Yes, it was only a glorified scrimmage, but for the 55,000 fans in attendance for Saturday's Orange and White Game they got their first look at the future of the Clemson Tiger football team--and the future is very bright.
"Yeah, I mean those guys ... It's a really good class," Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said after the game. "Again, T.J. Parker, Burley, you saw Stephiylan and Peter, those guys, all four have been really good additions. And they've also really benefited. I mean, there's no Ruke. There's no Payton Page. Capehart had to miss some. Tre Williams is out. Every one of those guys I just mentioned is going to play on Sunday one day, every one of them. And so they've been out, and so it's really allowed those guys to kind of speed their process up. So that's been a real plus for them, and they took full advantage of it. And that's what you want to see guys do."
However, according to Swinney, it is not only the midyears that everyone should take notice of--it is those players from last year's class who had the opportunity to redshirt that are also going to be big contributors for the Tigers this fall.
"A guy like Kylon Griffin, who we were able to red shirt ... T.J. Dudley. I mean we've just got a ... Collin Sadler, a guy that was able to redshirt," Those guys are making a jump. But those mid-years have been exceptional. Noble, it's been moving really fast for him, but he's gotten better and better and better. And this was huge for him, to get out here in this environment and just realize, okay, it's still just football, and just a couple mistakes, but he made some strides.
"And Harris Sewell, what he's been all Spring Camp has been awesome. I mean, we just keep going. I mean all of those guys, I'm not disappointed with anybody. Josh Sapp ... a guy we were able to red shirt, who's really going to help our team. So it's really across the board. I think last year's class that we signed, the Klubnik class, and this class that just came in here, this is top to bottom, I think two real complete groups. So I'm excited about what we've got a chance to do with them."
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