Consistency is the key to

Tigers’ continued success

By Scott Adamson
Courtesy The Journal

scott@upstatetoday.com

CLEMSON — Dabo Swinney started preaching consistency the minute he was named Clemson’s full-time head football coach before the 2009 season. Regardless if his team is coming off a 6-7 campaign, as it did going into 2011, or a 14-1 ACC title season, which serves as the lead-in to this fall, the sermon has a familiar theme.

“My message has always been the same … I’ve never just wanted to have a great team, I’ve wanted to have a great program,” Swinney said. “To have a great program, you have to be consistent for a long period of time. I think that’s what we’ve been able to do and why we’re relevant. But ultimately, we want to win multiple national championships. We want to win multiple ACC championships. We want to be a team that’s consistent in everything we do.’

Rex Brown/Courtesy The Journal
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney and quarterback Deshaun Watson are aiming to take the Tigers back to the College Football Playoff.

In the early years of his tenure, such talk might’ve seemed overly optimistic, but no more.

This is a program built to win league titles, and in the era of the College Football Playoff and Power 5 conferences, finishing atop the ACC will more often than not lead to an opportunity to participate in the playoffs.

“I think the big thing is we all dream big, we talk about dreaming big, dreaming the dream,” Swinney said. “Last year it was dream the dream, 15 for 15. We kind of laid that out there. Let’s go earn 15 opportunities. They give you 12. You’re kind of guaranteed that. You earn what you get after that. It was something that we talked about a lot last year.”

OFFENSE

Eight starters are back on an offense that was one of the nation’s best a year ago. It all starts with Heisman Trophy hopeful Deshaun Watson, who was invited to New York for the Heisman ceremonies after a sophomore season that saw the QB throw for more than 4,000 yards and rush for 1,000-plus.

He’ll have a big group of speedy receivers to throw to, including game breaker Mike Williams. Williams was injured on the first drive of the first game in 2015, but is healthy and ready to go now that fall drills have begun.

“Mike’s a game changer,” Swinney said. “He changes everything a defense does to try and defend us. We’re in a much better spot offensively than this time last year going in. We played four freshmen at wideout last year.”

Wayne Gallman leads the ground game, returning to the lineup after setting a single-season school rushing record with 1,527 yards.

Incoming freshman Tavien Feaster has recovered from offseason shoulder surgery and is ready to go. If he lives up to his preseason billing, he could not only provide depth to the Tiger backfield, but give the running back corps another breakaway threat.

Whoever carries the ball will run behind a talented offensive line, led by Mitch Hyatt.

DEFENSE

Brent Venables’ unit lost six underclassmen to the NFL draft, but at Clemson that doesn’t automatically mean a rebuilding campaign is at hand.

Instead, the D features a mixture of experience and talent, with Ben Boulware leading the linebacking corps and expected to get plenty of help from the likes of Dorian O’Daniel, Kendall Joseph, Jalen Williams and five-star freshman Tre Lamar.

“Our job as coaches is to put our best players out there and give players the opportunity to earn their way,” Venables said.

The defensive line is deep, with Carlos Watson returning to anchor it and looking to work alongside Scott Pagano and Christian Wilkins.

“We’re going to put the best four out there,” defensive tackles coach Dan Brooks said. “Senior leadership, game experience, the ‘been there, done that’ kind of thing really helps. I think it’s really valuable.”

Shaq Lawson and Kevin Dodd are gone, meaning the Tigers will have two new starters at defensive end.

Austin Bryant and Richard Yeargin are expected to see time in those spots, and there are plenty of other options should Venables decide to shuffle some players between the ends.

Cornerback Cordrea Tankersley will lead the secondary, and Venables stresses that he does so by example.

“We have guys like Cordrea whose actions speak louder than words,” he said.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Both the starting kicker and punter return in 2016.

Greg Huegel was a walk on in August but won the job and became one of the most consistent — and best — kickers in the nation, booting a Football Bowl Subdivision-leading 27 field goals, going 17-for-17 on treys during regular season ACC games, and setting a school record for points in a single season with 138.

The All-American also showed he could come up big in big games. In Clemson’s Orange Bowl victory over Oklahoma he was 3-for-4 on field goals and 4-for-4 on extra points. In the College Football National Championship Game against Alabama, Huegel connected on two field goals and all four of his PATs.

