The "Making it Fun" Edition

Clemson baseball continues its hot start, and Swanny thinks a big part of their success is Erik Bakich making it fun for the Tigers.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's time for Clipson Sports Talk with Lowton Swan Swanny. Finally,

(00:45):
Clemson Sports Talk has come back two drive time. Hello everybody,
Long Swan back in the saddle once again. It is
the show that shakes the South Way and Clemson Sports
off for you each chin every afternoon as you make
your way around the great state of South Carolina and beyond,

(01:05):
listening to us on incredible radio stations like Fox Sports
Radio fourteen under in the Midlands, heard around the world
on the iHeart Radio application. Download it today, It's free.
The website. Put the dot com on it, doggonnet that's
Clemson Sports Talk dot com. And the course, the show

(01:26):
the Shakespeare south Land, brought to you in part by
our good friends over at Mets Plumbing seven three two drip,
Drip drip. You know the jingle, seventh three two drip.
That's Mets Plumbing, Mets Plumbing dot Com. All right, Clemson
last night, getting the job Say it with me now,
d O n E. The job done against these seventeenth

(01:49):
ranked Louisville Cardinals at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. You're number two
now ranked Clemson Tigers wins seven to six Louisville on
Thursday night. Again. You heard timber Ray say on the
program yesterday that one of the things the Atlantic Coast

(02:10):
Conference tries to do is make sure that there are
no sporting events on Easter Sunday in the conference. That's
why Clemson was playing on Thursday this week and not
kicking off this series against the Cardinals on Friday. Now,

(02:33):
Friday's game, you might recall today's matchup. We mentioned this
to you a couple of days ago. Friday's game did
have a little bit of a time change because of
the weather conditions, and so it will be moved up
two hours, meaning it's going to start at the top

(02:55):
of the hour at hour number two. So Clempston Louisville
will begin at five o'clock instead of the original scheduled
seven o'clock that it was supposed to start this evening.
So get ready for Tiger baseball. But last night, the Tigers,
in a really good contest, got down three to zero,

(03:18):
come back to tie the game, eventually win seven to
six over Louisville at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. Jack Crichton was
the big name to know last night. We'll get to
him in a minute. But Clemson wins another game with
Aiden Kannock on the bump. Conock didn't get the victory,

(03:41):
but they haven't lost this season when Canock's been pitching.
The Tigers take a one to zero lead in the
series and improved to thirty four and six twelve and
four in the ACC. The Cardinals dropped to twenty seven
and ten and nine and seven in the league. As
they mentioned earlier, Louisville got out to a three to

(04:02):
nothing lead in the first inning. It was a couple
of costly errors for Clemson, one of them on a
potential inning ending it Boyd that's tough to say, inning
ending play that would have been a double play grounder
and left the game scoreless instead. The Tigers trailed by

(04:23):
three after one. Clemson responds in the bottom of the
first inning when Colin Priest hit his eighth home run
of the season to tie the game a three run mash.
Louisville took the lead back in the second with two
more runs to take a five to three lead. Then
in the fourth inning, Clemson trimmed the lead in half

(04:44):
on a wild pitch to make it five to four.
In the seventh inning, Jaron Purify reached on a one
out error, and Jacob Jarrell drew a two out walk
in on a one to zero pitch. Jack Crichton, in
the seventh inning, playing in his one hundredth career game,
according to Clemson's press release, hit a three run home

(05:09):
run on a one to zero pitch over the fence
to give the Tigers the lead that they would never relinquish.
Louisville answered with an unearned run in the eighth inning.
Clemson shooting themselves in the foot a little bit in
this ball game, but still they come out on top.
Jacob McGovern actually got the win, pitching a perfect seventh

(05:30):
inning in relief in Lucas Mostead in one in two
thirds innings, picked up his thirteenth save of the league,
which leads the country. A little side armor, a little submariner.
I'm sure it's an adjustment to try to pick up
where Masted is gonna throw that ball from Wyatt Danilitz
for Louisville suffered the loss, and again five o'clock today

(05:54):
on the ACC Network Extra, that game or series will
pick up. So Jack Crichton with a three run bomb,
Clemson with two three run homers in the game, and
they come out with a seven to six victory with
a chance to take the series. This afternoon, and watching
that game, I couldn't help but think, I guess when

(06:17):
it was five to four. I think at one point
when it was five to four. I'd have to go
back and look at the box score, but I think
there was a moment where Louisville was up five to
four and maybe had runners on either the corners. I
think it was first and second, but maybe it was
on the corners. Maybe it was on first and third.

(06:38):
And I remember thinking, Man, if the Cardinals get a
hit here, it might just be there. It might just
be there night, you know, it might just be their night.
And yet they weren't able to do so. Clemson was
able to hold the score firm at five to four,

(07:01):
and then when Jack Crichton hit that ball out of
the park, I thought, well, maybe not. But then in
the ninth inning things did get a little bit interesting.
Louisville had a man on with one out and the
batter hit the ball. It looked like it was gonna

(07:22):
be a potential double playball purified when he makes to
throw across the first base the ball gets away from
I think that was Gaffney over there gets away from Gaffney. Fortunately,
Clemsy got a little fourtuitous bumped off of the dugout.
The ball came right back out. The runner was unable

(07:44):
to advance. But that's not the important part. Now, it's
two outs, one on down by one. In that final
batter for Louisville, he caught hold of the ball and
laced it towards the fence. I mean it was ripped
towards the fence, and I thought, oh boy, this could

(08:09):
be bad news. But fortunately it stayed in the park
and Clemson got the win. Speaking of that game, here's
Priest's three run home run, as called by Don Munson
on the Clemson Radio network in the first inning to
tie the game at three.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
Pitched the priest and high and a head. All right,
and we are tied at three.

Speaker 3 (08:34):
Bang ghost Priest his eighth all run of the year.
Harvey I's thirty four, thirty five, thirty six, one oh
nine off the bat and it flew four hundred feet.

Speaker 1 (08:49):
I mean, Priest absolutely smashed that ball. And remember I
talked about some key moments in the game. Well, one
of those was a batter interference on the top of
the sixth inning on the Canock strikeout. There are actually
a couple of interference called in the game. I think
there was one in the top of the fourth as well.
But this was a five to four game with Louisville

(09:12):
in the lead, and Aiden Kannock gets a little strike
them out, throw them out. A huge moment in the
ballgame here that here it is from the top of
the sixth.

