Football Scrimmage Brief for August 19

Aug. 19, 1998

CLEMSON, S.C. – The Childress brothers, Gary and O.J. combined for five sacks and seven tackles for loss, to highlight Clemson’s 70-play football scrimmage in Death Valley Wednesday afternoon. It was the first stadium scrimmage and the end of preseason camp for the Tigers. Tommy West’s team and the rest of the Clemson student body will start classes on Thursday.

Gary Childress, a junior defensive tackle, had three sacks and four tackles for loss, while O.J. Childress, a senior linebacker had three tackles for loss and two sacks. Once again the defense was outstanding. Chris Jones was the top tackler with six tackles, including two for loss. Red-shirt freshman defensive tackle Jovon Bush had three tackles for loss, including a sack.

Quarterback Brandon Streeter played just 20 snaps, as Tommy West wanted to get as much work as possible for his reserve quarterbacks. Streeter was 4-10 for 22 yards in limited action. He led the number-one offense on a 13-play drive to open the scrimmage. Travis Zachery scored on a nine-yard touchdown run, but the play was called back by a holding penalty. The offense settled for a 22-yard field goal by David Richardson.

Backup quarterback Slade Nagle played just seven snaps as he suffered a head injury on a shocking tackle by freshman Keith Adams. The injury was not serious and Nagle walked off under his own power, but he did not return.

Three other Clemson players suffered injuries in the scrimmage. Starting middle guard DaMonte McKenzie and starting cornerback Darrel Crutchfield suffered sprained knees. Starting offensive tackle Matt Butler suffered a sprained ankle.

Running back Javis Austin (hamstring), wide receiver Matt Bailey (hamstring) and wide receiver Brian Wofford (sprained foot) all missed the scrimmage due to injury.

Leading the running backs were red-shirt freshman Travis Zachery, who had eight rushes for 48 yards, and he caught a pass for seven yards. First-year freshman Vince Ciurci had nine rushes for 48 yards and caught three passes for 24 yards. Dymon Adams had nine rushes for 24 yards. Nine different receivers caught passes in the scrimmage.

“It was a good preseason camp,” said West. “The scrimmage before the end of camp is usually like a pillow fight. But, today there were more good licks than any time I can remember on a last scrimmage. We have accomplished what we wanted to do heading into camp and that was to get as many reps as possible, but still stay healthy and fresh.

“We are ahead in terms of the kicking game compared to previous years. We have a lot of things in. We should have all of our kicking in by next Saturday.

“I would like our number-two line to be ahead of its current pace. There is a large difference between the first line and the second line. The first offensive line is playing well right now.

“The #1 offense showed a lot of improvement from last Sunday. Brandon is right where we want him at this time. He played just 20 snaps today because we want to get Slade and Woody some snaps.

“On defense, Keith Adams showed up again today. Any time we do something in a scrimmage situation he shows up. He has a chance to contribute to this football team.

“We aren’t ready to play a game, but we don’t have to for 17 days. I am comfortable as to where the team is today and the progress that has been made.