• Connect with us: Subscriber Rewards  |  Report News  |  Mobile  |  Get News by E-mail  |  Twitter  |  RSS Feeds  |  Place an Ad  |  Classifieds | Contact Us
• Customer Service

Tuesday afternoon tidbits

Posted 04:07 p.m., November 4, 2008

-- I'll get this out of the way first: Been getting hit with e-mails and texts asking about Tony Barnhart's alleged claim that Tommy Tuberville to Clemson is a "done deal," perhaps even before the end of the regular season.

When Barnhart says something, 99.9 percent of the time you can rest assured it's solid info. Problem is, Barnhart didn't say it. He and syndicated radio host Tim Brando were merely talking about a possible coaching change at Auburn on the air today when Brando said the following (and I'm paraphrasing):

If Auburn decides to make a change before the end of the season, Tuberville could very well be at Clemson before the Iron Bowl.

In other words, 100 percent speculation. Nothing at all rooted in information.

Barnhart responded by offering his opinion that Tuberville would be a great fit at Clemson. Nothing more, nothing less.

The "done deal" thing is a preposterous notion largely because Dabo Swinney is being given every opportunity to win the job. He's Terry Don Phillips' guy, and everything TDP has said and done in the last few weeks has indicated that.

Could Tuberville-to-Clemson happen? Of course. But it's most certainly not a done deal. Not even close. Not with Swinney still a more-than-legitimate candidate to remove the interim tag from his title.

-- Swinney made some interesting observations today with regard to the offensive mentality now as opposed to previously under Rob Spence.

Swinney didn't come out and make a specific comparison or name names, but it's quite obvious there's been a concerted effort to loosen things up from a play-calling standpoint.

Spence seemed to tighten up on game days, and one could argue that the tightness trickled down to the team. Swinney and primary playcaller Billy Napier set out to change that from Day One.

"One thing we're going to do, as we told these guys the very first day: 'We're going to give you a chance to win the game,'" Swinney said. "I think our players believe that, and they've bought into that. We've been aggressive with what we've done, and we're going to continue to be aggressive. I just think that when you have good players, you ride them and you give them a chance to win.

"And they need to know that you're going to give them a chance to win."

Swinney made another allusion to the contrasts between then and now when he talked about the free flow of information among the offensive coaches.

"One of the biggest changes I think we've made is we talk through what we want to open the game with," he said. "We've got our 15 best plays that we like. As a group, we go through our thoughts. So I think there's a lot of ownership in that room in there. And it's been fun. Everybody feels like they have some input. I've been really pleased with the energy that everybody has brought.

"And I think our players, we're still making mistakes. But I think the energy has been different. And I think the kids are playing much more together and much more physical."

Senior receiver Aaron Kelly seems plenty happy with the new offensive direction. He has three touchdown catches in the last two games after totaling zero in the first six.

"We go over a lot of plays in practice," Kelly said. "The coordinator says that we're going to call them, and then we get into the game and everything is called -- anything that he put in, the big stuff. He doesn't hold anything back. If he says he's going to call it, he's going to call it.

"It just gives us confidence to know that we're going to do everything we can to go out and win."

I don't get the sense that folks are trying to throw Spence under the bus. But these insights are a pretty strong indication that there was no small level of discontent with Spence's game-day playcalling.

-- By far the funniest snippet from Swinney's Tuesday press conference came when a Florida reporter asked Swinney about a recollection from Bobby Bowden.

Apparently Bowden was talking about Swinney yesterday and said Swinney had worked at the Bowden Academy years back. The Bowden Academy is a long-running summer camp in Alabama for quarterbacks and receivers, and Papa Bowden remembered interacting with Swinney there.

Swinney sheepishly admitted Bowden must've had him mixed up with someone else. The 78-year-old Bowden, bless his heart, has been known to confuse names and numbers and all sorts of stuff. But Swinney played it off really well, drawing laughter from the assembled media and turning it into a story of the first time he met Bobby Bowden.

He said he and Tommy Bowden were on a recruiting trip in Tallahassee, and Tommy decides they're going to go to the FSU football offices "to see daddy."

So the three are sitting there in Bowden's office, and Tommy decides to duck out for a while. It's just Dabo and Bobby Bowden sitting there for gosh knows how long, talking football and Alabama and other stuff.

"It was one of the most awesome days I've ever had in my life," Swinney said.

-- Rashaad Jackson suffered a sprained ankle on his second play against Boston College and is struggling with that, according to defensive coordinator Vic Koenning.

Jackson, of course, was just returning after missing the previous seven games with a knee injury suffered in August.

-- Sounds like Thomas Austin is alternating between guard and center this week. But it also sounds like the Tigers are going to try to preserve at least some element of surprise heading into Saturday's game with the Seminoles.

Austin said he's fairly certain he'll go back to center, and that's what I'd imagine would happen at this point. But all options appear on the table.

-- Spoke with Landon Walker, and he said he logged 59 snaps at right tackle against Boston College to Cory Lambert's 11. I didn't realize it was that great of a disparity. Walker said the snap totals should be a lot more even in Tallahassee.

-- There's no question Koenning is at least a little miffed at some of the heat his defense has taken this year.

The Tigers have given up some back-breaking plays late in games and have struggled to get off the field on third down, but they've also yielded just seven touchdowns in five ACC games.

And two of those touchdowns -- both against Boston College -- came after the offense gave away the ball deep in Clemson territory with interceptions.

The Tigers rank 16th nationally in scoring defense, giving up 16.8 points per game.

Koenning seemed to take exception to a question asking whether his defense played with a "harder edge" against Boston College.

"I don't think so," he said. "Everybody calls us: What'd y'all have on Maryland? Everybody calls us: What'd y'all have on Wake Forest? So no. I don't think so. I think our guys played really hard in those games. What'd y'all have on N.C. State?

"I think our guys have been pretty consistent."

LW