Speaker 4 (09:24):
Inning to two pitch runner movies swinging a miss throw
down and they call him out.

Speaker 2 (09:34):
They call a double playing. They'll say the batter's interference,
and so the runner is out at second.

Speaker 5 (09:43):
So the strikeouts swinging by Baker and then the cat
catcher's interference will get out to say an out at third.
In the inning comes to close another Hyundai strikeout for Kannock.

Speaker 2 (09:57):
No runs again, no airs, nobody left.

Speaker 1 (10:01):
That was the top of the sixth inning. Clemson wouldn't
do anything in the top excu mean the bottom half
of the sixth. But in the bottom half of the seventh,
Jack Crichton made it seven to five with this three
run homer. As we mentioned, one o delivery.

Speaker 3 (10:18):
Crichton swings drives in the center deep center back, goes
the center fielder at the wall.

Speaker 1 (10:23):
Done grit.

Speaker 3 (10:24):
First home run in a Clipson uniform is a three
run shot right.

Speaker 2 (10:31):
Out the front door.

Speaker 1 (10:34):
That came from nowhere. Talk about making the most of
a huge opportunity. Jack Crichton first home run, one hundredth
game seven to five Clemson at the top. As I mentioned,
the Cardinals would scratch one back to make it seven

(10:59):
to six. And here's the final call. With a runner
on base and the chance to take a lead. The
Cardinals get a shot to the fence shide.

Speaker 2 (11:12):
Now we'll climb back up. He told that rubber far
first base sign and look in get his mind right here.
Two two, Thatt's in the air to the deep right back in.

Speaker 3 (11:23):
The right fielder, right next to grab in front of
the fence.

Speaker 2 (11:27):
Bowl game. He gave it a ride, but not deep enough.

Speaker 3 (11:33):
It was one hundred and five off the bat. But
Krichten able to get back make the catch, and he
should make the catch to end it because his three
run over in the bottom of the seventh is gonna
prove to be the game winner. Clemson takes game one
in this series over Louisville, come from behind fashion, winning

(11:54):
it seven to six.

Speaker 2 (11:59):
Ho hum, he murdered that ball.

Speaker 1 (12:03):
Yeah, I mean he crushed it. It was laced on
a rope and crighton handled it right near the fence
and put the game to bed in multiple ways. But
the Tigers come out on top. They take game one
in the series, and again in less than an hour

(12:26):
they'll be back at work at Doug Kingsmore Stadium for
Game two in this series with a chance to win
it and take the series lead going into Saturday's finale.
That's a good baseball team, that Louisville Cardinal team. You know,

(12:47):
those are the types of games you gotta play along
the way. That was the one that was kind of
my takeaway from last night that felt like a postseason game.
Louisville is aggressive on the basis. Clemson, you know, made

(13:07):
some untimely errors, especially early in the game that can
happen in a big ball game. And I'm not saying
that that's why it happened. I'm not saying this is like, oh,
Clemson had the jitters or anything in the opener. But

(13:30):
I think it was a good opportunity for a feeling
of postseason play, and I think today's game will hopefully
give Clemson that kind of simulation, and for that matter,
I think it's giving Louisville that type of simulation. The

(13:50):
biggest problem you know that I think Clemson has right now,
and I'm sure the analytical baseball heads might say otherwise,
but you know, I really think the biggest issue this
team has is, for me at least, is my confidence
in the pitching staff. The starter's minus Aidan Knnock. And

(14:15):
I'm not talking about against Atlantic Coast Conference competition, et cetera.
What I'm talking about is when you get into late
postseason play, regional super regional play, when you're not able
to maybe mow down some of the competition offensively, what's

(14:39):
that rotation going to be able to give you? Now?
The bright spot I think is is that what you've
at least seen throughout this season is that this team
has managed to be clutching moments on offense. You saw

(14:59):
that last night. This team never really feels like they're
out of a ballgame. And that was one of the
things my dad and I were talking about this weekend
when I was down there in Beaufort visiting with him, was,
you know, just kind of how this team.

Speaker 6 (15:23):
Is.

Speaker 1 (15:24):
They've quietly become one of the more confident ball clubs
I've seen and what it reminds me of. Do you
remember when South Carolina was on their incredible tear in
college baseball and they would, you know, get the second
base or first base and they'd get that dumb little

(15:48):
fish thing. They put their hand up there on the
top of their forehead and shake it because they had
like a fish or something they carried around with them
or whatever, kind of like a lucky chaw game. Gock fans,
you certainly remember it better. And I know you guys
are out there hanging out with us today, so I
appreciate you.

Speaker 6 (16:07):
So you could continue to peek over the fence at
the best radio.

Speaker 7 (16:10):
Showing the nation.

Speaker 1 (16:12):
But that fish and that symbol and that reaction meant something.
It was more than symbolic. It was a belief. It
was a confidence. And I don't know that Clemson has

(16:35):
anything similar, you know, in the sense of something physically
that's that that feeling is sort of attached to. But
that is kind of the feeling that I get watching
this team, and that is that there's a confidence to

(16:57):
this group. There seems to be a looseness to this group,
and I think it's a good thing. Now. One of
the things I wonder, and it's it's probably. It probably
was a small potato thing when it happened. But Clemson,

(17:22):
of course played against the Savannah Bananas. And the cool
thing about that, I think was, you know, when I
heard the owner of the Savannah Bananas talking about banana
ball and in the mindset, you know, he talked about
how baseball can be boring for people, and he wanted

(17:47):
to figure out how to make baseball fun. And I
think one of the stressors of college baseball and baseball
in general is the fact that it is sort of
a monotonous game. And what I believe Eric Backage has

(18:11):
done is injected injected into this Clemson Tiger baseball team
a an excitement and enthusiasm, and I think playing against oddly,
I think playing against Savannah allowed for everybody to see this,

(18:35):
this can be fun. Winning can be fun, you know,
Battling back can be fun. Even if you fall short,
you can still have fun in doing it. Don't take
the fun out of the game. And I just think
that this team. You know, when when we were at
the end of Jack Leggott's tenure, I remember the errors

(19:01):
that clumps would make in the field. I remember thinking godless.
Team's tight. They just wound so tight. And I don't
think that even though Legot's in the dugout, that's not
where this this team wants to be. You know, they
want to be a loose, fun team, and I'm not

(19:22):
saying that that's where Legant wants them to be at
this point either. I mean, I think the energy and
everything that they get in, the enthusiasm and the excitement
and everything now comes from Eric Backage, and I think
you see kind of the jovial, kid like aspects of
what this game can be for this clubson baseball team.

