(UPDATED at 1:42 p.m.)

Online season ticket sales set a new record

Football season ticket orders placed via the Web have surpassed $1 million for the first time. Clemson fans have apparently discovered this thingee called the "Innernut" that puts words and pictures inside this little teevee-like jobbie that you can click around on and go places.

Man, it's awesome, man.

WHITEHURST FOR HEISMAN: A poster on the Tigernet message board found this story that ranks Clemson quarterback Charlie Whitehurst as an early Heisman Trophy candidate. Sounds good to me.

SIMPLY THE BEST: I may have posted this in the past, but a commenter on Tigernet's new and improved message boards has put up a link to the stadium rankings of major college teams. Clemson's Death Valley is rated the best in the ACC, natch.

Bowden: Early draft departures made costly mistake

Bart Wright of the Greenville News has an interview with Clemson coach Tommy Bowden, who says Donnell Washington and Derrick Hamilton probably cost themselves a combined $6 million by leaving school early to enter the NFL draft.

MORRIS NEEDS TO CRACK THE BOOKS: The Greenville News profiles Kelvin Morris, a linebacker who has not played since the 2002 Tangerine Bowl because of injury and academic troubles.

Tiger fans expect a monster season in 2004

The Greenville News has a couple of articles from a recent IPTAY meeting where football coach Tommy Bowden was greeted with enthusiastic, positive fans. That's definitely a big change from this time last year.

HENRY, THREE OTHERS SIGN: Clemson offensive tackle William Henry has signed a free agent contract with the Atlanta Falcons. He'll be joined by teammate Kevin Youngblood. Linebacker John Leake signed with the Tennessee Titans, and Khaleed Vaughn signed with the New York Giants. They join Donnell Washington and Derrick Hamilton, who were third-round draft picks Saturday.

TRAGEDY STRIKES CROSBY AGAIN: This is awful news. Troubled former Clemson player Roscoe Crosby has had another tragedy befall him -- his young brother has drowned in Lake Hartwell. (Here's the story, and here's a link to a password that allows you to read the story.)

PARKING SPACES OPEN: The new downtown deck in Clemson is taking applications from football fans.

Who will be next 'voice of the Tigers'?

Bart Wright of the Greenville News has a column up about who could be replacing Jim Phillips, Clemson's legendary radio man who died last fall. Wright seems to be supporting Pete Yanity, and I think that would be a good choice, too. But let's don't forget Don Munson.

Washington, Hamilton are third-round picks

As expected, Clemson's Donnell Washington and Derrick Hamilton were selected in the third round of the NFL draft.

DRAFT MEMORIES: Former NFL great and Clemson grad Dwight Clark reminisces about his own draft experiences. And here's a list of Clemson's first-round draft picks.

It's Draft Day: Will Clemson players be high picks?

The NFL draft will begin today, and we'll find out the fates of the Clemson players who are eligible. The Anderson Independent-Mail examines the draft prospects of Donnell Washington, and the Greenville News looks at John Leake's potential.

HUEY TO PLAY AGAIN: Former Clemson player Terrance Huey has received medical clearance to play football again, and he'll close out his career at The State University of West Georgia, a Division II school.

Ron West: Up close and personal

Tigernet has a couple of stories that involve Clemson defensive line coach Ron West. The first is a straight Q&A; the second is about Clemson's depth at defensive end.

THE FRIDAY FIVE: OK, here goes an older one:

1. List your five favorite beverages.
Bass Ale, red wine, Diet Coke, orange juice, lemonade.

2. List your five favorite websites.
Google, Bloglines, Arts & Letters Daily, Tigernet, Tigerpundit.

3. List your five favorite snack foods.
Smoked almonds, boiled peanuts, potato chips, pretzels, nachos.

4. List your five favorite board and/or card games.
Risk, Trivial Pursuit, Phase 10, Battleship, Stratego.

5. List your five favorite computer and/or game system games.
Don't have any.

Analysts: Hamilton should have stayed another year

Receiver Derrick Hamilton, who left Clemson a year early to test the waters of the NFL draft, could have been a top-five pick next year if he'd stayed in school, according to a draft expert quoted in this story from The State.

I couldn't agree more.

SMITH PROFILED: The Greenville News' Bart Wright has a column about Clemson assistant coach Thielen Smith, who played against new Mississippi State coach Sylvester Croom in college.

Football success boosts turnout at IPTAY meetings

Many more IPTAY members are turning out to hear coach Tommy Bowden speak at meetings around the state. That's because the excitement is back in Clemson football after the fantastic finish to the 2003 season. And, they're giving more money than in the recent past. That's great news.

GADDIS TO STAY AT CORNERBACK: Clemson's C.J. Gaddis, who came to school as a quarterback, will remain at cornerback, a switch that was made at spring practice.

