Clemson Holds Final Scrimmage

QB Harper accurate in final scrimmage

By: Pete Yanity | News Channel 7
Published: August 20, 2008

Clemson, SC—Quarterback Cullen Harper completed 12 of 14 passes for 116 yards an a touchdown to highlight play in Clemson’s final scrimmage of the preseason. The Tigers are preparing to meet Alabama in the season opener at The Georgia Dome on Saturday night, August 30.
The Tuesday morning scrimmage completed preseason camp for the Tigers, who are in their 10th season under Head Coach Tommy Bowden. Bowden held out many of his starters on offense and defense.
“We held out a lot of our starters today, so we some inconsistency,” said Bowden. “But that was no excuse for some of the mistakes that were made. We had some bad snaps, some offsides penalties. Some of our upperclassmen weren’t there today mentally and we will have to correct that.”
The Tigers will now have Wednesday off, the first day of school. Thursday the team will be back at practice in full preparation for Alabama. “We will meet as a staff and gameplan all day on Wednesday. Over the next day we will go over the depth chart and make some personnel decisions.”
Harper had a strong scrimmage with his 12-14 completion percentage. He enters this year as Clemson’s career leader in that category. He threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to freshman Andre Ellington, who broke a couple of tackles to get to the end zone. Harper completed his first 10 passes for the scrimmage.
Willy Korn complete 7-14 passes for 44 yards and a touchdown. He threw a 12-yard scoring pass to Akeem Robinson.
The top receiver of the scrimmage was Marquan Jones, who had three catches for 41 yards, including a 33-yard reception from Harper. Nelson Faerber and Brandon Clear also had three catches apiece.
Paul Macko was the top rusher with two carries for 20 yards. Rendrick Taylor had 6-16 rushing. James Davis had just one rush for 11 yards and C.J. Spiller had 2-9 and caught one pass. Neither played after the first possession.
The defense forced three turnovers, a fumble recovery by Andre Branch, an interception by Rashard Hall and an interception by Crezdon Butler. Hall, a first-year freshman, made a diving interception, then kept his balance for a 15-yard return. The top tackler in the scrimmage was Byron Maxwell with five tackles.