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THURSDAY INSIDER & Freshmen Nuggets
By: Larry Williams & Paul Strelow
Didn't take long for Noble Johnson to catch Tyler Grisham's eye in not the best way at the start of spring practice Monday.
As the receivers were going through a ball-security drill, Grisham singled out Johnson early.
"There's a habit I see already," Grisham said, stopping the drill to point out Johnson not properly tucking the ball away to his midsection.
So yeah, these early days are the time for close instruction on the finer points of football for a true freshman.
That said, you do get the feeling that the assorted absent players in the receiving room give Johnson an opportunity to make an impression after enrolling early.
Cade Klubnik talked Monday about how Hampton Earle and Hamp Greene made some of the biggest plays in the opening practice.
Four-star true freshman wideout and Rockwall (TX) native Noble Johnson. (Tigerillustrated.com)
But it probably won't be long before Johnson is given a dip into the grease.
In Tuesday's tempo portion, Johnson was on the second-team offense and Hunter Helms took two deep shots to him.
Both passes fell incomplete under tight coverage, but in both instances you could argue Johnson was being interfered with.
On the second, Malcolm Greene made significant contact before the ball arrived to provoke an "are you serious???" from the offensive side when the official kept his flag in his pocket.
Greene jawed at the offense as he trotted back to the defensive sideline.
Johnson looks the part in physical stature. Our bet is the opportunity presented by all the absences at receiver is going to result in Johnson making some head-turning plays before the spring is over. -- LARRY WILLIAMS
With more than half of Clemson's projected scholarship receivers (six of 11) out of competitive action this spring, Johnson satisfies the adage that availability alone is an asset.
Swinney remarked before spring ball started this week that Johnson looks the part and loves the way he moves.
A bit of a stigma grew around Johnson early in his recruitment as several in the industry suggested he might make more of a linebacker.
But when he traveled to compete at the Swinney Camp last summer, Clemson coaches concluded otherwise and were enamored with how someone of his advanced physical size got in and out of his breaks.
As Larry wrote earlier this week, one of the features of Garrett Riley's offense is that the receivers stay to their one side of the field.
In other words, assignments aren't predicated upon whether the receiver is to the short or wide side of the field.
Johnson has lined up to the left of the formation in what amounted to Clemson's old "No. 9" X receiver position.
He might eventually show flaws. But being too stiff won't be one of them.
We asked Riley about how familiar he was with Johnson from his time recruiting Texas.
"I've known Noble for a couple of years now," Riley said. "Watched a lot of his games and seen him in-person.
"He's one who's getting a ton of reps right now, and he's a physically gifted guy. We've just got to bring him along. He's already made strides here in a couple of days. From Day One, you can already see some improvement." -- PAUL STRELOW
**** In yesterday's observations, we noted that redshirt freshman defensive end Jahiem Lawson had worked with the linebackers for a couple of drill periods in each of the last two practices.
We witnessed Lawson go through the cat-and-mouse drill Tuesday, then stick with the linebackers through a period where they worked on hitting the sled and releasing Wednesday.
Some on our message board have questioned whether Lawson being undersized (6-2, 235) for a defensive end might be prompting the change or experimentation.
Here's viewing it in a different light.
Lawson remains with the defensive ends in warm-ups and other portions of practice. In our estimation, there's no foreshadowing of a switch going on.
One might argue that within Clemson's defensive scheme and structure, it's now less about defined position and more about role.
Think back to Wade Woodaz's job description in the postseason. Sometimes he was a deep middle safety. Sometimes a strong safety. Sometimes covering a slot receiver wide and in the intermediate zones. And sometimes amounting to a standup defensive end setting the edge.
Furthermore, so much of the defensive structure is geared toward situational adaptation.
Sometimes there's a SAM linebacker. Probably more often, that defender is a nickel who is more often a safety but can be a corner. And then there are three-man front packages where there might be both a stand-up edge linebacker and a nickel defensive back.
Which circles us back to Lawson.
Freshman edge player Jaheim Lawson. (Tigerillustrated.com)
As we highlighted earlier in the week, Clemson is only carrying seven recruited scholarship linebackers next season, and two are first-year freshmen.
Behind Woodaz, the only apparent SAM linebacker option is midyear enrollee Jamal Anderson.
In our eyes, Lawson can be trained to handle some of the duties of the SAM as far as amounting to a glorified stand-up end, especially when such a player is used in short-yardage run and goal-line situations.
It's about maximizing personnel to take care of needs and giving oneself a number of options. -- PAUL STRELOW
Check out EVERY Clemson collectible & memorabilia item at The Tiger Fan Shop HERE! Includes personally-autographed Trevor Lawrence, DeAndre Hopkins, Travis Etienne and D.J. Uiagalelei officially-licensed Clemson gear.
