clemson tigers

Clemson Notes

Wed, 03 May 2006 23:39:21 +0200

A prevailing issue is replacing QB Charlie Whitehurst, who left such a lasting legacy. Will Proctor, a rising senior, will be the first option, but Clemson is also counting on freshmen Tribble Reese and Cullen Harper to push Proctor. The defense made tremendous strides last season under new coordinator Vic Koenning. The Tigers have a solid backfield and emerging receiver corps. This team could be a serious contender to unseat Florida State as division champs if the Seminoles have another midseason stumble. DB Serigo Gilliam made a statement with three interceptions in the spring game.

COACHING CAROUSEL: As usual with Clemson, there was some turnover. Chris Rumph replaced Marion Hobby as the defensive line coach. Hobby accepted a position with the New Orleans Saints. Rumph worked the past three years at Memphis, which ranked No. 23 nationally last year in turnover margin. In addition, Jack Hines, the tight ends coach, and Bowden's brother-in-law, resigned to pursue outside business. It was a move everyone expected to happen. Hines struggled as a position coach, moving from defensive backs to linebackers to tight ends in seven seasons.
SCHEDULE SITUATION: The Tigers will know their place in the Atlantic Division race by mid-September, after facing Boston College and Florida State on the road in consecutive weeks. This will be the defining part of the season. If they split, especially beating FSU, then Clemson is in great shape to win the division. Two losses and they're out. The rest of the schedule gets very favorable with six home games in the final nine games. Non-conference games include Louisiana Tech, Temple and Florida Atlantic, along with a season-ending home finale with rival South Carolina. If the Tigers survive September, they could be a title contender.

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Tigers Hold Off Eagles

Wed, 03 May 2006 23:32:07 +0200

It was the first-ever meeting between the ACC schools. Clemson improved to 28-12 overall, 11-5 in ACC play. The Eagles fell to 19-19-1 overall, 4-15 in the ACC.

A pair of former Cape Cod League hurlers helped pitch the Tigers to victory on Friday. Josh Cribb (7-0), who played for the Brewster Whitecaps in 2004, pitched 7.0 innings, allowing seven hits, three runs (two earned), and three walks to earn the win. Daniel Moskos, a member of the 2005 Cotuit Ketleers, pitched 1.1 scoreless innings to pick up his seventh save of the year. Eagle starter Dan Houston (2-5) allowed four runs on five hits in 5.1 innings pitched, and suffered the loss.

Travis Storrer went 2-for-2 with a walk and sacrifice bunt to lead the Tigers, who had 10 hits. Marquez Smith added two hits and two RBIs, while Andy D'Alessio scored three runs. Clemson had four sacrifice bunts in the game.

The Tigers took a 1-0 lead in the second inning. D'Alessio led off with a bloop single to right field and Storrer followed with a walk. After Taylor Harbin's sacrifice bunt moved the runners up a base, Smith singled through the left side on a 1-2 breaking pitch to plate D'Alessio.

In the fourth inning, D'Alessio led off with a walk and advanced to second on Storrer's sacrifice bunt. Harbin followed with a groundball double down the third-base line to score D'Alessio.

The Eagles came right back and cut the Tiger lead in half in the bottom of the fourth. Jared McGuire led off with a single up the middle and Dave Preziosi followed with a single through the left side. After two unsuccessful bunt attempts by Shawn McGill, Preziosi tried to steal second on an 0-2 pitch, but McGuire stayed on second. Adrian Casanova threw to Harbin at second to easily retire Preziosi on the caught stealing. McGill then lined out to first for out #2, but Eric Campbell came through with a soft line-drive single to left field to score McGuire.

Clemson added two runs to its lead in the sixth inning. Tyler Colvin led off with a walk, but was retired on a fielder's choice groundout by D'Alessio. Second-baseman Johnny Ayers misplayed the potential double-play ball, but still got the out at second. D'Alessio then stole second on a failed hit-and-run when McGill's throw bounced past the bag and scored when Storrer lined a double into the wind in left field. Two batter later, Smith laced a two-out double over the head McGuire in left field to score Storrer. McGuire broke in on the liner only to watch the ball go over is head.

