feel more at ease. If Clemson wanted to be really slick, it could play the 2013 game in Clemson and then back out of the 2014 trip to Athens by paying a buyout. A re-worked contract would prevent such an occurrence from happening in the event that another athletics director were in place at Clemson and had the urge to back out of the 2014 game.

-- Interesting change this year with Clemson's spring regimen. For the first time since I can remember, they're not practicing on Saturdays with the exception of the spring game. Scrimmages are taking plays on Mondays instead of Saturdays.

Apparently this change is a product of Dabo Swinney wanting to give his team some weekends off. The Tigers' staff recently visited Oklahoma State, and Swinney got the idea from Mike Gundy.

-- Speaking of that visit, Gundy recently mentioned it and Clemson in a recent article in the Oklahoma City newspaper.

Gundy said he spent about six hours with Swinney.

Gundy notices a lot of similarities between Clemson heading into the 2012 season and his 2011 Cowboys because of the depth that returns for the Tigers, most notably the quarterback-receiver combo of Tajh Boyd and Sammy Watkins. Clemson went 10-4 last season and won the ACC title before getting routed by West Virginia 70-33 in the Orange Bowl.

“They’ve got all their guys back,” Gundy said of Clemson. “So when they go out to spring ball, they’re legitimately two-deep. That’s the way we were last year. Well, now we’re into a rollover year where we’re filling some holes at quarterback and defensive end and safety.”

One Clemson coach who did not make the trip to Stillwater? Former Oklahoma defensive coordinator Brent Venables, who took the same position at Clemson after Mike Stoops returned to Norman.

“He may have been hiding,” Gundy joked. “Their defensive guys didn’t come. I like Brent. I was just giving him a hard time.”

-- The Tigers are practicing as I type this. Cris will be there for interviews afterward, so stay tuned for plenty of stuff from that over the next 24-48 hours.

Hope everyone out there is doing well!

LW