(19:45):
I'll make a comparison to another sport as well, sport
we talked about last week to some degree when we
get back, plus we'll hear from Eric Backage following Clemson's
Game one victory over the Louisville Cardinal. When we return,
stay with us, rocket and rolling along with you on
a Friday afternoon, Clemson leads the series against Louisville one

(20:07):
to oh. That matchup gets started today at five o'clock.
And speaking of five o'clock, Will Van Dervoort from the
Clemson Insider will join us here on the program. But
talking about that victory over Louisville last night, Eric Backache
and Jack Crichton, the man that hit the three run
bomb to give Clemson the lead they wouldn't relinquish. And

(20:29):
then the man that made the play at the tracks,
well not at Clemson, the burm, the rise, you know,
climps didn't have a warning track. They got the the
little hill that leads you to the fence line at
Doug Kingsmore Stadium. But Jack Crichton and Eric Backache after
the game, about two minutes here of audio from that duo,

(20:52):
all right, you.

Speaker 8 (20:53):
Know we're one run better tonight, and that's that's really
the bottom line. I thought Aiden actually pitched pitch pretty well.
Some tough luck there in the first inning with a
couple of errors, but that's a really good Louisville team,
really good offense, high pressure offense, put a lot of
pressure on our defense.

Speaker 7 (21:12):
We did not handle it well.

Speaker 2 (21:13):
I didn't think.

Speaker 8 (21:14):
I thought we were a little bit sped up defensively.
But we we got two three run homers tonight, which
you know, we typically don't rely on the three run
homer for our scoring, but we certainly certainly needed them tonight.
And Collins hitting the first was huge, and then you know,
no hit in this game was bigger than Jack's two

(21:37):
out three run homer to take the lead and proved
to be a very important insurance run when we went
up by two. So one run game, tough battle, well
coached teams, high pressure team, a lot of speed, a
lot of action, and so you know, learn.

Speaker 1 (21:55):
A couple of lessons in the in the win.

Speaker 8 (21:57):
But glad, glad that it was a win because that's
a great team and we'll have our hands full of
the rest of the weekend. But certainly glad we got
off to the right start on this game one of
this series.

Speaker 9 (22:08):
Yeah, I was just sticking to the approach that my
coaches gave me, and just I was just trying to
put my team in the best place to win. It's
definitely exciting to do that for the team. And just
I mean yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean, we just always
believe we're going to win the game. And I mean
our team were like brothers and we all believe in
each other and trust each other, so we always think

(22:30):
we can win any game. It just was awesome to
be able to celebrate with my teammates. I mean, they're
all the best and they're all my best friends and
it's just awesome. Yeah, I hope. So when I hit it,
but I wasn't completely sure.

Speaker 1 (22:43):
There you go, that's Jack Crichton and Eric backache Crighton
said he wasn't completely sure if that ball was going
to go out of the ballpark. Now, let's go back
to what I was talking about with, you know, trying
to make the game fun. And I think in part
of that again with the Savannah Bananas playing against Clemson
at the beginning or during the off season, you know,

(23:06):
I think that might have been something that kind of
seeing that, seeing the energy, feeling the vibe in Doug
Kingsmore Stadium for that game. You know, I think that's
something as a coach you can kind of capitalize on.
You can go, we can make this sport fun and
we can be really good at this sport, and that
in term with your effort, enthusiasm and energy can bring

(23:28):
make good players what it can be a part of
your program. And so I wanted, I said before the break,
I was gonna tell you know, what it reminds me
of is when I was a kid, I golf with
my dad and spend a lot of saturdays and Sundays

(23:49):
in the golf cart the Sweetwater Country Club playing a
little golf. But it was a back then it almost
felt like a game for royalty. There were lots of
pomp and circumstance, and there was rules and regulations, and
you must be quiet during the backswing. You know nothing

(24:13):
but you and the sounds of the whipper will in
the trees. And that was how it was. And if
anybody had ridden past you in nineteen eighty nine on
a golf cart blaring music, you'd have said, this is outrageous,

(24:34):
what a bunch of hooligans. And now, quite frankly, I
don't know how the old school guys who played when
they were kids like I did feel about it. But
there has been a tectonic shift because of bluetooth speakers

(24:57):
and the ability to carry around an entire playlist or
catalog of songs on your telephone. And now when you
go out to the golf course, it's unusual not to
hear people playing music. And I think golf courses began

(25:22):
to encourage that as the number of people golfing probably
began to decline, to say, hey, look, if you want
to come out here, it's not going to be this
ornate deal where everything has to be just precise and
buttoned up. I don't know what all the rules are

(25:46):
at golf courses anymore, but I know many of you
have played at golf courses like I have, where you
had to have a collar. You had to be wearing
a collar to play. You know, the shoes. Back in
the day, the shoes of golfers looked a lot like

(26:07):
bowling shoes, almost clown shoes. When you're wearing those, well,
what did How do golf shoes look now? They look
like sneakers, they look like nikes. There's been a huge
shift to try to make that game feel younger and
more exciting, to bring new fans in. You know, I

(26:32):
know when I was a kid, my dad, Dad, you
could answer this question if you're listening. I think if
I went to the range to hit range balls, it
didn't matter how old I was, they were gonna charge
me four dollars for a bag of balls or whatever.
I remember that nowadays, if you're a kid you want
to go hit range balls, most courses give them to
the kids. They're not gonna give them to the adults.

