Apparently I am The Devil!!

Its official I am one of the monkey bars in the Devil's Playground! But don't worry because Dabo has been anointed to purify this spawn of Satan himself...

So I crawled out of my cave in time to see Bullard and Todd Gurley not come to Clemson and then have Darby and Goldman not visit. When I poked my head out I got criticized by our head coach for not being ok with a 70 point loss and then realized that the demonic sounds of my playground were actually all of America laughing at me. Yeah we made it on Leno. I loved this season up until the Orange Bowl and I agree with Dabo that the sky is not falling and that the future can be bright. We had a good season but Dabo also needs to be sensitive to poking his finger in a bullet wound. This was painful.

We are soft. I am convinced that we have been soft since the HATFIELD era because of out Strength and Conditioning coach.  WV players said we gave up and were begging for mercy. If this were just one player I would disregard it but when you go back its also been said by South Carolina and NC State players. Joey Batson must go. He doesn't need to leave Clemson--I think he can be a great asset in the Athletic Dept. We need new, fresh blood and more accountability. We are soft. About three years ago USC started bearing us. That is the time they got a new S&C coach--if you want to beat USC and toughen up we need a new direction in S&C. We have as good of recruits as anyone in the ACC and certainly USC, but if we aren't developing strength, agility, and quickness--if we aren't keeping players from getting fat and lazy, then we won't win. 

We redshirt just as many players as other programs but our player development during the redshirt year is pathetic. Its frankly embarrassing. No stupid 'Power Hour' that gets thrown together because someone finally said--hey wait, the redshirt players are all standing around getting fatter and lazy is going to cut it for a Natl Championship contending program.
Compare out players, our 5th year players to other schools. Its not even close. Now of course, some of this is on the players but that excuse is tiresome. Its ultimately on the coaches and it sits with Batson.

Tiger Nation, its time to exorcise the demons.

And I don't mean the Internet because we aren't the problem. ShakinintheSouthland is not the problem. In fact, we (but more accurately Dr. B and FigureFour) might be the holy water that you drink and that turns you into beast mode but like a Christian beast mode that defeats you while saving you--plus you win all your football games.

Still I got my list of can't miss recommendations for the offseason that come certified by the Debil.

1. Retain the services of Coach Brooks. See I am no negative nancy--there is a positive that you can accentuate (or something).
2. Mediate between Coach Caldwell and Coach Morris. Morris gets paid the 1.3 big bucks and its his show on offense but see if we can't try to keep everyone together.
3. We need a great LB coach. I would prefer that we hired a DC that coaches LB's to keep the staff continuity but we need not just a good LB coach but a great one. 
4. Lets not go the Venables route. High energy, great recruiter, boatloads of talent that underperform. Sound familiar? Kevin Steele Part 2. This is Dabo's hire though and I will give it the benefit of the doubt (how truly evil of me--giving Dabs the rope to hang himself with--hahaha(insert Mr. Burns or Dr. Claw laugh)).
5. Last but not least--graduate Batson to the athletic dept and hire a Hatch disciple for S&C.

 Thats it. See we on the playground aren't that demanding. Keep things the same and get rid of, errr, graduate Batson. You will have appeased the masses.

For the record I think Dabo did a good job this year. He lost his composure in the Orange Bowl and couldn't rally the troops. He will learn from that and its not the end of the world. Would like to win a few of these recruiting battles here at the end though.

For the record I have always been Steele supporter but can agree with his mutual termination/firing/parting ways/getting out of Dodge. When you lose to South Carolina 3 years in a row and get 70 points put up on you in the Orange Bowl it may be time for a change. For whatever reason the scheme wasn't clicking with guys and the D line looked lost and soft at times. The defense was not young and that isn't a good enough excuse for me. I wish him well and think he is a good coach but I am fine with the desire for change. My instincts say Randy Shannon would be a solid hire but I'm still too depressed to do any real research to back that up. 

The crowned prince MonkeyBar of Satan will now go crawl back in his cave until the Spring game.

Yeah I Jinxed It

I let out a gut wrenching scream when Tajh let go of the ball and it sailed smoothly into the GT players hands, Watkins standing wide open on the goal-line. That was the visceral manifestation of a lost national championship. It was the sound of a lost national championship. I've never made that sound before in my life--I'm sure neighbors contemplated calling the cops. Having had a couple of days to reflect, however, it also marks the first time in my adult life that I have ever had a 'real' conviction that Clemson could be national champions. In the moment its awful but at least you can honestly say that you felt like a national championship was within your grasp. It has been an amazing ride and hopefully we still make it to the Orange Bowl.

On the less cheery side that has to be one of the most frustrating games I have ever watched. How hard is it to stop a QB running behind a dive back. Is it mobile QB's and pitches now? The fumbles killed momentum. The fourth and 1 conversion by GT was deflating after starting with 3 and outs. On offense we had drops on hot routes, receivers getting jammed at the line, and players coming up short on third downs. Our LB play was atrocious and the secondary didn't help them out at all. Hill just flat out dropped a TD and got that other huge reception. PJ basically said that they were running away from Brandon Thompson--why not instruct him to simply blow up the center every play. Stick Lateek right behind him and let him run around crazy headhunting for the QB. It would have been better than watching Christian out of position and blocked consistently (he is not having the year I thought he would after that nice Int. against FSU) or Hawkins six yards away from the line of scrimmage and just waiting, asking, pleading for an O-Lineman to block him and take him out of the play.