NFL DRAFT NEWS: The Cleveland Browns' Web site has a nice profile of Derrick Hamilton. Also, a poster on the Tigernet message board has an assessment of the prospects for Hamilton and Donnell Washington from Mel Kiper, draft expert. Kiper sees Washington going in the late first round, and Hamilton going in the late third round.

What a week for Clemson sports

This is non-football-related blogging, but I just want to congratulate the Clemson athletic department for an outstanding weekend. The men's track team (coached by Bob Pollack, my former PE instructor at Appalachian State) won the ACC championship in record-setting style; the golf team won its second straight league title; and the women's tennis team won the ACC championship.

That's awesome. Way to go, Tigers!

ACC's new TV package: More games, more money

The Atlantic Coast Conference's new football television agreement with ESPN and ABC will pay more than $37 million and double the number of league games on ESPN from nine to 18. Read all about it here.

PARK IT TODAY: Clemson fans can pick their parking spots in a new parking deck that opens today in downtown Clemson.

THE FRIDAY FIVE: Well, nothing yet. Maybe later.

This spring, confidence blossoms at Clemson

The players are exuding confidence after a great finish to the 2003 season and a solid spring practice session, and their classmates have noticed.

SPRING FOOTBALL GUIDE: The official Clemson site has posted a .pdf version of the spring football media guide. Check it out.

Derrick Hamilton -- among the SEC's best receivers?!?!?

An alert poster on Tigernet's message board noticed this story from ESPN.com rating the top receiver prospects in the NFL draft. Clemson's Derrick Hamilton is listed, though it says he was named All-SEC the past two years.

Two Tigers named to S.C. Athletic Hall of Fame

Former Clemson football standouts Jeff Bryant and Dreher "Goon" Gaskin were among eight inductees for 2004. Read about it here.

Examining Clemson's needs prior to the season opener

The Anderson Independent-Mail examines five aspects of the Tigers' football program that may need attention before the Sept. 4 opening game against Wake Forest.

LOOKING AT RECRUITING: The State takes an early look at top prep prospects Clemson could be courting this fall.

STATE OF THE PROGRAM: The State has a Q&A with Clemson President James Barker on the state of the school's athletic program.

Defense dominates Clemson's spring game



The defensive unit appeared to get the best of the offensive unit in Saturday's controlled scrimmage in Death Valley. Read about the game here, here, here and here.

THE STATS: Here's a complete statistical summary of the scrimmage.

OTHER STORIES: The State examines how the defensive line played, discusses the status of C.J. Gaddis, and does that high five thingee it usually runs during the regular season. Tigernet offers a story on how the offense played. There are stories about football awards here, here and here.

PHOTOS: More spring game pictures can be found here, here and here.

O'CAIN PROFILED: Here's a good story on Mike O'Cain, who was recently promoted to offensive coordinator at Clemson.

BYPASS REGISTRATION: Via the fiancee, here's a site called Bug Me Not that provides passwords to Web sites that require registration -- mainly newspapers such as The New York Times and the Washington Post. I checked, and there are passwords available for the Spartanburg Herald-Journal, the Charleston Post & Courier and the Charlotte Observer. So I may start linking to Clemson-related stories from those sites. We'll see.

Spring football game is today

If you're reading this now, you'll probably be too late to make it to the game. So, here's a notebook of spring-like stuff, and The State has five things to look for in the contest.

HIGH HOPES: Coming out of a productive spring practice, Clemson expects great things this season. So do the fans.

A BETTER TRAINING TABLE: The Anderson Independent-Mail has an interesting story on the lessons in good eating habits that are being taught to Clemson's players.

WEST END ZONE UPDATE: The official Clemson site has new artist renderings of what the West End Zone project should look like when it's completed. Check it out.

New receivers needed at Clemson

The Tigers have lost three of their best receivers. Who will fill in the gap? Read here to find out. And don't forget; the spring game is tomorrow.

JP SPORTS RELEASES FOOTBALL TV SCHEDULE: The broadcast season begins the week of Sept. 18. All dates are subject to change because of other television contracts.

THE FRIDAY FIVE: OK, here goes:

1. What do you do for a living?
I'm a copy editor at a newspaper. Forgive me if you see the occasional spelling or grammatical error on this blog; I don't get paid to do this, so I don't put nearly the effort into it that I do at my job.

2. What do you like most about your job?
Writing headlines.

3. What do you like least about your job?
Writing photo captions.

4. When you have a bad day at work it's usually because _____...
We're swamped.

5. What other career(s) are you interested in?
Can't think of any.

Last practice before spring game is uneven

With Clemson's spring game slated for Saturday, the Tigers went through their final workout before that scrimmage. (More here, here and here.)

