Clemson Camp Day 6 Defensive Observations

CLEMSON — The 14th-ranked Clemson Tigers ventured out to Jervey Meadows Wednesday afternoon for Day 6 of fall camp.

Head coach Dabo Swinney loves to bring his players away from the comforts of the Allen Reeves Football Complex so they can get a sense of how good they have it in the complex. He feels this is one way he can make his team tougher.

Before the Tigers got started with individual drills, he brought the team together for a few minutes and expressed his sentiments on practicing at Jervey Meadows.

“This is fall camp,” Swinney shouted to his team. “This is where camp truly begins.”

The media got the opportunity to watch at the first 20 minutes of practice. Here is some of what we observed on the defensive side of the football.

• It was 93 degrees when practiced started and you could already see how it was effecting some of the players. While doing individual drills early in practice, cornerback Branden Strozier and Tavon Feagin had their hands on their hips, as they tried to mentally get through the heat.
• One of the defensive backs that stood out while the media was allowed to watch was safety Kylon Griffin. The redshirt sophomore was going full speed in the dividual drills, which was noticed and appreciated by safeties coach Mickey Conn.
• Speaking of Conn, he was really coaching up his unit. During interception drills, he was making sure his guys not only caught the ball, but also moved it to the correct hand to avoid it being stripped. Those are the little things that add up later in the season.
• As for defensive injuries, there really was not anything too concerning. Defensive end Cade Denoff was in a green jersey, as was defensive tackles Stephiylan Green and Vic Burley.  Cornerback Jeadyn Lukus was also wearing a green jersey.
• A green jersey means a player can perform in most drills at practice. They just cannot participate in any live tackling drills.