(26:55):
They'll give them to the kids. Why they want to
grow the sport because they see the sport for the
consumer drying up. They want more people interested in the game,
and they need younger people interested in the game. Anyway,
that's my take on it. I think Eric Backache has

(27:15):
injected a level of enthusiasm and excitement and fun into
this baseball team, and I think through osmosis, it has
seeped into the fabric of who this program is right now,
a fun group that is having fun. Quick Break will
come back with more. On a Friday afternoon, Clemson Sports

(27:36):
saw the show The shakesa salal and so so big
news for the Tigers on the recruiting trail earlier today
about noon, as four star wide receiver out of Providence
Day School over in Charlotte, Gordon Sellers committed to the Tigers.
Sellers a big piece for Clemson in the twenty six

(27:59):
recruiting class, pick Clemson over South Carolina, Georgia, Ohio State,
Michigan and others. Sellers, a six foot three, one hundred
and ninety five pound wide receiver, is the third wide
out in the class, joining four star named Burrows and
Connor Salmon. Both of those guys are known for their

(28:22):
elite top end speed Sellers is one of the larger
wide receivers, no slouch in the speed department. According to Twitter,
He's clocked at a four to three eight in the
forty and is a multi sport athlete. At Providence Day

(28:45):
last season, Sellers brought in fifty catches for nine hundred
and seventy five yards and ten touchdowns, and with that
commitment bolster's Clemson's recruiting class to number two leave in
the two four seven ratings. In on three's rankings, Clemson

(29:08):
currently checks in at number eight and then according to Rivals,
the Tigers are also second with fourteen commits currently in
the fold, including Tate Reynolds, the quarterback out of Queen Creek, Arizona,
four star prospect. You've got Brock Bradley, another quarterback, six

(29:30):
one hundred and eighty five pounds out of Birmingham, Alabama.
You've got tight end Tavian Wilson out of Huntington, West Virginia.
I mentioned the three wideouts a few minutes ago. You've
got on the offensive line, Braden Wilms out of Lawrence, Kansas,
Adam Guthrie out of Washington Courthouse, Ohio. Grant Wise out

(29:52):
of Pace, Florida and Chance Barclay out of Orlando, Florida.
Over On the defensive side the ball, the Tigers have
three defensive backs currently committed, Shaver Young junior out of Knoxville, Tennessee,
Marcel Gibson out of Dallas, Texas, and Cayden GiB Hart
out of Lewis Center, Ohio. Currently no linebackers committed. We

(30:17):
did talk to though off the air, Tyler Atkinson, linebacker
out of Grayson High School over in Georgia yesterday. More
on that coming for our premium subscribers on our website,
Clympsons Sportstar dot com. And then the other prospect committed
defensive lineman Cameron Cody out of Savannah, Georgia. So fourteen commits,

(30:38):
second rated class. I would say the belief that Dabosweeny
and Clemson had lost their touch on the recruiting trail
those rumors were greatly exaggerated. What an impressive class so far,
just fourteen players, but solid especially at wide out. And

(30:59):
there's been a lot of criticism for Tyler Grisham and
his job developing wide receivers and also recruiting whiteout. But
Grisham seems to have dispelled or either called on. You know,
I think there's a learning curve to some of this,
and maybe CJ. Spiller is also falling victim of the

(31:20):
learning curve. But man, over the past two classes, when
you look at what you got from TJ. Moore and
Bryant Westco and now what these guys potentially could bring
to the table, I would say there's been more excitement
about the Wide Receiver group than pretty much any other
class on campus at this point. So shout out to

(31:47):
Tyler Grisham for a job well done. As Clemson Lands
Gordon seller is one of the top whiteouts in the country.
Here's the moment that Gordon Sellars decided to be a
Clemson Tiger.

Speaker 7 (32:05):
I have toward you.

Speaker 10 (32:06):
You're truly giving me everything I've asked for, and I
cannot express how grateful I am for you. You have been
with me in the high moments of my life and
even the lonely nights where the stress is just taken over.
You have given me the strength and confidence to take
on this thing called life. I'll further change the relationship
we have together. I love you, mama. With that being said,
for the next two to four years, I'll be taking

(32:28):
my academic and athletic talents too Clemson University.

Speaker 1 (32:35):
There, it is an emotional moment for Gordon Sellers, the
four star wide receivers he chooses Clemson. Here's some of
the reaction to what the Tigers are getting from a three.

Speaker 11 (32:47):
Gordon Sellers is a Clemson Tiger. Gordon, I know it
hasn't been an easy process. But how do you feel
right now now that you've been able to announce your commitment.

Speaker 10 (33:00):
I'm blessed for this opportunity, you know. I'm glad I have,
you know, people around me that support me, and that's
a big part.

Speaker 11 (33:06):
So why why Clemson? I mean you had a ton
of offers, you had six finalists, But why Clemson?

Speaker 6 (33:11):
In the end?

Speaker 7 (33:12):
Oh?

Speaker 10 (33:12):
For me, Clinton is just a brotherhood. Every time I
go there, you know, it just feels like the right place.
Whether it's coach Sweeney or coach Grisham. You know the
relationships I built, you know, they take a long way.

Speaker 11 (33:22):
So mm hmmm, have you had a chance to talk
to coach Sweeney and tell them that you're committed?

Speaker 10 (33:27):
I have I call coach Sweeney I think Thursday.

Speaker 1 (33:30):
What was his reaction?

Speaker 7 (33:31):
He was excited. He was excited.

Speaker 11 (33:33):
All right, Gordon, Well, congratulations, what when you step on
campus it Clemson, what are you bringing to the Tigers
football program?

Speaker 1 (33:42):
Uh?

Speaker 10 (33:42):
Not only a good football player, but a great young man.
So when I get on that campus, you know, I
want people to just come at me, you know, ask questions,
feel free, you know, just be there not only for
the football player, but as a person.

Speaker 1 (33:53):
So there you go a little time with Clemson's newest recruit.
We actually what Gordon as well over on social media
via his Twitter account. We'll have more on that coming
up later as well. A zero three four five zero
zero eighty six. So Clemson on the recruiting trail, crushing
its sellers. One of the top prospects in the country.

(34:15):
Fifty seventh highest rated prospect in America, I believe, the
seventeenth rated prospect in the state of North Carolina. But
a top flight wide receiver another I should say, top
flight wide receiver in the books for the Clemson Tigers.

