Had a talk with Clemson senior center Ryan Norton tonight and he gave a glowing appraisal of one red-shirt freshman offensive lineman in particular - Justin Falcinelli. I did not want to spend time on Mitch Hyatt and Jake Fruhmorgen because we've talked about both extensively and will continue to in the coming weeks and months.
Norton's comments on the following:
Justin Falcinelli: "Justin has done unbelievable. He's going to be a great player. I talk to Justin the most. He's taking most of the second-team reps at center. He's doing unbelievable. Falcinelli, I'm telling you, you need to write his name down. He's going to be a heck of a player here. Out of the second-team guys, he's probably the most impressive to me as of right now. Now that's after two days, there's no pads on. Right now, I'm really impressed with him."
Taylor Hearn: "He's going to be a good player. I'll tell you that much right now. From what I've seen from him right now without pads on, he's done really well."
Zach Giella: "He's going to be another good player. He's still in that freshman stage right now. After awhile he's going to break through that."
Maverick Morris: "He did unbelievable at guard. They changed him to guard in the spring and he did unbelievable. Right now he's really doing great. We're mismatching everything. We're putting Maverick at tackle sometimes and we're putting him at guard sometimes. You're losing that consistency at one position, but you're also growing a position for the long run and that's going to help us down the line."
Noah Green: "He has kind of been a tackle and guard. He's competing out there everyday."
*** Norton also told me he hasn't detected any drop-off facing this year's starting defensive line. He told me tonight specifically that there's no difference blocking D.J. Reader versus Grady Jarrett.
*** Eric Mac Lain told me he spent a couple of periods at left tackle yesterday, but this was merely scout-team work. Mac Lain is and will continue to be a left guard, but will work out at tackle and be used on an as-needed basis.
*** I asked Jeff Scott if Charone Peake was indeed back at full stride and better than ever and he said yes, without any hesitation. In fact he told me he couldn't remember the last time he thought about Peake's ACL tear in 2013 because Peake just shows no signs or effects from the injury in practice. So he's cutting it loose.
We'll have more from Norton, Mac Lain and Coach Scott in the next 24-48 hours.
Norton's comments on the following:
Justin Falcinelli: "Justin has done unbelievable. He's going to be a great player. I talk to Justin the most. He's taking most of the second-team reps at center. He's doing unbelievable. Falcinelli, I'm telling you, you need to write his name down. He's going to be a heck of a player here. Out of the second-team guys, he's probably the most impressive to me as of right now. Now that's after two days, there's no pads on. Right now, I'm really impressed with him."
Taylor Hearn: "He's going to be a good player. I'll tell you that much right now. From what I've seen from him right now without pads on, he's done really well."
Zach Giella: "He's going to be another good player. He's still in that freshman stage right now. After awhile he's going to break through that."
Maverick Morris: "He did unbelievable at guard. They changed him to guard in the spring and he did unbelievable. Right now he's really doing great. We're mismatching everything. We're putting Maverick at tackle sometimes and we're putting him at guard sometimes. You're losing that consistency at one position, but you're also growing a position for the long run and that's going to help us down the line."
Noah Green: "He has kind of been a tackle and guard. He's competing out there everyday."
*** Norton also told me he hasn't detected any drop-off facing this year's starting defensive line. He told me tonight specifically that there's no difference blocking D.J. Reader versus Grady Jarrett.
*** Eric Mac Lain told me he spent a couple of periods at left tackle yesterday, but this was merely scout-team work. Mac Lain is and will continue to be a left guard, but will work out at tackle and be used on an as-needed basis.
*** I asked Jeff Scott if Charone Peake was indeed back at full stride and better than ever and he said yes, without any hesitation. In fact he told me he couldn't remember the last time he thought about Peake's ACL tear in 2013 because Peake just shows no signs or effects from the injury in practice. So he's cutting it loose.
We'll have more from Norton, Mac Lain and Coach Scott in the next 24-48 hours.
