Tigerillustrated.com's Mail Call

Auggie T. ? Burke, Va: Saw the recent basketball recruiting articles on Stacey Poole and Jason Morris. Are you able to make a projection on either or both to Clemson? If we get one, does that negatively affect the other? Finally, does the signing of Noel Johnson negatively affect either in your opinion?

ARD: I'd give you a no to all three questions, as it stands today. Ryan could probably give you some clarity on this. Hit him up on the West Zone board this week, and he'll be happy to help you there.

Rennie A. ? Macon, Ga: In your 20 questions feature, which is great because it gives us some insight on the staff as individuals, nearly all of them comment on "all the people you have to deal with" as being negative in recruiting. Could you give us some concrete examples of who these people are and what obstacles they present? Also, are there NCAA recruiting restrictions in place during August when assistants are in preseason camp? It seems these guys are working 18 hour days?

ARD: To get to your last question first, off-campus recruiting in August is not permissible by the NCAA. College coaches can host prospects at any point in August, but they can't attend a high school game or make any off-campus evaluations or contact.

As for your first question with regard to staffers talking about people they have to deal with in recruiting, they're referring to people close to the prospect or near the prospect who take a special interest in the prospect's recruiting and at times give advice in an attempt to support their own agenda.

Most people in a young man's life, such as his family, a minister, a high school coach and or a big brother or a big brother figure, these people want what's best for the kid, because these people have known the prospect long before he became a prospective student-athlete. What's unfortunate is someone that's in the picture that has access to the prospect in the role of a street agent type or a pimp, someone that's got his or her hand out, or someone that's serving as a gatekeeper because they want to be wined and dined themselves or live out the process themselves vicariously through the prospect. It muddies the waters somewhat at times for college coaches.

If you have this street agent or pimp or mentor that tags along with the prospect on visits, and let's say they're accompanying the prospect to a visit to Oregon, yet the street agent or pimp wants the kid to sign with Oregon State, before he and the kid ever get out of the city limits, he's on the phone with an Oregon State recruiter telling him everything that Oregon coach just said. On the ride home, he'll distort virtually everything the Oregon coach said, then put the kid on the phone with an Oregon State recruiter who's had a few minutes or a few hours to digest what he was told initially after the visit. When he gets the kid on the phone and gives his take, he'll sit back and tee off on everything that was said at the Oregon visit in an attempt to discredit and further distort the message and ultimately dissuade the prospect from looking harder at the school, ultimately impacting his thinking.

These people that Clemson's staffers are referring to can be and have been quite effective until they're exposed. Once they're exposed, they're usually not really a factor. And you do have some of this in the high school ranks, but again, in my 16 years covering recruiting, by and large I've found most high school coaches honestly want what's best for the young men they're coaching. Also, I think it should be noted that a lot of what I described is actually more prevalent in basketball recruiting, where these individuals work very hard to take the high school coach out of the loop, and put themselves as front-men in a kid's situation.

Mike S. ? Lexington, SC: Cris, first time on here. Do you know if they are going to change the uniforms again? Thanks for all you do.

ARD: Larry and I were discussing that earlier this week. I haven't seen any new design, and Larry hadn't seen any new rendering. If they tweak the uniforms, it's something they'd unveil at the time of their choosing. But I haven't done any digging on that, for what it's worth.

Matt Carter ? Raleigh, NC (TheWolfpacker.com): Who were your ten favorite wrestlers from the (Jim) Crockett era/territory of the NWA?

ARD: Probably the best mail call question ever! :-) Thanks bro and hope all is well in Raleigh.

Ryan and I are probably the biggest Jim Crockett Promotions fans in the Carolinas. I don't know that I have a top ten. My top six in order would be Ric Flair, Harley Race, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Ricky Steamboat and Kerry Von Erich. I only mention Von Erich because his heyday was from 1981-91, largely in the early to mid 1980's, though not with the Crocketts, but with his father (Fritz Von Erich) out of World Class Championship Wrestling, a Dallas (TX) based promotion that was for many years an NWA affiliate. Nick Bockwinkel and Rick Martel were big favorites in that era, but both were in the AWA, though they did wrestle on a few NWA-sanctioned cards in the Midwest and in Japan, particularly Martel.

Chad R. ? Liberty, SC: Great job as always on the Web site. My question is why is Pearman coaching tackles and tight ends and Scott coaching centers and guards? Seems backwards to me. Would Pearman's hard-nosed mentality not be better served on the interior of the offensive line? Also, how have the new run schemes (power vs. zone) helped or hurt the linemen themselves?

ARD: Thanks for the compliments. Let me get to your last question first if I can. What you're referring to is more or less a matter of philosophy with regard to both Dabo and Brad, but it wasn't shared by Rob Spence. It's one of several fundamental differences that existed in the offensive staff room the last several years. I don't know that this is an issue of right or wrong, but more or less just a matter of philosophy. When we talked to offensive linemen about it last fall and again in the spring, we didn't detect any hesitation. I think everyone up front has reached a comfort zone with that since mid-season last fall.

As for your first question, for much of Pearman's career, he has coached tight ends and offensive tackles. And there is an advantage to having both the tight end and tackle groups working together in practice, given that both can get work on things such as combination blocks simultaneously while offensive guards and centers are going through drills with Brad.

I do think physicality has been an issue, though I attribute a sizeable portion of that to inexperience. We spent a lot of time trying to convince people in 2003 and early 2004 that Roman Fry, Dustin Fry and Nathan Bennett were tough, physical players, but it never really had resonance. And one of the reasons it didn't was because collectively they were very young, inexperienced players who obviously didn't play as fast, much less with the explosion and toughness and functional strength they were able to utilize in 2005 and 2006 as juniors and seniors.

