Hill goes in 1st round; Whitehurst taken in 3rd

Clemson's Tye Hill was the No. 15 pick overall, and he went to the St. Louis Rams. Quarterback Charlie Whitehurst was a third-round pick of the San Diego Chargers.

Good luck in the NFL, guys, and much thanks for all you did for Clemson.


* Hold that Tiger? The Sporting Gnomes check out EA Sports' homepage for its college football video game, and lo and behold, "Tiger Rag" is the song of choice for the promo. As a commenter points out, it could be LSU's version of the song, but still, it's pretty cool.

* Coleman OK'd to play: Cornerback Duane Coleman has received an academic waiver that will allow him to play his senior season.

NFL draft looms; Tigerpundit yawns

I'll probably post some stuff once we find out which former Tigers are going where, but in the meantime, check out the bios of Clemson's draft-eligible players here.

The WestZone project needs money, but from where?

There's a long, well-done piece in the Charleston Post and Courier about funding issues involved in the construction of Clemson's WestZone project.

Hey, you want more money? Stop going 7-5 every year.

* Waiting can pay off: The State looks at the potential NFL payday awaiting cornerback Tye Hill, who didn't leave Clemson early like Justin Miller, Donnell Washington and Derrick Hamilton.

* LIES!! ALL LIES!! That's what the NFL draft is all about, according to this article. It includes this interesting anecdote about how Perry Tuttle wound up with the Buffalo Bills:

In the past, even information passed on between friends has caused friction. In 1982, Eagles coach Dick Vermeil told good friend Chuck Knox, head coach of the Buffalo Bills, how much he liked Clemson wide receiver Perry Tuttle. Lo and behold on draft day, Buffalo traded a spot ahead of the Eagles and took Tuttle. The Eagles, furious in their draft room then settled on Mike Quick who ended up having a better career than Tuttle.

Very interesting.

* What are the last words of a Gamecock fan? "Hey, y'all watch this shit!"

Kyle Young goes into the Hall of Fame

Former Clemson lineman Kyle Young, who was a good player and a great student, is among the 2006 inductees into Clemson's Hall of Fame. Another football inductee is Steve Kenney, a star on Clemson teams in the late 1970s.

Will Proctor is now, and shall be, the man

The Rock Hill Herald has a piece about the confidence coach Tommy Bowden has in new quarterback Will Proctor.

* Ticket talk: The athletic department has released some important information for season-ticket purchasers. Check it out.

ACC coaches on the hot seat

According to this article from Tom Dienhart of The Sporting News, Miami's Larry Coker is the coach under the most pressure to produce this season.

Clemson's Tommy Bowden is rated a "Looming Icon," along with Tom O'Brien of Boston College.

New template is here!

Hey, check it out! I got the idea from the 6DB boys, who used this tool to create a new look for their blog. I'd always wanted three columns, but could never figure out how to do it. Well, now I've done it. What do you think?

Rendrick Taylor: Actual proof!!

Six Degrees of Bowden has video evidence of the existence of the beast that is Rendrick Taylor. It's his 97-yard touchdown run off a short screen pass during last week's Orange and White Game. OK, so the guy chasing him probably could have caught him if he hadn't given up around the 20. (It is a scrimmage game, after all.) That's still a pretty impressive run.

Defensive backs remain a question mark

Clemson lost a lot of starters in the secondary last year. In fact, it's one of the few areas in which we don't have a lot of returning players, so how the group develops will be crucial to the season.

* Short takes: Here and here you'll find a nice summary of where we stand as we await the start of fall drills in, oh, four months.

* Catching up with ...: Former Clemson standout William Devane, who alternated at nose guard with William Perry on the 1981 national championship team.

* Have a cold one: The Sporting News' Tom Dienhart, who really seems to like Clemson, leads off a column on great college hangouts with some good words for the world-famous Esso Club. I've enjoyed many a pre- and post-game party at the Esso over the years, and I've been pleased with the renovations that the new owner did the other year -- ESPECIALLY in the bathrooms. Those were nastier than the toilets at the Port Authority Bus Terminal at the height of the Ed Koch administration.

More O&W Game postmortems

Six Degrees of Bowden takes a humorous look at the Orange and White Game, with extra attention paid to Rendrick Taylor and Will Proctor. 6DB notes the seven interceptions thrown by Clemson's quarterbacks, and is a little worried. As am I.

Meanwhile, Every Day Should Be Saturday, in a roundup of spring-game action, also makes note of the INTs, and suggests that they have inspired Lauren Bowden get to work improving morale "up under center."

Check out Mickey Plyler's take on the spring game.

And here's some commentary from Ban the Woo Hoo, which I had failed to notice is now updating in a more blog-like fashion. Check out this post about Clemson and Georgia playing more than once in a decade. Good points all around.

Tigers wrap up spring practice, look forward to fall

Clemson completed spring workouts Saturday with the Orange and White game. The White triumphed, 24-14. Here's another postmortem on the game, and there's more here.

Also, the Greenville News' Bart Wright is excited about the upcoming season.

In other news, Vegas was awesome. The wife and I lost some money, but not a ridiculous amount. Just enough to be fun.

Clemson will play Temple in Charlotte

Real quick, because I'm preparing t go out of town: The Clemson-Temple game will be held in Charlotte on Thursday, Oct. 12. More here, with more discussion of the impact on the schedule.

More worries surface about the defensive line

Coach Tommy Bowden is worried after the unit's dismal performance in Saturday's scrimmage.

* Mickey Plyler has a blog: Well, shouldn't everyone? The recruiting guru will be posting through Tigernet. Check it out.

* Out of town: This blog will be offline until early next week. (Vegas, baby!) For information on Saturday's spring game, check out the links along the left side of this page.

Kelly injures knee, will miss spring training

Clemson receiver Aaron Kelly tore his posterior cruciate ligament and will be out for the remainder of spring practice. He should be OK by the time fall practice begins, though.

* Looking ahead: Check out The Sporting Gnomes' game-by-game preview of the 2006 season.

* Offensive explosion: The offense really shined in Saturday's scrimmage, scoring seven touchdowns. (More here.)

* Ford tough: Here's another profile of the super-speedy Jacoby Ford.

* D-line questions: It's a squad that has a lot of potential, but that hasn't really been demonstrated so far in spring practice.