Weekend Freshmen Nuggets
By: Larry Williams & Paul Strelow
Well, the Peter Woods hype train has officially left the station.
This was of course culminated when Dabo Swinney, just before parting for spring break, gushed over the midyear enrollee and said he's ahead of where Christian Wilkins and Bryan Bresee were at the same point.
And yeah, some cynics out there are going to turn this into jokes about Dabo's excessive praise, bringing up the words he lavished on Joseph Ngata and others before they played a down of football.
Such scoffing willfully ignores the number of times the head coach has been dead-on with early evaluations (it's a lot).
But the important part of assessing Woods at this juncture is recognizing that the rave reviews aren't coming from just the head coach.
When you ask others about him you can just see it in their body language, hear it in their tone, that this guy is just different.
Rivals.com billed 5-star Peter Woods 15th nationally overall regardless of position and second nationally among defensive tackle prospects. To this point, Woods has been as advertised. (Tigerillustrated.com)
And wow, what a difference it would make if Woods gives this line a rampaging presence to go with some already decorated and disruptive pieces.
For a while there it felt like the assembly line was just going to spin on, because not long after the departure of the Power Rangers here came Tyler Davis, and then the top player in the country in Bresee.
But sometimes the size and skill set doesn't necessarily add up to a generational presence in the same category as Wilkins, Dexter Lawrence, Grady Jarrett, etc. Davis, for all his gifts and value, would probably fit into that category of being really good but not great based on the available evidence.
Bresee unfortunately got dealt a series of really bad hands. And while there was a mostly emotional case to be made that he needed to come back and try to put it all together for one healthy and final year, it's hard to fault him for going ahead and declaring.
As Nick Eason said recently, you're in a special place as a coach when you're able to bring in Woods to join an already fortified group of tackles.
Clemson fans know more than most how much storylines and narratives can change when you're spending a lot of time in opponents' backfields.
The hype about Woods seems very real. -- LARRY WILLIAMS
And justified.
It is indeed one thing for returning players to be asked about a freshman, and they respond by giving a favorable comment or pointing out only a positive aspect of what they've seen.
Coaches, quite logically, are going to praise their freshmen because they are newbies and often can use the encouragement. Not to mention you want their parents and support group to feel their lad is in a good place and thriving.
Yet as Larry expressed, our returns have been that the Woods hype is much more than superficial speak.
Let's just say we have heard sentiment from the offensive side of the ball that he's the toughest to block on Clemson's defensive line already.
The pre-spring thought internally that Woods would push veterans Davis and Ruke Orhorhoro wasn't lip service.
Woods has comparable strength but is so much quicker off the ball, slippery through creases and capable of more abruptly changing direction.
Is he further along than Christian Wilkins? Well, he has to go prove it against other college opponents first.
Yet you can already find the industry walking back criticism of Woods' size by underlining that they have him ranked pretty high, and that still means they thought he'd be good.
At this point, the bigger question about Woods is the how and when Dabo Swinney is going to get him a short-yardage touchdown. -- PAUL STRELOW
STOREWIDE SALE on a lot of Clemson apparel at The Tiger Fan Shop HERE!
By: Larry Williams & Paul Strelow
Well, the Peter Woods hype train has officially left the station.
This was of course culminated when Dabo Swinney, just before parting for spring break, gushed over the midyear enrollee and said he's ahead of where Christian Wilkins and Bryan Bresee were at the same point.
And yeah, some cynics out there are going to turn this into jokes about Dabo's excessive praise, bringing up the words he lavished on Joseph Ngata and others before they played a down of football.
Such scoffing willfully ignores the number of times the head coach has been dead-on with early evaluations (it's a lot).
But the important part of assessing Woods at this juncture is recognizing that the rave reviews aren't coming from just the head coach.
When you ask others about him you can just see it in their body language, hear it in their tone, that this guy is just different.
Rivals.com billed 5-star Peter Woods 15th nationally overall regardless of position and second nationally among defensive tackle prospects. To this point, Woods has been as advertised. (Tigerillustrated.com)
And wow, what a difference it would make if Woods gives this line a rampaging presence to go with some already decorated and disruptive pieces.
For a while there it felt like the assembly line was just going to spin on, because not long after the departure of the Power Rangers here came Tyler Davis, and then the top player in the country in Bresee.
But sometimes the size and skill set doesn't necessarily add up to a generational presence in the same category as Wilkins, Dexter Lawrence, Grady Jarrett, etc. Davis, for all his gifts and value, would probably fit into that category of being really good but not great based on the available evidence.
Bresee unfortunately got dealt a series of really bad hands. And while there was a mostly emotional case to be made that he needed to come back and try to put it all together for one healthy and final year, it's hard to fault him for going ahead and declaring.
As Nick Eason said recently, you're in a special place as a coach when you're able to bring in Woods to join an already fortified group of tackles.
Clemson fans know more than most how much storylines and narratives can change when you're spending a lot of time in opponents' backfields.
The hype about Woods seems very real. -- LARRY WILLIAMS
And justified.
It is indeed one thing for returning players to be asked about a freshman, and they respond by giving a favorable comment or pointing out only a positive aspect of what they've seen.
Coaches, quite logically, are going to praise their freshmen because they are newbies and often can use the encouragement. Not to mention you want their parents and support group to feel their lad is in a good place and thriving.
Yet as Larry expressed, our returns have been that the Woods hype is much more than superficial speak.
Let's just say we have heard sentiment from the offensive side of the ball that he's the toughest to block on Clemson's defensive line already.
The pre-spring thought internally that Woods would push veterans Davis and Ruke Orhorhoro wasn't lip service.
Woods has comparable strength but is so much quicker off the ball, slippery through creases and capable of more abruptly changing direction.
Is he further along than Christian Wilkins? Well, he has to go prove it against other college opponents first.
Yet you can already find the industry walking back criticism of Woods' size by underlining that they have him ranked pretty high, and that still means they thought he'd be good.
At this point, the bigger question about Woods is the how and when Dabo Swinney is going to get him a short-yardage touchdown. -- PAUL STRELOW
STOREWIDE SALE on a lot of Clemson apparel at The Tiger Fan Shop HERE!
