Clemson Camp Report: Swinney Likes 'Good-Looking Football' Team After 'Tough' Practice

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said team pushed through a difficult, challenging day of fall camp Wednesday, and he updates the status of Joseph Ngata and Frank Ladson.

When Dabo Swinney approached the media for his post-practice Zoom call Wednesday, the Clemson head coach took notice of clouds all around Clemson. 

However, none of them were directly over Jervey Medows, the Tigers' on-campus practice field across the street from the indoor facility. That meant no shade and a ton of heat, just how Swinney likes it this time of year at Jervey Meadows. 

"This was a football practice, man," Swinney said Wednesday. "Great to be out here and I'm proud of our guys and how they pushed through. Like I said the other day, just seeing these guys having a lot of fun and just being grateful being able to play football."

Swinney and the coaching staff put the players through it. While they were still just in helmets and shoulder pads, they began to implement some of the drills that build toughness and challenge the players. 

"Today was really good," Swinney said. "First time we've really gone in a one-on-one type of situation, OL vs. DL, tight ends vs. (line)backers, receiver-DB and a little bit of competitive work like that so great energy. We've got a bunch of good-looking football players. It's a good-looking football team out here that loves to play, that loves to compete and I can't say enough about this freshmen group. Pretty special group. A group that you can tell just loves it, loves every bit of it." 

The Tigers will don full pads Thursday for the first time since camp began Aug. 6. With the pressure and physicality turned up, they'll go at it hard Friday and Saturday in pads as well. They'll take Sunday off for meetings before wrapping up camp with a situational scrimmage Tuesday.

"We've been building up camp, in that camp mode," Swinney said. "Full speed now and trying to get ready. We've got a great plan as far as how we're going to get our team ready (for Sept. 12 opener at Wake Forest). School starts next Wednesday, so we've just got a few more days of camp and then we'll get into school mode, which is a totally different schedule. We've got some recovery time built into it with these guys along the way."

With the  first game coming a week later than originally scheduled, the Tigers will change up the way they prepare and should have plenty of time for more scrimmages before heading to Winston-Salem, N.C.

"Guys have progressed very well so definitely ready to get in full pads tomorrow," Swinney said.

That "great practice" included the return of sophomore receiver Joseph Ngata, who has been held out with fellow pass-catcher Frank Ladson since last week in some sort of COVID-19 protocol. 

Ladson is in quarantine after being listed by Swinney as a "close-contact guy, and he's doing great."

Ngata, meanwhile, is just starting his fall camp, so he'll have to do all the things his teammates just completed before he can dive deep into the physical portion of these hot practices. 

"Hopefully we'll get him full-go in practice by Monday," Swinney said. "He's not ready. He has to have a couple of days in shorts and go through the protocol, the acclamation that everybody has to go through."