I think we are scared or unable to deal with cut blocking. We don't know how to shed a block to save our lives and its not pretty. I know everyone is calling for Steele's head but our problem wasn't really schematic. What is on the heads of the defensive coaches are safeties taking ugly angles to the ball, and the poor fundamentals of our LB's (which is Steele's coaching position), oh and the ever-present poor tackling. The LB play needs to improve in the next year or I will start to question our defensive coaching but Steele and company still have my vote. I love Coach Brooks and Coach Cheese but am worried about our depth moving forward. All of these guys have been in the system awhile though so hopefully the ship can be righted for next season. (haha...did you hear that--righted from an 8-1 record!! You would have called me crazy if I said that before the season)

One thing to note though is that we are not a good road team so far. VT was awesome but you saw some nerves and Maryland was ridiculous. I think this is something to pay attention to when we roll into Columbia. Dabo looked really tense at the beginning of the game too, didn't seem like his usual confident self (to be expected when you go down to GT). We were really choking though--the return of Cat man knuckle kick, the Hopkins drop/Allen drops, the high Boyd throws, and making a marginal QB look like superman all felt like last season.  But still when Rashard Hall intercepted the pass and got it to the five yard line I felt like we could do it. Then the yell/banshee scream...

At least I don't have to be jealous of USC and Alshon Jeffrey. Watkins catches passes in-stride like no other receiver I have ever seen...He still is working on becoming other-worldly in jump balls (right now he is just superhuman) but he is an absolute treat to watch. I would watch him if I wasn't a Clemson fan. One day I will write an 'Ode to the National Championship Lost' but for now I will stop rambling.

Jamie Cumbie Post-Mortem

So by now you have probably heard that Jamie Cumbie got kicked off the team and possibly out of school for a case of aggravated assault. Basically kicked the crap out of some kid with connections. Dabo swiftly dismissed him. What I wanted to do was talk about how this impacts the team.

Cumbie was a 4* Defensive end recruit who came into Clemson after playing his senior year of baseball (he was a pretty good prospect) so he lacked some upper body strength for his 6'7" frame. He would have really benefited from a redshirt year but ended up playing his freshman year. He was moved inside his Sophomore year to shore up depth and as a kind of third down, pass rushing interior lineman. He broke his hand and ended up redshirting then played really well last year for us. As a senior this year, he was expected to provide quality minutes as the 2nd string starter because Coach Brooks likes to rotate a lot of bodies, to keep players as fresh as possible. Cumbie really did a good job of rushing the passer, so that will be missed.

Jenkins and Thompson start but now you have Chavis and Rennie Moore playing as the second string and our top rated DL recruit Josh Watson from Hargrave probably playing and avoiding a redshirt. This is one of our deeper positions but it still hurts to lose a guy was going to have played for four years. What will be interesting to see is if Tyler Shatley gets a legit shot at playing time now. Reviews have been positive but Shatley was seen primarily as a really good fullback coming out of high school in the chad diehl mold. If he can play some good minutes, then I doubt we miss Cumbie much and we give more minutes to our future DL--next year we will be severely hurt by graduation, especially if Thompson declares for the NFL Draft (highly unlikely at this point, but not completely outside the realm of possibility).

I'm going to miss seeing Cumbie in a Tiger Uniform, I wish he could apologize and get back on the team because he had a lot of potential he had yet to fulfill on the field. Take care of yourself Jamie. Thanks for the memories.

Quick Edit: So after looking at the police report--he absolutely pummeled the other kid. Brain bleeding, broken teeth, teeth in the gums, multiple nose fractures. This was not a fight it was a beating and that can't be tolerated. One punch and you got my sympathy but this is inexcusable. I also failed to write that Jamie also had some run-ins with the staff before and was left home from the bowl game last year, for what its worth...

Dan Brooks, Best Hire of the Year

I like Harbison and Steele but I got to say the best hire of the year so far for me has been Dan Brooks. He is a monster on the recruiting trail and I think he is someone you can trust to evaluate and develop talent along the defensive line. At the beginning to the year we were talking about how thin we were on the inside but by the end of the year we were getting help from Chavis, Moore, Cumbie, to complement the play of Jenkins and Thompson.

So we just landed Tra Thomas who is a three star DLineman but another solid pick-up. With the addition of Watson and hopefully Gibson, this class is shaping up nicely and I think that we are going to land Ethan Farmer, just cause Brooks is that good. The class of 2011 already seems solid, so recruiting is going well. The only missing piece, especially with Jake Nicolopulous tragic circumstances (we are all hoping for the best), is help at Linebacker. Landing Parker makes us that much better next year. Maye is average, Conner gone, Willard may help next year along with Hawkins, but Scotty Cooper has to be the biggest disappointment for me at linebacker. Those knee problems have hurt his career. I am sick of waiting till next year for a good Linebacker.

So we have to lock down Vic Beasley but it seems the rest of the class is pretty set. I see us pulling off a few more fireworks here at the end. I think our staff is hungry for some talent and putting in some extra effort to get it. Pearman is earning his stripes getting Watson and hopefully Gibson. Also I think that the loss of Wolford hurts SC more than anyone is saying. He was their best recruiter and was breathing some new enthusiasm and life into that program along with Ellis Johnson. Glad he left.

Geographically we are doing better this year in Georgia but arent pulling anything out of Florida like in years past--I think that is because Swinney is unable to work his magic, but I am looking forward to him closing strong. I think our in home visits are going to get us four more solid recruits. Look for Farmer, Max Garcia, White, Parker and possibly Woestmann down the homestretch. Not a spectacular year but a solid one if these coaches can be trusted with their talent evals over some of the star ratings.