By: Jackson Sexton
On March 28th, Clemson held their annual Spring Game, where they divided the roster into two teams, Orange and White, in an exhibition game. The orange team put up a dominating performance, winning 23-3.
The primary focus in this game was to see if the Tigers’ offense had made improvements since last season, and based on the performance by the orange team, the improvements were promising yet should be taken with a grain of salt.
Offensive Improvements – Welcome back Chad Morris
With the return of 2011-2014 Offensive Coordinator Chad Morris, his high-intensity, fast-paced style of offense held up well in this exhibition and should keep opposing defenses on their toes. This is due to the noticeable improvements in offensive efficiency as they went 3/3 on red zone conversions, a task that the Tiger offense struggled with last season.
Additionally, Chad Morris’s methods of emphasizing the run game showed potential, as RB Gideon Davidson (“Gid the Kid” as Dabo called him during the game) ran for 80 yards on 9 carries and 120 total rushing yards. After the game, Gideon Davidson discussed this style of offense while also boldly claiming that “Our running back group is the best in the country.”
As for receiving, yesterday OC Chad Morris had stated that true freshman WR Gordon Sellars III made quite the impression on him during the spring. Sellars III was a 4-star recruit with 59 receptions for 917 yards in his senior year at Providence Day School in Charlotte, North Carolina on a perfect 13-0 record for his third state title. Today, Sellars III had a solid performance with 3 receptions for 34 yards and 1 TD.
Morris also stated that sophomore WR Tyler Brown had impressed him this spring too, which was reflected in his stat line, leading the team in receiving yards with 47 on 5 receptions.
So, Who’s QB1?
With the QB1 spot being uncertain among some fans, all eyes were on the likely starter Christopher Vizzina, who had a decent outing going 10-18 for 91 yards and 1 touchdown.
However, a roar came over the crowd when QB Chris Denson stepped onto the field to get his reps in the second half but failed to produce significant results.
Despite the hype for Chris Denson after Clemson’s final home game of last season against Furman, Coach Swinney responded to a question about the positioning of quarterbacks in the lineup post-game, to which he responded “Vizzina is 1, Tait (Reynolds) is 2, and it really wasn’t close.” He reinforced this statement by stating that Vizzina’s confidence has improved vastly over this spring.
Today’s showcase was an indication that the Tigers have made many moves this offseason to iron out the creases from last season and the results were promising. However, as Dabo said himself, “We’ve still got a long way to go”, as the true testament will come down to that first game in Baton Rouge on September 5th against LSU.
