Scrimmage observations — offense

I’ve watched WR Taqiy Muhammad dominate a USC spring game and former Clemson RB Paul Macko post a resume worthy of a spring football lifetime achievement award.

So let me preface this by saying I’m making a concerted effort to not make too much out of a single spring scrimmage – especially Saturday morning’s being Clemson’s first one.

Some observations on the offense (check back Monday morning for observations on the defense):

Where’s the beef?

You can really tell sophomore RB Jamie Harper has lost 20 pounds to drop in the 220 range. Harper looked nimble and had a little more burst than he did a year ago. Arguably his best run came when he had to spin to elude LB Kavell Conner a split-second after taking the hand-off, then took off to his left and caught the corner for a short gain.

There’s the beef …

Going into the scrimmage, the player I most anticipated seeing was RB Andre Ellington, the star of spring camp thus far. Ellington did fine, but he was upstaged by both Harper and senior journeyman Rendrick Taylor.

Taylor’s “trimmed” down from 265 to 255 pounds, and he carried or knocked over several prominent defenders throughout the morning as the second-unit back. Furthermore, he sprinkled in time as a fullback in goal-line situations and even took a few snaps as an in-line tight end (although his blocking left something to be desired).

Dabo Swinney contends Taylor is working his way into being a contributor next season, and it would be a great story if Taylor did. But fool me once, shame on you; fool me four times, shame on me – he’s been hyped so many preseasons that it will be hard to believe until it happens.

Push comes to shove

Based on the rushing numbers, it would have been unreasonable not to tip the hat to the offensive line, which appears to have made strides in developing more toughness and physicality.

In particular, sophomore right guard Antoine McClain seems to be minimizing his missed assignments. And coaches love his tenacity and how he finishes blocks. Which may have something to do with the skirmish he had early on with linebacker Brandon Maye.

Maye then lost his cool and was banished to the sideline, where he shoved over a bench and slammed his helmet around before stomping out of the inner stadium all together. Maye later returned – apparently on his own accord – but sat out the rest of the day.

His absence is part of the reason, though, I think enthusiasm about the O-line had best be tempered.

Continuity has to help this group – injuries kept them practicing together last spring and fall, an understated factor in their struggles.

But Saturday’s competition must also be taken into account.

The first-string defense lacked Maye and DE Da’Quan Bowers, who was at a mandatory class field trip. His replacement, Andre Branch, wasn’t exactly a top-five national recruit.

Harper and Ellington notched 50 of their yards on back-to-back 25-yard touchdowns in which they cut back against the grain and found open field.

That spoke as much to defenders still learning their assignments in new coordinator Kevin Steele’s schemes.

The lead draw

Because of the downpour, neither Willy Korn nor Kyle Parker passed enough to even allow for speculators to differentiate between the two.

But I will anyway.

If Clemson played today, I’d say they’d start Korn, play him 2-3 series, then give Parker a series to see if the results were drastically different. Then go from there.

But as the coaches’ cliché goes, they aren’t playing today.

Korn continues getting the majority of first-string work in practices, and the staff loves his moxie. Plus he appears to have much better touch and timing on his throws toward the sidelines.

That said, Parker’s cannon arm can compensate for a lot of shortcomings, and Parker is much craftier at squirming and sliding out of trouble than I’d given him credit for. Oddly, he appears significantly more agile in football pads than on the baseball field.

Korn had points deducted Saturday because he lost two fumbled snaps under center – one from Freeman, another from reserve Ben Ramsey.

Extra points

• Somewhat surprisingly, senior Cory Lambert appears to have reclaimed the first-string right tackle spot ahead of sophomore Landon Walker, who supplanted Lambert for the final two-thirds of last season. Surprising in that the keys were given back to Lambert, whose aggressiveness has long been scrutinized; not surprising in that it seems at this time last year, coaches were searching for the buttons to motivate Walker as well.

• Freshman early enrollee J.K. Jay is doing his part to create quite a logjam at right tackle, too. Jay looks the part and plays with that edge that Swinney covets. His seemingly advanced state makes a strong case for Jay to play next season, but would it be worth it to use a year of eligibility when there are two serviceable options ahead of him already?

• Redshirt freshman Dalton Freeman is making enough progress at backup center that I wonder whether senior Barry Humphries is destined to be a backup guard when he returns from knee surgery this fall.

• Have said it before and will say it again – the lack of weapons at wide receiver will be what really holds this offense down next season. Jacoby Ford runs hot and cold, and I think Marquan Jones has the talent to eventually be in the All-ACC conversation. But unless Jaron Brown makes the leap from raw to refined in a matter of months, the current cast goes downhill from there.

• Spencer Benton has the tools to be an upper-echelon ACC kicker. Don’t know how consistent he’ll be in his first go-round with the pressures of the college game. But he’s got the potential to be far superior than the plethora of other starting kickers in the conference who are only decent from about 42 yards in.

• It’s evident that a lightbulb popped over the coaches’ head after H-back Chad Diehl was so effective as a lead-blocker in the season finale vs. USC. Diehl won’t be a featured component in the offense, but they are clearly expanding his niche role. Here’s betting he catches at least two touchdowns next season off of play-action on the goal line.