Punter Andy Teasdall averaged 38.1 net yards per punt and had 23 punts inside the 20 yards line with only one touchback.

By Eugene Jolley
Courier Sports

ejolley@thepccourier.com

PICKENS — It was a tale of two halves for Pickens Friday night in a 14-0 season-opening home loss to rival Easley.

Pickens was strong all night defensively with the exception of one play. Offensively, the Blue Flame struggled in the first half. Quarterback Tanner Stegall was sacked four times in the opening half alone as Pickens didn’t gain a single first down and was held to negative-40 yards of total offense in the half.

But the Blue Flame defense kept them in the game despite Easley living in Pickens territory virtually the entire first half.

“It was a story of lost opportunities,” Pickens coach John Boggs said. “I thought our defense played pretty strong all night. They did a great job of getting us great field position in the second half. They flipped the field in the second half. The defense kept holding and holding. I’m not sure how many chances we had — probably five in the red zone. You’ve got to come away with points. That’s tough when that happens. We’ve got a lot of work to do. We’ve got to get better.”

Kerry Gilstrap/Courier
Pickens quarterback Tanner Stegall tries to squeeze between a pair of Easley defenders during their game Friday.

Sam Lawson picked off an Easley pass in the end zone after Robert Jones had picked off one at midfield.

Two plays after Jones’ theft, Easley got the only score of the half as safety Darius Jamison returned Stegall’s pass 60 yards for the score.

Fortunate to be down only a touchdown, the Blue Flame switched from a three-receiver set to four receivers, and Stegall and company got going. Pickens reached Easley territory on five of the six second-half possessions, but couldn’t score despite reaching the 8-yard line once and starting another drive on the Easley 14.

“We just felt like (the offensive changes) gave us a better opportunity,” Boggs said. “We were trying to do some things in the first half and just really

Tommy McGaha/Courier
Pickens junior Daniel Hooper looks for running room after making a catch against Easley on Friday night.

struggled with our three-receiver sets. We thought with our four-receiver sets we would have more opportunity to move the ball down the field and get some first downs. We had to get something going and try to get him more comfortable throwing it a little quicker and getting rid of it and not having to sit there under all that pressure. They did a heck of a job bringing pressure all night long. They brought more than what we had to protect with.”

Statistically, Pickens dominated the second half, getting 10 first downs. Stegall again was sacked three more times. Easley managed just two first downs in the second half, both on the final drive.

The Pickens defense played huge with the exception of one play — a 74-yard scoring strike from Weston Black to Carter Wiles early in the third quarter.

The best opportunity for Pickens came on the first drive of the half as Stegall tried to hit Jones in the end zone on fourth down from the 26. He had it, but the ball was dislodged by safety Sean-Thomas Faulkner. Black hit Wiles for the long score on the next play from scrimmage.

“The pick-six in the first half and the score after the stop, two plays right there,” Boggs said. “We still had opportunities after that to win the game. We have to capitalize on that.”

That included reaching the Easley 8, as Stegall hooked up Lawson and Jared Barton for big gains. Then, after forcing a short Easley punt from their own 1-yard line, Pickens couldn’t convert after starting at the 14. Pickens had 16 plays that went for negative yards in the game, including seven in the second half.

“It’s frustrating, but we’ll get back to work and make corrections,” Boggs said. “We’ll come back Monday ready to get ready for Pendleton.

It won’t get any easier thisweek for the Blue Flame as they play at Pendleton. Although they lost 7-6 to Liberty on Friday night, the Bulldogs do feature Division I prospect Brad Johnson at defensive end.

“He’s a heck of a player,” Boggs said of Johnson, who had four sacks against Pickens last year. “They’ve got a lot of good players. We’ll have to be ready for them. They’ve got a good team. We actually saw them on film against Easley in a scrimmage. They’re a good football team, well-coached and they always get after you. We’ll have our hands full going over there.”

Missed Pendleton extra point provides difference

By Jimmy Kirby
Courier Sports

jkirby@thepccourier.com

Pendleton — In a game where offense was absent, a missed Pendleton PAT was the difference as Liberty came away with a 7-6 season-opening victory against the Bulldogs.

