Swinney on How New Arrivals Fared in Saturday’s Scrimmage

Saturday marked the first time playing in Death Valley for some members of Clemson’s 2024 signing class.

Clemson held its first scrimmage of fall camp Saturday at Memorial Stadium, and thus it was the first scrimmage with the Tigers for summer enrollees in the 2024 class like wide receiver T.J. Moore, tight end Christian Bentancur, cornerback Ashton Hampton, defensive tackle Hevin Brown-Shuler, defensive end Darien Mayo, and linebackers Drew Woodaz and C.J. Kubah-Taylor.

Following the scrimmage, head coach Dabo Swinney spoke about the summer arrivals in the Tigers’ freshman class and how they fared in the scrimmage.

“It’s the first time for these guys that just got in here. Most these guys (midyear enrollees) were here in January, so they got a lot of scrimmages, they got a spring game,” Swinney said.

“Most the other guys, they’ve already had a spring game, got exposed to it,” Swinney added. “But it was good to see those guys (summer enrollees) get out there.”

As Swinney alluded to, the early enrollees in Clemson’s 2024 class had the chance to go through spring practice and compete in April’s spring game in Death Valley, something the summer enrollees didn’t have the luxury of doing.

So Swinney said a couple of the summer enrollees “got exposed pretty easily” in their first scrimmage Saturday, using Mayo as an example of one newcomer who will learn and grow from the experience.

“Big Mayo, he’s going to be a good one,” Swinney said of the 6-foot-7, 266-pound former four-star prospect who was ranked as a top-150 national recruit by multiple outlets.

“But when he’s got a peel call, he’s gotta cover the back. He gave up about a 40-yard play today. He’s just out there flying around. He’s a big, good-looking kid, but you’ve gotta have your eyes on your work, right. You’ve got to know the call, you’ve got to know what you’re doing, but that’s what you go practice for. He’s a guy that just got here, and he’ll learn from that. So, you’ve got to know the call, you’ve got to know what your assignment is to be able to get on the field.”

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