(34:38):
Fifty seventh not in America, fifty seventh best player at
his position in America. There, let me correctable mistake here
on a Friday afternoon. Don't forget speaking of Friday afternoons.
Will Van Dervoort from the Clemson Insiders set to join
the program in just a little bit. Well, hit a
quick break, we'll come back. I heard a crazy stat

(35:01):
from William Quwalkinbush's Twitter account from last night's game, the
victory over at Louisville. I'll tell you about it when
we returned. Stay with us. Final segment of our number
one on a Friday afternoon. Clemson baseball coming up in
just a bit as they get underway at five o'clock
at Dug Kingsmore Stadium against the Louisville Cardinals. I mentioned

(35:22):
that the Cardinals opened with three unearned runs in the
first inning last night, and all of that ends up
with a crazy moment where Jack Crichton, in his one
hundredth game as a Tiger, hits his first career home run.

(35:47):
And it wasn't just any career home run. It was
a three run shot to give Clemson a lead. And additionally,
it was to the longest part of the park possible,
I mean way out deep centerfield three hundred and ninety

(36:09):
feet to the wall three ninety six with one hundred
and four miles per hour off the bat. According to
Clemson Baseball. Here was the call of Jack Crichton's home run,
shot by William qualkin Bush on the ACC Network extra.

Speaker 7 (36:31):
Heard of the.

Speaker 12 (36:32):
Game, has balls hammered the center field backing More, is
this Crichton's first of the year.

Speaker 2 (36:39):
It is.

Speaker 3 (36:40):
Jack Crichton's first home run of the season. Gives Clemson
the lead for the first time tonight. Wow, what a
time to come up with your first home run. And
they may have pitched around Gerald to get to Crichton,
but that was athird.

Speaker 2 (36:58):
Of the game.

Speaker 1 (36:59):
So that took it from Clemson being down five to
four to Clemson being up seven to four. And it
wasn't just his first home run of the season, Crichton's
first home run of his career in his one hundredth game.
But here's what qualk put out earlier today. That kind

(37:20):
of blew my mind. Louisville scored six runs in the game.
None of their six runs were scored on a hit.
They scored on a fielder's choice, they scored on an
E six era, they scored on a sackfly, they scored
on a four to three ground out, they scored on

(37:41):
a squeeze bunt, and another fielder's choice. Zero of their
six runs were scored on what would officially be labeled
as hits in the ballgame. Kind of a wild little
stat line to go along with the fact that Clemson

(38:06):
gave up three undern runs in the first inning of
that contest to trail three nothing. But then they come
from behind. Victory for the Tigers as they get ready
to get underway in a big game too, where certainly
Drew Tittsworth, the eyes of Clemson baseball will be on

(38:29):
Tittsworth on the mound to see how he does this afternoon.
You know, as I kind of talked earlier a little
bit about, you know, some of the concerns about this team,
as good as they are, still kind of rely in
the pitching staff outside of Aiden Cannot and then some

(38:53):
of what you might label us discipline at the plate.
But when you're thirty four and six and you've put
together the season that this group hassed up until this point,
it does start to diminish the level of, oh yeah,
this is a major issue. That's a major issue because

(39:15):
you're a team that's just finding ways to win games,
notably next week on Tuesday, that's gonna be a key game.
Not to take away from the rest of this Louisville
series by any means, not to take away from the
final couple of series where Clemson will travel back to

(39:38):
back weekends to NC State and then to Florida State,
not to diminish any of those games forthcoming, but that
matchup with Georgia, another top flight team, a team out
of the SEC, a measuring stick game at this point
in the season, maybe similarly to the matchup you had

(40:00):
earlier this year with ole Miss. Now that did not
go Clemson's way fifteen to five, the loss in seven innings,
but just the third game of the season. But if
you look at the Southeastern Conference, and we've talked about
South Carolina's woes here on the program, no doubt South
Carolina baseball is in a terrible, terrible spot right now,

(40:25):
but they are facing ole Miss just for a kind
of a full circle, full circle moment on that front.
But look at the standings in the SEC. Ole Miss
number eleven in the country, but seventh place in the SEC.

(40:48):
Texas the top team in the conference at fourteen and two,
Arkansas at twelve and four, Tennessee at eleven and four,
LSU at eleven and five, Georgia at ten and c
thirty three and seven overall right now sitting in fifth
place in the SEC. Then Auburn at nine and seven,
Ole Miss and Bandy, all those teams at nine and seven.

(41:10):
But the point is, when you look at Clemson's schedule,
I mean, that's that Georgia game. That's kind of that
measuring stick type ball game a couple of weeks before
you enter postseason play. You know, I guess about what

(41:31):
let's see, ACC Tournament is at the back end of May.
So yeah, I mean, you're about a month left and
you kind of find out where you are by going
up against one of the better teams in the country,
one of the bear teams in the Southeastern Conference. So

(41:51):
take care of business here, win this series, and potentially, hey,
why not take care of business today and then break
out the brooms on Saturday. But either way for Clemson,
next Tuesday's game against Georgia's one everybody needs to watch.

(42:12):
That'll be on espn U. The games against Louisville today
coming up and then tomorrow at one are on the
ACC Network Extra Quick brand. We'll come back. Will Van
Derbort joins us right after this. Stay with us. It's
time or Clipson Sports Talk with Luwton Swan. It is

(43:08):
our number two. That's drivetime right on the show The
Shakes the South Lay and Clemson Sports Staal logs wand
hanging out with you, Will Van Derbort from the Clemson
Insider coming up around the bend just a moment, and
of course the show The Shakes of South Lane brought
you in part by our good friends over at METS
Plumbing seven three two drip, drip, drip drip. You know

(43:32):
the jingle seventh three two drip that's METS Plumbing, Met's
plumber dot com. Yeah, that's old school. I love it.
I love the old jingle from METS Plumbing. Man, awesome stuff.
Thankful for them being a part of the program, and
thankful for you being a part of the program. Is well,
and thankful for Will Van der Voort joining the program
here on a Friday afternoon, Willie V. What's up, buddy?

(43:55):
How are you?

Speaker 7 (43:56):
I'm doing well man? How are you all rested up?
And everything?

Speaker 1 (43:59):
I'm trying to I'm trying to be. You know, when
you're a teacher and working the education business, as you
start to approach the friday of a week long spring break.
You're kind of like E, but not long till summer.
Not long till summer. Will, I'll make.

Speaker 7 (44:13):
It there you go?

Speaker 1 (44:14):
Man?

Speaker 7 (44:15):
I like the positive energy.

