Clemson Practice Brief – Friday, August 18

Aug. 18, 2006

Clemson, SC- Clemson practiced twice on Friday on the practice fields behind the Jervey Athletic Center. Tommy Bowden’s Tigers worked for 22 periods in the morning in full pads and for 18 periods in the late afternoon in shells.

“It was a good day of practice,” said Bowden. “We didn’t condition after the second practice (run sprints) because we want to save their legs for Saturday’s scrimmage.

Clemson will work in Death Valley in the morning. The scrimmage is closed to the public and the media.

“It will be an important scrimmage. We want to see how the freshmen have progressed. We are getting close to the time where we will try to predict who will help us by the fourth of fifth games of the year. That will be the determining factor in deciding whom we red-shirt.”

Bowden said starting linebacker Tramaine Billie had surgery on Friday for a broken ankle suffered at the end of practice on Wednesday. He said Billie would be out a minimum of 6-8 weeks. He planned to meet with Billie and his family over the weekend to determine his status with the team this year. Billie is eligible for a red-shirt season and could return for 2007 if he sits out this year.

“Tramaine was having a tremendous camp. I told the team we had some time to see who would step up in his place, but one thing we won’t replace is his speed. “

Billie was Clemson’s third leading tackler last year with 93 tackles. He has started each of the last 18 Clemson games and the Tigers are 13-5 in those games.

Bowden also announced that snapper Colin Leonard and reserve running back Paul Macko would be on scholarship for this year. Leonard is a junior from Lafayette, IN and is in his fourth year in the program. He lettered in 2005. Macko is a junior from Wadsworth, OH who played in one game last year.