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The Clemson football team practiced for the sixth time this spring on Thursday, a late session due to the rainy weather earlier in the day. Head coach Tommy Bowden, who had been scheduled to meet with the media at 6:45pm, met with the media corps shortly after 7:15pm from his office to talk about Thursday's session.

"Today was our best practice. It was our most spirited session. I thought we really had some good collisions today. We're starting to get more collisions defensively from several guys, not just one guy," said Bowden. "Tramaine Billie has been really consistent. Nick Watkins and David Dunham stood out today, I thought."

Bowden said his assistants had spent time grading film from Wednesday's session, and offensively standouts were wideout La'Donte Harris, tight end Cole Downer and center Dustin Fry.

Defensively, safety C.J. Gaddis, defensive end Charles Bennett, safety Jamaal Fudge, defensive tackle Dorrell Scott and Watkins were noted as having good performances.

Bowden also gave his offensive line praise, a unit much maligned over the last three years, as the rushing offense has ranked no better than sixth in the conference, falling to 10th in rushing in the ACC in 2004. "The offensive line is coming together. I've been real pleased with their progress. Dustin and Marion (Dukes) have been steady. Barry Richardson, Chip Myrick and Nathan Bennett have been solid. I thought Chip Myrick had his best day yesterday. Chris Capote at right tackle and Bobby Hutchinson at right guard have been doing well. Those are two guys that were perhaps not on the radar, and now they're on the radar after yesterday's practice. Now, I'll have to look at what they did today, but so far, they've done well."

Dustin Fry holds a lead over Roman Fry for the starting center position. (Roman) Fry had problems snapping the ball (gun snaps) in Wednesday's session, according to Bowden.

At running back, the pecking order remains Reggie Merriweather who led the team in rushing last season, followed by Duane Coleman and Kyle Browning. "Kyle shows up for practice everyday," said Bowden. "He has made a push. He's really unselfish, and works really hard. He's rarely on the radar because of Reggie and Duane, but he has done well in practice."

Bowden also said Thursday that basketball forward turned defensive end Olu Babalola is likely headed for a strong look on offense following Saturday's scrimmage. "Coming into this week defense was the easiest place for us to put him. But after Saturday's scrimmage I may just go ahead and get him some work on offense (at tight end). If he can catch at all, we may have to look at that. We'll do some jump-ball situations and see. But we'll probably look at him on offense next week."

The team is off on Friday, but will scrimmage Saturday morning in Death Valley. The scrimmage is closed to the public, but is open to the media, though no cameras (still or video) will be allowed.

Clemson's spring game is on April 16th. The game will be held in Memorial Stadium. Kickoff is set for 1pm.