Speaker 1 (44:17):
Well, all right, let's talk about some of Let's talk
about some of the positive energy will that might come
from the situation that took place at Tennessee over the
past week with Nico Io Maliava the quarterback there, I
kind of feel like, you know, this might have a
this might be an opportunity. We can kind of see
it with fran Brown as well, with Pana a wide

(44:37):
out in kind of resetting the market a little bit
and saying it coaches at the power for a level
saying hey, this is what the value is of this position.
We're not gonna press over that. And with Nico ending
up at UCLA reportedly taking less than he was getting
at Tennessee. Will is this the baby steps or the
first steps towards maybe a little bit of a shift

(45:00):
and Nil and the portal and the power of the players.

Speaker 7 (45:04):
I think, well, yeah, because I think what you're seeing
a lot right now is you know, if you remember
that on July first, they're supposed to go into Revshare
and it's gonna be a different ballgame once revshare is
thrown in, right, and then there's gonna be rules set
with that. And so the NIL though, I think you

(45:24):
know they're trying to, you know, the NC double A
and schools are trying to figure a way to you know,
put a little bit more grasp and rules with the
NIL stuff to make sure it just isn't you know,
Booster A saying I'm gonna go outbid this guy from
Booster B to try to get this player. They're gonna
put stipulations with it that they don't have really now,

(45:44):
where you know, the player has to really proving that
he's using his name, image and likeness in the manner
that it's meant to be and not just have the
pay for play, which is what we kind of got now.
So a lot of guys jumped into the portal now
a lot because they're trying to get as much money
as they can. Now They're representatives are telling them jump
in now if you want to make some money, this

(46:05):
is the time. And this is what you saw happen
with Nico and he got some bad advice and people
were telling him he's as good as Kate klem Minton
and and and and you know, and those guys and
and you know and and Leonora Sellers and those guys
like that and that are that are top of the
hite quarterback and he's not. His numbers don't show that

(46:29):
he's not in the same market at those guys. Kate
Clemant got to raise this year Clinton because of what
he did last year. You know, Sellers got to raise
at South Carolina this year because of what he did
last year. Well, Nico didn't do anything at Tennessee. His
numbers weren't that good, you know, And you can argue,
you know, dj Ouey Underlay's year twenty twenty two season

(46:49):
at Clinton was better than what Nico did right this
year at Tennessee, and they were if you look at
statistically what he did, they were way better than anything
Nico did. So, you know, I think that's where, you know,
seeing the market is set in the sense of saying, hey, look,
we're gonna reward the guys that deserve to be rewarded.
We're not gonna award guys who just thinking they're playing

(47:11):
off potential because you have it showed it yet, and
so Tennessee kind of puts their foot down and other
teams when he went into the portal thinking he was
going to be able to get more money than he
was making a tendency. He's quickly found out about what
in the case, and good for those teams to kind
of keep their foot down and say, no, we're not
going to reset the market for a guy who doesn't

(47:32):
value that. And so I think what it's done. And
if you've noticed since the situation happened, you're not seeing
me big man guys going to the portal at this moment.
Right then, We've seen other guys go in the portal,
but not big gang players. And it sort of kind
of shut that down a little bit to where the
representatives were like saying, you know, and you saw this
a basketball, right Hey, get in the portal. This is

(47:54):
the time to make your money. This is when you
can do it. And that's why you saw everybody leaving.
Everybody right. Well, football they tried to do the same thing.
What they found out was the football coaches are like, ah, no, no, no, no, no,
we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna make sure this doesn't happen.
You know, you're not gonna go and jump just because
of your potential. You gotta show us that you can be,

(48:15):
you know, a player that we can you know, give
that market to so. And I like that because it
rewarded the Kate Clubmans and the Leonora Sellers of the
world right that they deserve to get whatever raise it was,
and that you know, just don't give money to somebody
just because you know this is the last chance they
potentially can right.

Speaker 1 (48:36):
The thing that intrigues me Will I think I did
the math yesterday and it's about seven thousand, five hundred.
It's a little less than that in a sense of
available scholarships when they go to one hundred and five
per school. I mean, I can't fathom how a thousand
plus guys can jump in the portal in day one.
Like there's Will. The math isn't mathing for me, you

(48:59):
know what I'm saying, And like there's not enough landing
spots for people.

Speaker 7 (49:04):
There is not enough landing spots and that's the problem.
And you're seeing it over in basketball where a lot
of kids are not gonna get scholarships. They're gonna be
sitting out next year, or they're having to go down
where they thought maybe they could go to another school
and they're finding out that's not the case. And who
it really hurts and all this is the high school kids,

(49:26):
because there are guys out there that are gonna take
spots that would be available to high school kids. Right,
So it's really hurting. It's gonna be a trickle down
pack and that's gonna hurt the kids. And what I mean,
it's not gonna hurt the you know, the five and
four star kids in high school. It's gonna hurt the
three star guys that maybe could get a chance. Right,
It's gonna hurt the kids that are maybe could go

(49:47):
play at Furman or Wafford. Right, they're gonna be out
of scholarships because those guys that don't find landing spots,
now they're gonna have to drop down, just like we're
seeing the basketball and they're gonna have to settle for
an FCS school or a Group of five school. And
so for that that was the spot that's gonna be
that would have been available to the high school kid
next year. But now they're gonna take that scholarship away

(50:10):
from them. So it's gonna be a trick and down effect.
And it's the unfortunate side of all this and you're right,
there's gonna be guys that get left out that are
not gonna play football. And it happens every year. Uh people,
If you go back and look at the numbers, there's
several hundred guys that didn't get didn't get scholarship last
year after they ended the Trencher portal, and there'll be

(50:30):
even more of that this year because, as you mentioned,
the numbers are just record mind blowing. I many guys
into the portal and it's sad to see that this
is happening. It's happening at the as I said, the
men's basketball level, is happening in women's basketball as well.
The demand for women's basketball is like unbelievable right now.
What these ladies are asking for and schools can't afford

(50:52):
that kind of money, that's what they're asking for.

Speaker 1 (50:54):
Will Van Dervoort with us here from the clips of
the Insider on Twitter at Steeler Will and and so
let's talk about other changes that could be coming. You know,
the spring game conversation is one that we've heard a
lot about. It kind of started and then festered into
Deon Sanderson Fran Brown talking about it. Will, could we
cross a bridge into an era in your mind where

(51:16):
maybe it's in the next year where teams are playing
competitive more competitive I guess you'd call them spring games
or even potentially will could there be a point where
you have a home in home with a team and
maybe there's a season where Clemson doesn't have a spring
game in Death Valley because Clemson spring game is being
played against Penn State.

