Tigers turn up the heat in stadium scrimmage, Swinney updates injuries

The heat was on in Death Valley with a stadium scrimmage, Dabo Swinney says.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sat Aug 12 15:33:48 GMT-04:00 2023

CLEMSON – The heat was on, literally, for Saturday’s stadium scrimmage in Death Valley.

The Clemson football team scrimmaged for over two hours Saturday morning, the first of two scrimmages allowed during fall camp.

Here are a few highlights, with more to come:

*Head coach Dabo Swinney remarked on how hot it was, with field temps soaring to over 100 degrees, and said it was needed after cooler temps during “Kool-Aid camp.”

*Swinney said that usually one side of the ball dominates in these scrimmages, but both sides were even today. The defense was good early, but the offense came on late.

*Quarterback Cade Klubnik threw a pick-6 that was intercepted by Cade Denhoff. However, Klubnik had a good day overall, while receivers Tyler Brown, Cole Turner, and Jake Briningstool had good days.

*Swinney said it looks like the Tigers are doing OK on the injury front.

“I know we had two or three guys go down, but I think most everybody was OK. We’ll see when we get in there,” Swinney said. “Two or three of the guys that went out came back and continued scrimmaging, got resurrected and came back. We had maybe one guy that I got to check on that had to leave. His looked like it might’ve been a little more involved. But nobody came to me, so that’s usually a good sign. But I won’t know till I get in there.”

*Cornerback Jeadyn Lukus put tight end Sage Ennis on the ground, and Ennis laid there (with the breath knocked out of him) for a few minutes. Swinney said Lukus was able to get in there because of poor perimeter blocking, and he called out Turner and Beaux Collins for lacking in that regard.

*Linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr. is nursing a sore hamstring, while quarterback Hunter Helms has a sprained foot and is in a walking boot. “I don’t know how long he’s out. It’s all intact,” Swinney said of Helms. “It’s not anything that I think’s long-term or anything like that.”

With Helms out, it looks like Paul Tyson is second-string behind Klubnik, then Christopher Vizzina, then Trent Pearman. Swinney said if something happened to Klubnik long-term, they would re-think that. He said Pearman led the best scoring drive of the day and has “moxie.”

*Wide receiver Brannon Spector is also in yellow. “He’s got a quad contusion,” Swinney said. “He got hit right in the thigh, so he’s been nursing that this past week.”

*Wide receiver Troy Stellato could be back next week, but Swinney doesn’t know for sure. “I am tired of talking about him,” he said. “If he can get back, he can compete with everyone out there."

*Kicker Robert Gunn hit a FG from 60 yards today, and he hit one from what would have been from 70 yesterday after Swinney told the team that practice could end if Gunn kicked it over the camera tower, which he did without anyone touching it.