Defense Dominates First Football Scrimmage

August 17, 1998

CLEMSON, S.C. – Defense dominated Clemson’s first scrimmage of the preseason camp on Sunday. The Tigers worked out on the practice fields behind the Jervey Athletic Center for an hour and 40 minutes. The scrimmage took 45 minutes.

Clemson will return to two-a-day workouts on Monday and Tuesday, then hold a scrimmage in Memorial Stadium on Wednesday at 4:30 PM. That scrimmage will be open to the public. School starts at Clemson on Thursday.

“The defense is definitely ahead of the offense, ” said West, who started the scrimmage with the #1 offense going against the #1 defense. “We really did a good job stopping the run on defense and we did a good job in pass defense also. I was happy with the way the defense performed all day.

“Offensively, we are very soft right now. We need to get much tougher on offense mentally, physically, at any area of the offense. We have a lot of work to do on offense. I couldn’t tell you anyone on our offense who is ready to play a football game.

“We went 1 vs. 1 because we wanted to get the freshmen som experience against the veteran players.

“Defensively, we had some players stand out. Keith Adams showed up today. We hope he can keep it going. Donald Broomfield made some big players, he has continued to improve from last season.”

Broomfield had two tackles for loss and two pass deflections. Rahim Abdullah had two tackles for loss. Braxton K. Williams, a freshman defensive back, had the only interception of the scrimmage.

West did have some positive news offensively from a health standpoint. Mike Seth and Rod Gardner returned to practice after missing Saturday’s double sessions with pulled hamstrings. Starter Brian Wofford continues to be out of the lineup with a sprained foot, while Matt Bailey is also on the injured list with a pulled hamstring.

David Richardson missed the scrimmage with a toe injury, but he should return early next week. Tailback Travis Zachery did not practice due to a foot injury.