Boston College loaded the bases with three-straight, two-out singles in the bottom of the sixth, but Cribb got Jett Ruiz to fly out to right field on a 3-2 pitch to keep the Tigers ahead 4-1.

Casanova led off the seventh by reaching on Campbell's fielding error at third and went to second on Herman Demmink's single up the middle. Brad Chalk moved the runners up on a sacrifice bunt and Colvin hit a chopper to Ayers, who made a diving stop and retired Colvin at first. However, Casanova scored on the play.

Ryne Reynoso led off the bottom of the seventh with a solo home run to center into a stiff wind, his third of the season. Pete Frates then reached on a fielding error by shortstop Stan Widmann and Ayers walked. Ryan Hutchinson moved the runners up on a sacrifice bunt. McGuire then hit a fly ball to right-center to score Frates on the sacrifice fly.

Clemson came right back and increased its lead to 6-3 in the eighth inning. Storrer led off with a bloop single to left and went to second on Smith's groundout. With two outs, Widmann bounced a 3-2 pitch up the middle for a single to plate Storrer.

In the bottom of the ninth, pinch-hitter Ryan Akel led off with a single up the middle. Moskos came back from a 3-1 count to strike out Ayers and Hutchinson followed with a single to left-center. McGuire then hit a comebacker to Moskos, who threw to Harbin at second for out #2. Preziosi then grounded out to Moskos again to end the game. Due to the threat of inclement weather on Sunday, Clemson and Boston College will conclude the three-game series with a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 11:00 AM. Both games will be nine-inning contests with approximately 30 minutes in between each game.

Clemson 6 (28-12,11-5 ACC)

Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Herman Demmink dh........ 4 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0
Ben Hall ph/dh.......... 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Brad Chalk cf............ 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Tyler Colvin lf.......... 4 0 0 1 1 2 0 0 0
Andy D'Alessio 1b........ 3 3 1 0 2 0 12 0 1
Travis Storrer rf........ 2 2 2 1 1 0 3 0 0
Taylor Harbin 2b......... 3 0 1 1 0 0 3 3 0
Marquez Smith 3b......... 4 0 2 2 0 0 0 2 0
Stan Widmann ss.......... 4 0 1 1 0 1 2 4 1
Adrian Casanova c........ 4 1 1 0 0 1 7 2 3
Josh Cribb p............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Stephen Clyne p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Daniel Moskos p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
Totals................... 32 6 10 6 4 5 27 14 7

Boston College 3 (19-19-1,4-15 ACC)

Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Johnny Ayers 2b.......... 3 0 0 0 2 1 4 5 0
Ryan Hutchinson ss....... 4 0 1 0 0 1 3 4 2
Jared McGuire lf......... 4 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0
Dave Preziosi 1b/p....... 5 0 2 0 0 2 9 1 3
Shawn McGill c........... 4 0 2 0 0 0 6 2 0
Eric Campbell 3b......... 4 0 2 1 0 0 0 4 0
Jett Ruiz dh/1b.......... 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 4
Ryne Reynoso rf.......... 3 1 1 1 0 1 2 0 0
Robert Dittrich ph...... 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Jeff Schomaker rf....... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Pete Frates cf........... 2 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0
Ryan Akel ph............ 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Dan Houston p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Kevin Boggan p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Matt Meyer p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals................... 35 3 10 3 3 7 27 18 10

Score by Innings R H E
-------------------------------------------
Clemson............. 010 102 110 - 6 10 2
Boston College...... 000 100 200 - 3 10 1
-------------------------------------------

E - HARBIN(4); WIDMANN(16); CAMPBELL(7). DP - Boston Coll. 1. LOB - Clemson
7; Boston Coll. 10. 2B - STORRER(6); HARBIN(11); M. SMITH(8). HR -
REYNOSO(3). SH - CHALK 2(13); STORRER(3); HARBIN(2); HUTCHINSON(9). SF -
McGUIRE(4). SB - D'ALESSIO(4). CS - DEMMINK(5); PREZIOSI(3); FRATES(2).