THURSDAY INSIDER & Freshmen Nuggets
By: Larry Williams & Paul Strelow
Didn't take long for Noble Johnson to catch Tyler Grisham's eye in not the best way at the start of spring practice Monday.
As the receivers were going through a ball-security drill, Grisham singled out Johnson early.
"There's a habit I see already," Grisham said, stopping the drill to point out Johnson not properly tucking the ball away to his midsection.
So yeah, these early days are the time for close instruction on the finer points of football for a true freshman.
That said, you do get the feeling that the assorted absent players in the receiving room give Johnson an opportunity to make an impression after enrolling early.
Cade Klubnik talked Monday about how Hampton Earle and Hamp Greene made some of the biggest plays in the opening practice.
Four-star true freshman wideout and Rockwall (TX) native Noble Johnson. (Tigerillustrated.com)
But it probably won't be long before Johnson is given a dip into the grease.
In Tuesday's tempo portion, Johnson was on the second-team offense and Hunter Helms took two deep shots to him.
Both passes fell incomplete under tight coverage, but in both instances you could argue Johnson was being interfered with.
On the second, Malcolm Greene made significant contact before the ball arrived to provoke an "are you serious???" from the offensive side when the official kept his flag in his pocket.
Greene jawed at the offense as he trotted back to the defensive sideline.
Johnson looks the part in physical stature. Our bet is the opportunity presented by all the absences at receiver is going to result in Johnson making some head-turning plays before the spring is over. -- LARRY WILLIAMS
With more than half of Clemson's projected scholarship receivers (six of 11) out of competitive action this spring, Johnson satisfies the adage that availability alone is an asset.
Swinney remarked before spring ball started this week that Johnson looks the part and loves the way he moves.
A bit of a stigma grew around Johnson early in his recruitment as several in the industry suggested he might make more of a linebacker.
But when he traveled to compete at the Swinney Camp last summer, Clemson coaches concluded otherwise and were enamored with how someone of his advanced physical size got in and out of his breaks.
As Larry wrote earlier this week, one of the features of Garrett Riley's offense is that the receivers stay to their one side of the field.
In other words, assignments aren't predicated upon whether the receiver is to the short or wide side of the field.
Johnson has lined up to the left of the formation in what amounted to Clemson's old "No. 9" X receiver position.
He might eventually show flaws. But being too stiff won't be one of them.
We asked Riley about how familiar he was with Johnson from his time recruiting Texas.
"I've known Noble for a couple of years now," Riley said. "Watched a lot of his games and seen him in-person.
"He's one who's getting a ton of reps right now, and he's a physically gifted guy. We've just got to bring him along. He's already made strides here in a couple of days. From Day One, you can already see some improvement." -- PAUL STRELOW
**** In yesterday's observations, we noted that redshirt freshman defensive end Jahiem Lawson had worked with the linebackers for a couple of drill periods in each of the last two practices.
We witnessed Lawson go through the cat-and-mouse drill Tuesday, then stick with the linebackers through a period where they worked on hitting the sled and releasing Wednesday.
Some on our message board have questioned whether Lawson being undersized (6-2, 235) for a defensive end might be prompting the change or experimentation.
Here's viewing it in a different light.
Lawson remains with the defensive ends in warm-ups and other portions of practice. In our estimation, there's no foreshadowing of a switch going on.
One might argue that within Clemson's defensive scheme and structure, it's now less about defined position and more about role.
Think back to Wade Woodaz's job description in the postseason. Sometimes he was a deep middle safety. Sometimes a strong safety. Sometimes covering a slot receiver wide and in the intermediate zones. And sometimes amounting to a standup defensive end setting the edge.
Furthermore, so much of the defensive structure is geared toward situational adaptation.
Sometimes there's a SAM linebacker. Probably more often, that defender is a nickel who is more often a safety but can be a corner. And then there are three-man front packages where there might be both a stand-up edge linebacker and a nickel defensive back.
Which circles us back to Lawson.
Freshman edge player Jaheim Lawson. (Tigerillustrated.com)
As we highlighted earlier in the week, Clemson is only carrying seven recruited scholarship linebackers next season, and two are first-year freshmen.
Behind Woodaz, the only apparent SAM linebacker option is midyear enrollee Jamal Anderson.
In our eyes, Lawson can be trained to handle some of the duties of the SAM as far as amounting to a glorified stand-up end, especially when such a player is used in short-yardage run and goal-line situations.
It's about maximizing personnel to take care of needs and giving oneself a number of options. -- PAUL STRELOW
Check out EVERY Clemson collectible & memorabilia item at The Tiger Fan Shop HERE! Includes personally-autographed Trevor Lawrence, DeAndre Hopkins, Travis Etienne and D.J. Uiagalelei officially-licensed Clemson gear.
