Double overtime kick lifts Orange over the White

Clemson wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins hauls in his nine-yard touchdown reception from Tajh Boyd in the second quarter of Saturday's Annual Orange & White Game in Death Valley. Hopkins caught seven passes in all, for 120 yards as the Orange beat the White 23-20. Photo by Rex Brown

By Will Vandervort­­­­­­

CLEMSON — Until Saturday’s Orange and White Game, Clemson Head Coach Dabo Swinney had never seen a double overtime spring game, much less coach in one. But at Death Valley Saturday, he might have become the first head football coach to decide to play one.

Chandler Catanzaro, who made a last second field goal against Wake Forest in Clemson’s final home game at Memorial Stadium in 2011, made a 45-yard field goal in the second overtime to lift the Orange team to a 23-20 victory.

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Defense hungry to be better

Clemson defenders swarm to running back D.J. Howard during Saturday's Annual Orange & White Game inside Death Valley. Photo by Rex Brown

By David Hood

CLEMSON – The 2012 Clemson defense may not ever live up to the legacy of the monster Tiger defenses of the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, but Saturday’s effort during the Orange and White game in Death Valley was the medicine the players and fans needed in trying to ease the ache of last season’s troubles.

Two of the positions that came under the microscope during the spring were the linebackers and the defensive tackles – the former because of a lack of a production and the latter due to a lack of experience.

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Pinion looks good at punter

Clemson's Charone Peake hauls in a pass during Saturday's Annual Orange & White Game in Death Valley. Peake caught five passes for 75 yards. Photo by Rex Brown

By David Hood

CLEMSON – Former Clemson punter Dawson Zimmerman fashioned a solid career during his tenure as a Tiger, a weapon that could be counted on to pin an opponent deep or get the Tigers out of a deep hole. His graduation this year left many wondering who would step into the breach, but true freshman Bradley Pinion may have provided a glimpse into the future with a solid effort Saturday during Clemson’s Orange and White Spring game in Death Valley.

Pinion punted eight times Saturday for a whopping 354 yards, a 44.3 yard average per punt. That kind of average would have put him just out of the top 10 nationally a year ago, but it comes as no surprise that he turned in that kind of effort.

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Jordan quarterbacks White to victory in Sons Bowl

Former Clemson quarterback Homer Jordan out runs the Orange's Fletcher Anderson in the Sons Bowl. Jordan completed 24-39 passes for 410 yards and six touchdowns in leading the White team to a 50-38 victory Saturday in Death Valley. Photo by Rex Brown

Photo gallery

By Tim Bourret

CLEMSON — Homer Jordan showed he still has some life in his arm, and Airese Currie  showed moves that would make you think he could still play in the NFL in the White Team’s 50-38 victory in the fifth Annual Clemson Sons Bowl Flag Football Game at Memorial Stadium.  The four quarter contest played with a running clock was played in brilliant sunshine as a preliminary to the Orange & White Game.

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Tigers shoring up short-yardage woes

Clemson freshman runnung back Zach Morris plows through a gaping hole on a fourth-and-one play in Saturday's Orange & White Game. Morris gained 13 yards on the play. Photo by Rex Brown

By Steven Bradley

CLEMSON — Clemson’s offense excelled in many facets a year ago in its first season under coordinator Chad Morris. Grinding out tough yards in short-yardage situations — a cornerstone of the Tigers’ glory days in the ’80s — was rarely among them, though.

Morris even joked he’d never coached a group that was consistently more effective at moving the chains on third-and-long than third-and-short.

With the Tigers losing three starters up front, two of whom drew All-ACC consideration, there was certainly reason to fear those short-yardage problems would get worse before they got better moving forward.

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Hopkins, Tigers’ offense shine in scrimmage

Clemson wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins caught six passes for 160 yards, including a 13-yard scoring grab. Photo by Rex Brown

By Steven Bradley

CLEMSON — Dabo Swinney was looking for consistency from Monday’s stadium scrimmage, and DeAndre Hopkins provided. The Clemson coach said his junior receiver has been doing that, well, consistently this spring.

“The player of the day was Nuke Hopkins,” Swinney said. “When you talk about consistency, he is the epitome of consistency. And that’s what we’ve got to have if we’re going to take the next step as a program.”

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Hopkins bigger, hopes for better

Clemson wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins hauls in a pass during spring practice on March 30 on the practice fields behind the Jervey Athletic Center in Clemson. Photo by Rex Brown

By Steven Bradley

CLEMSON — After one of the best starts to a career for a receiver in ACC history, the scary part is Clemson’s DeAndre Hopkins has only now fully focused himself on his craft.

Scary for opposing defenses, that is.

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Hawkins relishing new defense

For all the buzz, perhaps no one has gushed more about new defensive guru Brent Venables than rising senior Corico Hawkins. Photo by Rex Brown

By Eric Sprott

CLEMSON — As he continues to lay the groundwork for his new system, the reviews on Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables have been overwhelmingly positive coming out of spring practice thus far.

But for all the buzz, perhaps no one has gushed more about the Tigers’ new defensive guru than rising senior Corico Hawkins, one of the stalwarts in the linebacking corps for departed defensive coordinator Kevin Steele.

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