Both teams had trouble executing, as neither squad was crisp offensively. The absence of big plays by both teams provided plenty of energy for both defenses.

Brandy Karr/Photo
The visiting stands go wild after Seth Dover’s second-quarter touchdown catch from Nick Reeves in Liberty’s win at Pendleton on Friday night. The touchdown and Austin Kemp’s extra point proved to be enough in the 7-6 victory.

The Bulldogs had one last-gasp drive with 2:32 remaining in the game. It was their longest drive of the game, covering 63 yards, but ended with an interception by all-region Liberty linebacker Aaron Bates at the Red Devils’ 16-yard line.

The Bulldogs gained a total of 137 yards of total offense compared to the Liberty’s 100 yards.

Devils coach Kyle Stewart said following the game that his players stated the obvious that they would correct the mistakes this week in practice to get the offense going.

Asked if he could have foreseen the Red Devils winning a game with only 100 yards of offense, Stewart said the scoreboard is the only thing that matters.

“The main thing is we came out ahead on points at the end of the game — that’s all I am concerned about,” he said.

The Bulldogs caught a break in the first quarter when Austin Huey mishandled a perfect punt snap that slipped through his hands and was tackled by Semaj Anderson at his own 32-yard line. The field conditions

Brandy Karr/Photo
Liberty’s Shaun Karr gets to the edge during the Red Devils’ 7-6 season-opening road win over Pendleton on Friday night.

were not sloppy, but there was a heavy downpour several hours before the game to make it very humid on the field.

Pendleton then went 32 yards in five plays as Jadon Hagood took the read handoff from Collin Bunch and went straight up the middle to score the first points of the season for either team.

Tate Griffin’s PAT then sailed wide right, and that made the difference in the game as the Red Devils won for the first time against the Bulldogs since the 2002 season, when Liberty topped Pendleton 30-7. The 2002 win completed a four-year stretch of wins for the Red Devils over the Bulldogs.

The Red Devils got in on the scoring for the first time in the second quarter when Nick Reeves found Seth Dover on a short three-yard scoring toss. The bootleg action by the Red Devils came following a two-yard loss on the previous play. Reeves gave Liberty a first and goal at the one-yard line before Cavaugio Butler was stuffed back to the 3-yard line. The touchdown pass completed a 13-play, 59-yard scoring drive for the Red Devils.

Kicking for the first time in varsity action, Austin Kemp connected on the all-important PAT to give the Red Devils the slimmest of margins possible, which proved enough for the opening victory of the season. Shaun Karr had the biggest run of the drive, good for 12 yards to the Bulldog 38-yard line.

The Red Devils had a chance to put a little distance on the scoreboard when Kevon Tabron recovered a Jamal Blakley fumble at the Pendleton 30-yard line and returned it three yards to the Bulldog 27-yard line with 7:47 remaining in the fourth quarter.

The Red Devils turned the ball back over to the Bulldogs when Clay Lollis fumbled at the Pendleton 13-yard line. John Ammons recovered the loose ball to give it back to the Bulldogs. That was the deepest penetration by the Red Devils other than their scoring drive.

The Liberty defense kept the Pendleton offense in check most of the game, as the Bulldogs could only get to the Red Devil 34-yard line on a drive in the third quarter and the last drive of the game that ended at the Liberty 16-yard line on the interception by Bates.

The Liberty defense was led by Bates, who had seven tackles to go with his interception. Austin Miller had five tackles, a tackle for loss and one sack, while Jacob Herman was disruptive, with four tackles, two tackles for loss and one sack.

The Red Devils maintained pressure on the Pendleton quarterbacks, as Jamal Blakley was 3-for-14, while Collin Bunch was just 2-of-6 through the air, and both tossed an interception.

The Red Devils were led in rushing by Kevon Tabron, who had 30 yards on five carries. Lollis had eight carries for 28 yards, and Shaun Karr had seven carries for 25 yards.

Nick Reeves finished 3-of-5 passing for 14 yards and one touchdown.

The Red Devils will hit the road again this week as they take on the Walhalla Razorbacks in their new stadium. The Red Devils shut out Walhalla in a 21-0 game last season, but the Razors blasted rival West-Oak 33-13 last Friday in their first game under new head coach Padgett Johnson.