Clemson Holds Final Scrimmage in Death Valley Before Season Opener

August 26, 1998

August 26, 1998 Clemson, SC–Redshirt freshman Woodrow Dantzler rushed for 93 yards over his final eight carries of the day to highlight Clemson’s 75-play scrimmage held in Death Valley on Wednesday afternoon. It was the last time the Tigers will scrimmage in Memorial Stadium before their season opening game with Furman on September 5.

Dantzler, a backup quarterback, finished the afternoon with 76 yards rushing on 12 carries. After four carries the Orangeburg, SC native had minus 17 yards. On his fifth carry however, he scampered for 48 yards and later added a pair of 14-yard carries to his total. Dantzler finished the day 3-7 passing for 30 yards. Those totals include a nine-yard TD pass to Mal Lawyer.

Quarterback Brandon Streeter was 6-15 for 74 yards on the afternoon. Half of those yards came on one play when he hooked up with Marcus Martin for a 37-yard pass play over the middle. Martin finished as Clemson’s leading receiver with 3 catches for 55 yards. On the very next play, tailback Dymon Adams rushed in from 13 yards for one of three touchdowns the offense produced on the day.

Freshman quarterback Matt Schell also had a 13-yard score. Schell rushed for 53 of the offense’s 70 yards on its third scoring drive of the afternoon. Fellow backup quarterback Slade Nagle was 2-5 passing for 62 yards with one interception. Nagle’s highlight of the day came when he connected with Matt Bailey for a 50-yard bomb.

Defensively, freshman cornerback Alex Ardley led the way with six tackles. Outside linebacker Rahim Abdullah and defensive tackle Freddie James both recorded two sacks apiece. James was also a part of three tackles for loss.

On the injury front, running back Javis Austin suffered from heat exhaustion and was taken to an area hospital to receive fluids. Defensive end Terry Bryant injured his knee during the scrimmage and wide out Matt Bailey had a muscle pull in his lower leg.

“I was not really impressed with either side of the ball today. There were some positives. I thought Woody Dantzler came in and picked our offense up a little bit when we weren’t doing anything. He came in and made some plays and it looked like he was ready to do somethings for us,” said Tommy West.

“What we have to do now as a football team is get our people healthy. Get the people that are going to play on the field and ready to play.

“The number-two offensive line is not anywhere close to being ready to play in a game as a group. We have to evaluate now who we think has a chance to be ready to be a backup.

“It was hot and tough day for our team. We wanted it to be a tough day because this is the last time we are going to be in here (Death Valley) before we play.”