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This was a supposedly meaningless spring-game routine but in some ways it felt like a fall Saturday, on which events elsewhere influence the mood of fans as they file in to Death Valley.

Instead of a surprise coming from a football game at another place, the jaw-dropping development on this day came from Xavier Thomas' announcement that he committed to Clemson.

Can it get any better for Tigers fans right now?

Just when the school from the Midlands is starting to feel plucky as a result of some spectacular basketball success, a blockbuster in-state football recruit produces a bombshell to put the Gamecocks back in their place.

Not long ago, South Carolina football was the sum of all fears for Clemson. The Tigers could achieve plenty in all other respects, knocking off big-time opposition from inside and outside the ACC. But the torment at the hands of Steve Spurrier and the Gamecocks seemed to tarnish the achievement; it was always in the back of everyone's minds.

Now the five-year nemesis has become a footnote in the masterpiece currently being authored by Dabo Swinney. Clemson finds itself preoccupied with much bigger game that exists in Tuscaloosa, Tallahassee and Columbus. South Carolina finds itself in the strange and uncomfortable position of commemorating a 6-7 season with a concert by Darius Rucker.