Saturday 08/09/2008
Aug. 9, 2008
Post-Scrimmage Interview with Coach Bowden
Clemson, SC – Seniors Aaron Kelly and James Davis both scored touchdowns on offense and freshman DaQuan Bowers had three sacks on defense to highlight play in Clemson’s first preseason scrimmage of 2008. The Tigers finished nine consecutive days of practice on Saturday.
The team will break for Fan Appreciation Day on Sunday. The Tigers will be available for autographs and pictures between 3:00 PM and 5:00 PM at Clemson Memorial Stadium.
Kelly, who needs just 671 receiving yards to become Clemson’s career leader, had four receptions for 53 yards, including a 34-yard scoring pass from Cullen Harper. Davis played sparingly as Clemson coaches used the scrimmage to work younger running backs. The senior who needs 837 rushing yards to become Clemson’s career leader, scored against the first team defense on a three-yard run and finished with four carries for 15 yards.
Head Coach Tommy Bowden did get his younger players plenty of action. Freshman Jamie Harper had eight rushes for 36 yards, had a reception for five yards and started the scrimmage with a 60-yard kickoff return. Classmate Andre Ellington had seven carries for 16 yards.
Quarterback Cullen Harper completed 12-20 passes for 140 yards and a touchdown, but he threw two interceptions. Harper had 27 touchdown passes and threw just six interceptions all of last year. In addition to Kelly, Tyler Grisham caught three passes for 24 yards. Freshman Willy Korn. The freshman from Byrnes High School guided the second team offense and completed 11 of 17 passes for 82 yards and the score.
Ronald Watson, jr. had 10 rushes for 34 yards.
Seventeen different players caught passes in Rob Spence’s balanced offense. All 10 players who have uniform numbers in the 80s had at least one catch.
Sadat Chambers led the defense with seven tackles. He ran with the first team for much of the scrimmage because Chris Clemons missed the practice while receiving his undergraduate degree from Clemson. Running back Paul Macko also missed the scrimmage for the same reason.
Bowers, ranked as the number-one freshman in the nation by ESPN.com coming out of high school, had three sacks and four total tackles. All three of the sacks were against he second team offense. DeAndre McDaniel joined Chambers with an interception in the workout that lasted two hours and 45 minutes.
Reserve defensive end Jeremy Campbell, Crezdon Butler, McDaniel and Byron Maxwell all had five tackles. Butler also had two pass deflections.
“It was a good scrimmage, but you can see our team needs a break,” said Bowden of his team that has practiced nine straight days for 10 total practices. “We will have a day and a half off from practice and the timing for the break is goo.
“I can’t really say whether the offense or the defense is ahead at the moment. Northing stood out as far as that is concerned, there was not big advantage. The guys competed and that is important at this point.”
“We saw some young guys play well today. Jamie Harper got things off to an exciting start with a 60-yard kickoff return to open the scrimmage. The quarterbacks looked good. Mark Buchholz made a 51-yard field goal, that was good to see. I thought the snappers did a good job also. Jimmy Maners continues this week. We will have another scrimmage next Saturday.”
Antwon Murchison missed the practice with a knee injury. Rashaad Jackson was the only player to suffer an injury during the scrimmage. He sustained a knee injury that will be evaluated Sunday and Monday.
Clemson Scrimmage Stats August 9, 2008
Passing (Com-Att-Yds-Int-TD) C. Harper 12-20-140-2-1; Korn 11-17-82-0-1; Wade 3-5-28-0-0; Parker 1-1-12-0-0; Richt 0-2-0-0-0.
Rushing (Att-Yds-TD) J. Harper 8-36, Watson, 10-34, Spiller 7-32; Ford 3-17; Ellington 7-16; Davis 4-15-1; Brown 2-5
Receiving (Rec-Yds-TD) Kelly 4-53-1; Grisham 3-24; J. Brown 3-24-1; Byron Clear 2-32, Faerber 2-0; Linthicum 1-21; Jones 1-19; B. Ford 1-14, J. Ford 1-6, Spiller 1-6, Palmer 1-11, J. Harper 1-5, Barry 1-7, Johnson 1-5, Watson 1-7, Allen 1-12
Tackles Chambers 7, Branch 6, McDaniel 5, Butler 5, Maxwell 5, Campbell 5, Bowers 4, Hunter 4, Conner 4
Interceptions McDaniel 1-5, Chambers 1-0
December 8, 2024