PARK IT: Football fans can reserve a spot in a new parking deck in downtown Clemson. Read about it here.

Danny Cannon -- a true Tiger

There's not much Clemson football news out there today, so I'm linking to this story about Danny Cannon, an employee of the athletic department who performs a lot of valuable services for the Tigers, including singing the national anthem before baseball games.

WELSH MAKES HALL OF FAME: Former Virginia football coach George Welsh has been elected to the College Football Hall of Fame. Welsh is single-handedly responsible for turning the Cavaliers into a respectable football program. They are no longer the "white meat" of the schedule. And he was a real gentleman, too. Congratulations, coach.

The search is on for new offensive tackles

There are a lot of players vying for starting jobs, according to this story and this one. I hope they get this sorted out soon. We'll definitely need solid line play this season if we want to have a breakout year.

BROMELL SIGNS: Former Tiger Lorenzo Bromell has joined the New York Giants. He's had a steady, if unspectacular, NFL career as a defensive end.

TECH FALLS: Sorry the Yellow Jackets lost the basketball title game to UConn last night. I was hoping they'd avenge Clemson's 1990 loss to the Huskies in the infamous Tate George game. (If you're feeling masochistic, you can watch a clip of George's unbelievable game-winning shot here.)

Good luck, Yellowjackets!

Not much Clemson football news out there today, so I wanted to wish Georgia Tech good luck tonight in the basketball national championship game. Do the league proud.

Defense does fairly well in Saturday's scrimmage

The defensive unit was the strongest in Clemson's scrimmage Saturday in Death Valley, but goal-line situations were problematic. Read all about it here, here, here and here.

PROCTOR PROGRESSES: Backup quarterback Will Proctor had a solid scrimmage.

NFL CHANCES PROFILED: A poster on Tigernet's message board has found links to the draft prospects of the seven Clemson players who could be picked this year. Here they are: Derrick Hamilton, Kevin Youngblood, Gregory Walker, Chad Jasmin, Khaleed Vaughn, Donnell Washington, John Leake.

A VIP shows up at Clemson's practice session

Former Alabama coach Gene Stallings was in attendance at Friday's practice session, which was a tune-up before today's major scrimmage in Death Valley.

WATERS RUNS DEEP: The Anderson Independent-Mail has a profile of sophomore linebacker Anthony Waters, who is having a very good spring. He's expected to fill in for the departed John Leake.

MORE ON PHILLIPS: Here's another story about athletic director Terry Don Phillips' love for Oklahoma State, the school where he worked from 1994 to 2002.

Phillips is thinking of Oklahoma State this week

The State has a story about Clemson athletic director Terry Don Phillips' emotional bonds with Final Four team Oklahoma State, where he was athletic director from 1994 to 2002.

NEVER TOO EARLY FOR A PREVIEW: College Football News has a very, very early preview of Clemson's 2004 football season. Check it out.

RAINEY RETIRING: Senior associate athletic director Dwight Rainey, perhaps best known to Clemson football fans as the guy who did the Olympic sports report on the Tiger Tailgate Show, will retire in June 2005.

THE FRIDAY FIVE: Nothing this week, but here's an older one:

1. What was your first job?
Baskin-Robbins on South Boulevard in Charlotte. It was 1983, my junior year in high school.

2. How old were you when you had your first kiss?
Fifteen. (I was a late bloomer.)

3. What was your first car? What happened to it?
Oh boy. My first car was a white 1970 Toyota Corolla. I got it in 1982 and wrecked it in 1984.

Me and a couple of my Olympic High School soccer teammates were turning into Myers Park High School during rush hour in Charlotte, and I got mashed pretty bad. (Yep, it was my fault.) Thankfully, nobody got hurt, but I left my cleats in the car when it was towed away and I had to borrow someone else's to play in the game. We did go on to beat the preppies 1-0, which was nice. (They've always been one of the better soccer programs in the state.) We'd never beaten them before, and probably haven't beaten them since.

4. What was your first concert?
Jimmy Buffett, Carowinds, 1983. I'm not a big Parrothead, but it was a great show. That was the last stop on his tour that year, and he played for like four hours.

5. How do you plan to spend your weekend?
If the weather breaks, I think the fiancee and I will hop on the Metro and go to the Cherry Blossom Festival.

Clemson is getting all defensive

The defensive squad seems to be getting a lot of attention this spring. Read all about it here, here, here and here.

IPTAY SHAKEUP: Bill D'Andrea has been named associate athletics director for external affairs (in other words, he runs IPTAY now), and Bert Henderson has been named executive director of IPTAY. The changes were undertaken to streamline fundraising for football facilities. Read all about it here, here and here.

Additionally, here's a story about departing IPTAY director George Bennett, who is retiring in June. He has recently been diagnosed with prostate cancer.