Clemson IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
Josh Cribb.......... 7.0 7 3 2 3 6 26 31
Stephen Clyne....... 0.2 1 0 0 0 0 3 3
Daniel Moskos....... 1.1 2 0 0 0 1 6 6

Boston College IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
Dan Houston......... 5.1 5 4 4 3 4 18 23
Kevin Boggan........ 1.0 2 1 0 0 0 5 6
Matt Meyer.......... 1.2 2 1 1 1 1 6 7
Dave Preziosi....... 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 3 4

Win - CRIBB (7-0). Loss - HOUSTON (2-5). Save - MOSKOS (7).
Umpires - HP: Bruce Ravan 1B: Harry Greer 3B: Gerald Trexler
Start: 2:32 Time: 2:42 Attendance: 340

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Clemson Tigers

Mon, 19 Dec 2005 07:40:32 +0100

Nike has reached a new contract with the Clemson Tigers which should keep CU in swooshes for the next five years. While the exact value of the contract is difficult to determine, here's a few of the highlights:
* Clemson gets $125,000 of Nike merchandise in 2005-06, $130,000 in merchandise in each of the next three years, and $145,000 dollars worth in the final year.
* Nike will allocate $195,000 in Clemson coaches’ compensation during the first four years and $215,000 in the final year. The company will give the university $2,000 for the first four years and $21,500 in the fifth.
*Product credit of 10 percent on cash purchases of Nike merchandise one free pair of football shoes for every two purchased after 350 orders one free pair of football gloves for every one purchased after 500 orders
* Clemson coaches must make four appearances/year at Nike's request
* Nike receives five VIP tickets, two sideline passes and one press box pass to each home football game, and 20 bowl tickets. For one mutually agreed upon football game every year, Clemson gives Nike 50 tickets in lieu of the normal arrangement.
* For home football and basketball games, Clemson must try to provide Nike with the best available lower-level seats. VIP parking and a hospitality event are provided to Nike game-day ticket holders.
* One big change to the agreement: Clemson will doll out the Nike money to the coaches as it sees fit, rather than Nike paying the coaches directly.

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Clemson Tigers

Mon, 19 Dec 2005 07:37:25 +0100

The opponents for the 2006 Clemson football season have been announced. Non-conference games will include a road trip to Temple and home games against Louisiana Tech, Florida Atlantic and South Carolina. Conference road games include trips to Boston College, Florida State, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest (a 2nd consecutive trip to Winston-Salem to help balance out the ACC schedules.) ACC opponents visiting the Tigers are North Carolina, N.C. State, Maryland and Georgia Tech.

FAU and La. Tech were guaranteed $500,000 each.

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Clemson Tigers

Mon, 19 Dec 2005 07:35:25 +0100

Clemson and Georgia Tech are natural rivals that play every year in the new ACC alignment despite being in different divisions. The geographic proximity between the two schools was the main thinking in this set-up, but the closeness of the football games in recent years make it a rivalry that's growing bigger every year it seems. The rivalry's roots go back to when Tech was still not in the ACC and the events that led to the beginning of the Clemson tradition of $2 bills. Some of the biggest games in the early history of the rivalry were when John Heisman coached at Clemson and then left for Tech's larger financial offer.

The Tigers won the last two games at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta while the Yellow Jackets won the heartbreaker at Clemson last season. 12 of the last 15 games between the two schools have ended with a margin of 5 points or less between the winner and the loser.

Clemson will have to stop Calvin Johnson while not devoting so much attention to him that the Tech running attack is able to pile up yards with P.J. Daniels or through the rushing of quarterback Reggie Ball. The Tigers must get their running game on track with Reggie Merriweather and Kyle Browning. James Davis is not expected to play, although there are rumors to the contrary. Tech fans and news articles in the media in Atlanta seem to dwell upon the need to stop Chansi Stuckey for the Tigers but I'd think they may want to watch out for some of the other Clemson receivers as well. I'd put Curtis Baham as a bigger threat than Stuckey right now and the emergence of the freshmen receivers in recent weeks is something to look out for as well.

The only prediction I will make is that it might very well come down to the last possession of the game again based on the recent history of the series and the past two seasons for Clemson against all opponents.

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