33,000 Orange and Purple clad Clemson fans descended upon Death Valley for the team’s annual Orange and White Spring Scrimmage Game. While it was an inter-squad scrimmage, it had a real game day feel to it. Each team rubbed Howard’s Rock and ran down the Hill before the game as the band played “Tiger Rag”. Touchdowns were exclaimed with the traditional firing of the cannon, techno music was blaring before kickoffs, and as tradition, Clemson fans went on to the field to join their players in the alma mater and even score a few autographs. The action on the field did not disappoint either. Cole Stoudt seemed to separate himself from the pack in the quarterback race by throwing 2 touchdowns and 158 yards on the day. Chad Kelly tossed 113 yards, but his two interceptions and benching in the second half after a disagreement with a coach over shadowed his performance. Highly touted freshman Deshaun Watson sat out of the game with a collar bone injury, but is expected to rejoin the team in a few weeks. On the ground, the white squad saw some great running by D.J. Howard and C.J. Davidson. Howard, a senior from Alabama, rattled off 62 yards on 9 carries, taking one into the end zone. Davidson, a Clemson native who originally came to the school on a track scholarship, posted 44 yards on 5 carries. On the orange side, red-shirt freshman Wayne Gallman from Loganville, Georgia also had 62 yards on 9 carries and impressed fans with his explosiveness out of the backfield. Kurt Flemming, a former member of the Atlanta Braves minor league organization, had 3 carries for 55 yards, including a 49 yard run that caused excitement in the Valley. Flemming also showed his power on a 6 yard carrie in which he knocked line back Dorian O’Daniels to the ground. Military veteran and fan favorite wide receiver Daniel Rodriguez had 53 receiving yards on 5 catches. Rodriguez, who has played mostly as a special teams player in two years with Clemson, looks to become a regular target in Clemson’s receiving corps. On defense, Tavaris Barnes posted 5 “sacks” (quarterbacks were ruled down after being touched) along with 8 tackles for the white team. Barnes is a candidate to start on August 30 against UGA due to the suspension of Corey Crawford. The white team earned a 24-5 victory. Jordan Leggett, D.J. Howard, and Mike Williams all found the end zone for the white team, and punter Bradley Pinion added a second quarter field goal. The only orange team points came off of a third quarter safety and a fourth quarter field goal by Ammon Lakip. While it is hard to learn too much from a spring game, one thing that stood out on Saturday was that Clemson is a very deep team that should be able to fill the holes left by the departures of some of last years star players.
