Clemson Holds Second Spring Scrimmage

CLEMSON, SC – Vic Beasley had four quarterback sacks and Grady Jarrett added three to highlight the play of the defense in Clemson’s stadium scrimmage on Monday afternoon. The Tigers are preparing for the annual spring football game this Saturday at 4 PM at Memorial Stadium.

Beasley has been a dominant force from the defensive end all spring after collecting eight sacks in just 288 plays as a reserve during the 2012 season. But, he is first team player now and put pressure on the quarterbacks the entire day.

One of the quarterbacks he did not pressure was All-American Tajh Boyd, who played just the first four snaps of the scrimmage. Clemson Head Coach Dabo Swinney decided to give Cole Stoudt and Chad Kelly the majority of the work on Monday.

The defense had 14 sacks and 18 total tackles for loss to go with seven pass deflections and an interception. It should be noted that quarterbacks could not be tackled and quarterbacks were considered down when just touched by a defender.

Still, Head Coach Dabo Swinney was pleased with what he saw. “I know I have a good offense with good players and good coaches, so to see the defense play as well as they did today was good to see. I will sleep tonight. The defense played with a fire and intensity today, really the entire scrimmage. Our defensive line was dominant from the first player to the last.”

In addition to the performance by Beasley and Jarrett, D.J. Reader had a strong scrimmage with five tackles, including two sacks and three total tackles for loss. Linebacker Kellen Jones had five tackles, including three tackles for loss. Garry Peters had the only interception of the day and returned it 21 yards. Spencer Shuey was the top tackler with six. Linebacker B.J. Goodson had three passes broken up.

Cole Stoudt completed 10-18 passes for 81 yards and a touchdown. His touchdown pass was a seven-yarder to freshman Germone Hopper. Kelly completed 7-15 passes for 78 yards. He threw a 49-yard touchdown pass to Charone Peake, who turned a screen pass into a big play. It completed a 99-yard drive for the offense, the only long drive of the day.

Freshman Nick Schuessler of Grayson, GA completed 4-9 passes for 72 yards, including a 40-yard completion to Daniel Rodriguez. That play set up a five yard touchdown run by George Johnson.

D.J. Howard was the top rusher in the scrimmage with 5-39, while Zac Brooks had 11-24. Howard also had two touchdowns in the short-yardage portion of the workout. Rod McDowell had 4-17.

Jordan Leggett, a 6-6 tight end from Navarre, FL who entered Clemson in January, had four catches for 56 yards. Stanton Seckinger had 4-42, and Martavis Bryant had four receptions for 28 yards. Sammy Watkins played sparingly and had just one catch for five yards, as Swinney gave most of the action to younger wide receivers. Adam Humphries had two receptions for 32 yards, including a 27-yard reception from Boyd on the second play of the scrimmage.