Speaker 7 (51:37):
Yeah, I mean there's a chance. Remember Ben Gundy was
talking about during the spring they have two spring games
and one is like he said, one's in Steelwater and
then one's in Norman, right, and they just play Oklahomas
because they're not they can't play that game anymore. And
he said, this is a way that where we can
at least play some way, you know, So that's even

(51:58):
out there as part of a common station, the way
you can have two spring games. Now, I don't know.
I don't think the NC Double A is gonna go
to two spring games. I think I'm with you. I
think they would least keep it to one. And if
it does happen, right now, you know they're saying no
to it. They said no to the Colorado Syracuse matchup,

(52:18):
and you know, but I think it is gaining strength,
if you will. I think more people in the media
are bringing it up and pointing it out, and you
and I know, the more it keeps being brought up,
and the more people keep talking about it and trying
to get changed, it'll eventually maybe get there. Because Dabo
even said it a couple of weeks ago, right, He's like,
college football is the only sport, right, not just in football,

(52:44):
but in the entire nc double A that doesn't get
to that doesn't get to play spring games. So you know,
if like so, you know, in high school football they
have jamborees and scrimmages. In the NFL they have preseason games, right,
and scrimmages during practice, scrimmages with other teams. And then
of course NCAA soccer they get they get to play

(53:08):
exhibition games, Basketball gets to play exhibition games. You know,
volleyball gets to, lacrosse gets too, I mean, softball and
baseball get to. The only sport that doesn't get to
do is football. And that was like, I don't understand why,
you know, it makes me Smithfield, you know, and and
I'm with Davo on it. It makes no sense why

(53:28):
football doesn't get to play spring game. So I think
it's coming down the track. I think it's probably the
next couple of years. I think we might see something
happen where Clinton gets to go play Tennessee, you know,
in a spring game, or Tennessee comes to Clemson. Or
now that Clinson and Georgia, you know, because the SEC
is gonna go to nine game schedule. It sounds like, right,

(53:49):
Cleinson and Georgia probably is gonna get canceled in these
next few years, right, so you know, Clinton Georgia could
play spring game against each other. I think if you're
who we Clinton playing a spring game, that would be
a natural fit. It's Georgia, right would I mean Clinton
win year, goes to Athens and the next year they come.
Because it's only seventy miles apart, it's easy for both

(54:09):
fan bases to go to the game. You can sell
it out, you know, maybe ten dollars a ticket. Right,
how much money is that for the for the school both?
I mean, both schools will make money and you can
use that for your for your you know, rep share.
I think it's a it's a win win for everybody.

Speaker 1 (54:24):
Well. Van der Word was here on the program for
about eight more minutes talking about the potential changes to
spring games in college football. One of the other big
changes in the world of college football will come after
week one. Lee Corso yesterday announcing that through a release
from ESPN, that he will be retiring after the opening week.
I'm assuming that he's going to be at that Texas

(54:46):
Ohio State game. I think that's where everybody thinks game
day will be. It certainly could be at Clemson for
the battle between LSU and the Tigers in Death Valley.
That's got a lot of intrigue. And then maybe Alabama
and Florida State. His alma mater, Lee Courses Alba Mater
might be be the other one to look at. But
will I think everybody knows it was time for Courso

(55:06):
and that this was coming eventually. What are your thoughts
on his impact on college football and more specifically, how
he and college game Day kind of changed saturdays across
the country.

Speaker 7 (55:19):
Yeah, Lee Corso has played a huge role in the
modern popularity of college football. You know, if you go
back and remember this, because me and you are the
same age. In the nineteen eighties, college football it was popular,
but not like it is right now. Right, you know,

(55:40):
and so they were still were going through the whole.
That's after Vince Dooley and Georgia sued ABC and the
NCAA for the rights for games, right, remember all that,
and how they formed the College Football Coaches Association broadcast whatever,
and that's how all this started, right, And then ESPN

(56:01):
came along at that right around that same time in
the early eighties, and they latched onto that and that's
how they started getting the rights to broadcast these games.
And it was like nineteen eighty seven, I believe when
Lee Corso started working with ESPN and doing the you know,
they did a college game day studio show, remember back
in those days, and they did that up until about

(56:23):
the mid nineties. They did have one show in nineteen
ninety three, which is why I think if you go
for circle was the Notre Dame versus. It was Florida
State at Notre Dame Charlie Ward number one ranked Florida
State at Notre Dame, number two ranked Notre Dame. And
it was a classic game if you remember. But game
day was there. That was the first time they went

(56:45):
on site to be at a game, and so you know,
that's why I think maybe he goes back, they do
Florida State because then coach Forlorta circral right, and Florida
State would be the first he did it for in
the last and it is album matter and it makes sense,
you know. So it kind of took off, and then
game Day and Lee kind of kind of together married together, right,

(57:09):
because of his head gear gimmicks and stuff like that,
and he just you know, he just made college football
fun for people who the casual football fan who wasn't
big college football fans like we are. He kind of
brought them into the world of college football and that's
what helped. And he was a part of helping the

(57:29):
popularity of the game for the casual fan to get involved.
Were where the women were watching it because they wanted
to see what crazy anti he'll do the next week. Right,
it was more of an entertainment thing than it was
just about football and analysis and stuff like that, and
that's what he kind of brought to the game. And
still was a guy who was very even up until
the last few years, very analytical up until he had

(57:49):
his stroke. I mean, he could stay and really kind
of get down there with the best of them when
it came to analyze the game, and he's not so
much now after he had that stroke a couple of
years ago, and you could tell he's kind of gone
down a little bit. But man, he's ninety years old, dude,
I mean, I hope I'm functioning that well at ninety
years old, let's be honest, right, Yeah, he's been great

(58:10):
for the game, There's no doubt.

