Football Has First Full Contact Practice

August 14, 1998

CLEMSON, S.C. — The Clemson Tigers had their first practice of full contact Friday afternoon on the practice fields behind the Jervey Athletic Center. Tommy West’s Tigers practice twice on Friday, in shorts and shoulder pads in the morning and in full uniform for nearly two hours in the afternoon.

The Tigers will practice twice on Saturday and once Sunday. They will not hold a stadium scrimmage until Wednesday, the last day of two-a-days.

Starting wide receiver Brian Wofford suffered a sprained ankle in the practice and x-rays were negative, but the junior from Spartanburg, SC will miss at least the rest of the weekend’s practices. Wofford has more career receptions than any other Tiger.

Starting tailback Travis Zachery missed his second straight day of practice due to a foot injury, but he is expected to return any day. Running back Dymon Adams returned to practice after missing Thursday’s workouts with a pulled hamstring. Wide receiver Matt Bailey missed both of Friday’s workouts with a pulled hamstring. Starting kicker David Richardson missed practice on Friday afternoon due to a toe injury on his kicking foot.

“We tried hard today, but we looked sloppy,” said West. “It was a typical first day in pads. We saw some good things, but the offense was inconsistent. We are playing a lot of people and that has something to do with that.”

West also announced that he had moved freshman quarterback Joe Don Reames to cornerback on Friday. “Joe Don and I talked Thursday night. He wants to play this year and we thought cornerback would be a position he could help us this year. He has a lot of athletic ability, he can run, he has good feet and he is a tough guy. This is a move he is comfortable with.”

West said his young offensive linemen competed in Friday’s first day of work in pads. “I thought all the freshmen offensive linemen did well in our one-one-one drills. I saw the young kids compete. It is tough for some of our offensive linemen to go up against a guy like Adrian Dingle. But none of the freshmen linemen backed down and that was good to see.”