Clemson sets sights on BCS
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?n...section=sports
BY LARRY WILLIAMS
The Post and Courier
CLEMSON - Every year, after Clemson's football team concludes spring practice and before it begins voluntary off-season workouts, Joey Batson comes up with a motto for the forthcoming sweat sessions in the weight room and on the practice fields.
This year, the slogan is "BCS Summer."
The Tigers have yet to reach the Bowl Championship Series, which is entering its ninth season of existence. That could change in 2006, when Clemson is expected to challenge for its first Atlantic Coast Conference title since 1991.
Batson, who as Clemson's strength and conditioning coach has presided over the Tigers' offseason workouts, thinks his moniker could prove prescient come fall. He said the team's leadership, attendance and desire during the ongoing sessions is the best he's seen in his time at Clemson.
"It's been close to perfect," said Batson, who is entering his 10th season with the Tigers. "The first five weeks were about as good as any I've been around."
The NCAA mandates that offseason workouts be voluntary, but there's little doubt at Clemson or at any other big-time college football program that slackers are volunteering for a spot in the dog house - if not the bench.
During spring practice, Clemson's coaches left no ambiguity about their expectations for the summer. Head coach Tommy Bowden agreed to use one of the Tigers' 15 allotted practice days to give his players a step-by-step rehearsal of their summer workout regimen.
Clemson's 10 full-time coaches are prohibited from overseeing or being present at the workouts, but they made their demands clear during the spring.
"For the first time, we've taken some spring-ball time and addressed the summer issue and exactly what we want done," Bowden said last week. "We've walked through it with them on the field in a practice-type environment and said, 'OK, go here. Spend this much time here and here.' Maybe that's why the results have been pretty good."
Batson, essentially the Tigers' head coach during voluntary workouts, has marveled at the example set by the team's veterans. Eleven of Clemson's 15 returning starters are seniors, and they're evenly dispersed across positions to provide crucial leadership in almost every area.
At almost every position, the team has at least one fifth-year senior leading the way. Will Proctor at quarterback. Chansi Stuckey at receiver. Dustin Fry, Roman Fry and Nathan Bennett on the offensive line. Gaines Adams on the defensive line. Anthony Waters at linebacker. Duane Coleman at defensive back. Thomas Hunter at tight end.
"Chemistry is so big," Batson said. "I've had big, strong guys in the past, but when team chemistry isn't what it should be, then it makes it tough. But you can probably talk to any of those leaders right now and you'll see a sparkle in their eye, a confidence and an excitement. Not an overconfidence, but just an excitement about the season."
Proctor, who is taking over for record-setting quarterback Charlie Whitehurst, said he has detected more dedication in a team that finished 8-4 last season and won six of its last seven games.
"I've been saying it since January: There's a new attitude on this team," he said. "We've got a great group of seniors. We've got a bunch of guys that have stepped up to the plate to be leaders. Underclassmen have been leaders. Everybody has taken it upon themselves to get better and take the next step to get to the next level, where we want to be."
That level is the BCS. And Batson said it starts with the BCS Summer. "Our kids know how to work, and that doesn't just happen in a year, " he said.
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