A perfect day for football led to an almost perfect spring game, one that lasted just over 90 minutes.
The offense (Orange) defeated the defense (White) 33-15 Saturday afternoon in the annual spring game. With no TV timeouts and no extended halftime, the game lasted right at 90 minutes and included a 7-on-7 prior to the game and a punting exhibition after time ran out.
To set the scene, offensive coordinator Garrett Riley was on the sidelines while defensive coordinator Tom Allen was in the box. Head coach Dabo Swinney was on the field with a microphone, and he was joined by offensive assistant Tajh Boyd and defensive assistant Lorenzo Ward.
There were a few standouts, and we will get to those, but my first takeaway was that Clemson’s defense looks like it knows how to tackle again. Riley’s offense is designed to get the ball to players in space, and the defenders wrapped up and took guys to the ground. With the first two groups, there just weren’t those glaring missed tackles that were an issue last season.
I wanted to see the offense run outside the tackles more – setting the edge was also a glaring issue – but there appeared to be few lapses.
Defensive end Darien Mayo has length and he was a problem early, and linebacker Jeremiah Alexander was a force in the middle. Seeing those guys make plays, along with wide receiver Tristan Smith and running back David Eziomume on offense, led to my second big takeaway – maybe the depth is going to be better than many think.
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