Though it's not 100-percent full proof, most kids will always play faster, and for a lack of a better phrase put more muscle into their play when they know what they're doing. Don't misunderstand me. I do indeed believe they must continue to address becoming more physical at the point of contact, and that's something Dabo has preached since he took over. I'm merely saying some of this is easily attributed to tentativeness and inexperience. And I think there's a clear distinction there.

Shaw N. ? Statesboro, GA: With the changes made to the offensive line, in terms of philosophy, how is this going to impact Spiller, specifically? He ran behind a two-point, zone scheme for three years and now he's running behind a three-point stance. Is the line still zone blocking or man blocking or something in between?

ARD: There's considerably more man blocking and that will continue. I think beyond this, a key with running backs is to simply recognize protections first and foremost, regardless of scheme. I talked with Andre' Powell about this in the spring following the Orange & White game, even asking if he'd ever brought in Brad to talk about protections to the tailbacks, and he noted that he personally taught his backs protections in position meetings. I think that's by and large the primary adjustment for backs.

Alex S. ? Carrboro NC: I have seen you mention that they could end up platooning Dalton Freeman and Mason Cloy at center this season. How do you feel about that? Isn't the conventional way of doing things to pick one center and go with him for continuity's sake?

ARD: I think continuity is always big on the offensive front. Continuity and chemistry on the line are often overlooked in my opinion. And I do believe in going with one clear leader at a position, but only if there is actually one clear favorite who time after time after time has outperformed the other guy vying for that same spot. And that hasn't been the case at center this off-season. It's a very tight race and I think arguably the tightest race or position battle anywhere on the roster, which includes the quarterback position.

Both will play a lot this fall and Mason, who enters camp with over 600 career snaps, has an edge on Freeman obviously who has never played in a game. It's a race that's too close to call right now, so that's why I think there's a chance you could see a platoon situation at least early in the season. Sooner or later there will be some separation. I just don't know that you'll see it in the first few weeks of the season.

Ryan M. ? Savannah, GA: My question is with regards to our offense. What is Billy Napier's philosophy? I know Spence was a close to the vest type with his play-calling. What will our offense look like? Will we be a pro set offense, a balanced offense or an aggressive offense? Thanks so much for all your hard work. Love the Web site.

ARD: Thanks for the compliments. In short, you'll be a more aggressive offense in the sense that Billy is not a conservative play-caller. Rob was, by his own admission, as you'll recall. I think they got away from that (aggressiveness) after Rich Rodriguez left and never truly recaptured that approach.

At least early in the season I don't think you'll see the balance you're looking for and I say that because you're breaking in a new starting quarterback, and you've lost Tyler Grisham and Aaron Kelly. Jacoby Ford caught 55 balls last year, but Terrance Ashe, Brandon Clear, Marquan Jones and Xavier Dye, collectively, have less than 25 career catches. And that's a concern obviously.

So with four returning starters on the offensive line and a deep and talented backfield, I'd be surprised if they didn't try to accentuate their run game as much as possible earlier in the season, most especially against Georgia Tech, which has some holes to fill on defense, and an offense that Clemson very much wants to keep off the field as much as possible.

I also think one key element that was emphasized a lot in the spring was tempo. Almost immediately they began pushing a faster tempo offensively, and that's a direction that both Dabo and Billy want to take. And you will see more spread under this offensive staff. Here's a link to a post-spring article Larry released following an interview he had with Billy a few days following the Orange & White game.

Kevin S. ? Lyman, SC: Great job with the Web site, as always. Seems like you guys have kicked it up a notch this summer. What kind of surprises can we expect with defensive personnel moving around this fall in Kevin Steele's package, particularly from LB to DE and DE to LB in certain situations with Brown, Alexander, Sapp, etc? I would expect Steele to get his best pass rushers on the field in passing situations. What do you think?

ARD: Malliciah Goodman was all over the place in the spring, so he's a guy that will be used in several fronts. Kevin Alexander will get some reps at backer, and largely due to the fact that he's one of the defense's better players and they've got to get him on the field. Also, depth at linebacker is a major concern and will be all season, in my judgment. Dan Brooks also reminded us in April that it's possible Jamie Cumbie could start (at DT, of course) in a few sub-packages this fall. Sapp and Bowers are clearly their most explosive, productive pass-rushers. It's not really close. I think their roles will change the least whereas Cumbie, Goodman and Alexander would move around the most, particularly Alexander, who could work at weakside, strongside or MIKE in some packages.

Keith M. ? Charlotte, NC: Thanks for all y'all do. Web site is awesome. Three quick questions. What is the deal with all these fly-by-night offensive line commits South Carolina is taking? Someone on the board said it best yesterday when they said the coots have more sleepers on their OL commit board than a Motel 6. What are they doing down there? Secondly, what does your gut say about who will start at quarterback against Middle Tennessee? Third, do you still think we lose to Georgia Tech?

ARD: Thanks for the kudos. I can't help you with the first question. You'd probably have to talk with someone who covers the daily beat in Columbia. I'd rather let them weigh in on that.

At quarterback, my gut tells me that Dabo opts to go into game day and rule it a game-time decision. Certainly exiting the spring, unofficially speaking, the starting job was Kyle Parker's. But a lot has transpired with Willy since April 11, and the vast majority of it, for the better, given his dedication to refining his mechanics, and obviously the progress he has made there.

I don't know that Clemson will lose to Georgia Tech. I don't recall saying that they'd lose to Tech. I think I said if I simply had to pick a winner in that game, I'd have more reasons to pick Tech at home, at night. Clemson can win it, sure. But today, July 8, if I had to pick, I'd go with Tech at home.