Speaker 1 (58:12):
No, he really has been. And I think he'll be
missed obviously. You know, I think we were kind of
winged off of him a little bit from the COVID
nineteen year to limited segments, but he kind of felt
like everybody's grandfather on television every Saturday. He'll certainly be missed,
and thankfully, you know, I'm you know, as long as
he you know, he's eighty nine. You know, when you're

(58:35):
eighty nine, there's no day that's guaranteed for any of us,
let alone when you're eighty nine. But hopefully, you know,
he'll make it to that final game day appearance and
we'll get a chance to really celebrate him. And I
know they're planning on doing a lot building up to
Corso's final game day with ESPN. All right, let's shift
gears talk about game day. About fifteen minutes ago, they

(58:56):
got underway at Doug Kingsmore Stadium for Game two between
Clemson and Louisville. Will I know you were there last
night for the exciting UH series opener seven to sixth
victory for Clemson. Jack Crichton his first career home run
and it was a bomb to center field. How unexpected
was that shot?

Speaker 7 (59:16):
Uh? Here's the funny thing, Like, okay, so they didn't
really struggling with who's going to be that right field guy.
You know, they had several guys. You know, mclatty's been
in that role. You've seen who else is in there
besides Crichton. They escaped me. But anyway, they've had three
guys that have really kind of four guys. Uh, I've

(59:38):
been in that role all season long, trying to figure
out who's it gonna be. Well, last week, Triton got
the chance to come back and see what he could do.
And he had a pretty good weekend last week, had
like three or four hits, a couple of RBIs on
Saturday and Sunday and that was that was really good.
And so he kind of earned us right to try
to start this week. And so he's sitting there, oh

(59:59):
for three and I said, man, And when he came
up to back there, I said, man, you know, if
Jack cry wants to be the starter in right field,
he's got to come up with a big foot hit here.
He needs to do something. And right about the time
I said that, he launches that bomb. Of course, by
the way, if you don't know, the pitch was served
up on a nice tee, I mean it was right

(01:00:21):
down the middle of Broadway. Dude, it was like right there,
just hanging. You know, if you don't hit that out,
you're never gonna hit one, right, And he took advantage
of the bad pitch and just launched the dead straightaway center.
And it was very unexpected. Nobody saw that coming. I
thought maybe he'd get like, you know, a base hit
and drive then a run or two, but not hit

(01:00:44):
a three. And I hit a three run dinger that
put Cumson on top, and it turned out to be
the eventual game winning hit. It was. It was. It
was awesome. Happy for him, that young man, because he
works his tail off and if you remember, he was
a very good hitter last year and he's just struggled
this year to kind of get things going. But he
was really big last year in Clemson's run to the

(01:01:04):
Super Regionals, and I think they really need him because
I still think he's the best option for them in
right field. He's a good defensive player, he could play
several positions for you, so playing right field is no
problem for him. And you know, and he's a guy
that when he gets going, his bat can be very
productive and he can put the ball in play and
give you opportunities. And so I was good to see that.

(01:01:25):
And hopefully he's solidifying that spot right now, where like
I said, they've had four guys battling all year and
nobody's been able to take that right fielder spot.

Speaker 1 (01:01:36):
Thirty four and six are your Clemson Tigers. That's been
an incredible season so far, and again underway at Doug
Kingsmore Stadium in Game two. Right now, Will Van Dervoort
from the Clemson Insider joining us. Will enjoy the rest
of the ball game, my man. Thanks for hanging out with.

Speaker 7 (01:01:50):
Us, hey man. And just one little stat here, this
is the best start for Clemson baseball since two thousand
and two. That year they started thirty six and six. Well,
maybe this year team can get a win right now,
and then get a win tomorrow and they'll be able to.

Speaker 1 (01:02:04):
Tie the man. There you go, Will Van Dervoort, the
Clemson Insider will enjoy the rest of the game, my man.

Speaker 7 (01:02:09):
All right, Loton, thanks buddy.

Speaker 1 (01:02:11):
There go loving these segments, Will Will Van Dervoart from
the Clemson Insider here on the program. All right, quick break,
we'll come back with more as we roll along here
in our number two of the show that shakesa south
Land on a Friday afternoon, back at it on a
Thursday again to show the shakespare south layd Clempson sports.
So I don't forget. If you're up in Tigertown, check
it out the Clympson baseball team. Maybe you're checking out softball, tennis.

(01:02:34):
You know, all the sports going on right now. Don't
forget to stop by Alumni Hall on the corner of
campus on College Avenue in downtown Clemson is Alumni Hall
for all your Clemson hats, t shirts, apparel, gifts, new
stickers for your vehicle. Getting you're ready for the football
season again. Officially licensed Clemson apparel merchandise over at Alumni

(01:02:56):
Hall online at alumni haul dot com. Don't forget about
their Alumni Hall Pass rewards program. And if you're shopping
in store and you're a Clymson student, faculty member, or
military member, you get ten percent off every day at
Alumni Hall. It's Alumni Hall where Tiger fans shop. So
out of Colorado, Deon Sanders has caught some flak for

(01:03:19):
the fact that Shador Sanders and Travis Hunter's jerseys have
been retired. And one of the quotes that Dion had
when people were questioning him or asking him about it,
was he said, quote, if his last name wasn't Sanders,
we wouldn't have this discussion. And I might argue, Dion,

(01:03:42):
You're absolutely correct because I love Dean. First, let's clear
the air here. I love Deon Sanders. I'm a Deon
Sanders fan. He was my favorite player growing up. There's
some things as a coach that drive me insane about him.
And you know, I think retiring his son's jersey, given

(01:04:02):
I think he was like thirteen and twelve during his
time at Colorado as the starting quarterback, I don't think
that means to an end to have your jersey retired. Now,
if you want to talk about reinvigorating the interest in
the Colorado program and things of that nature. Then then yea.

(01:04:22):
But I think Sanders quotes right. If his last name
wasn't Sanders, we wouldn't be having this discussion. For example,
if it was shaudor Swan that was the quarterback. I
highly doubt Deon Sanders is retiring Shaudoor Swan's number, like
I think the criticism of retiring Shadoor Sanders is valid now.

(01:04:48):
Travis Hunter, on the other foot, I think should probably
have his jersey retired given how good he was and
being the Heisman Trophy winner and the attention that he
brought to that program, because I think more than anything
he that being Travis Hunter really is the one that

(01:05:11):
brought the attention to Colorado along with Dion Shrador just
happened to be a guy that can make some plays.
And hey, look, one hundred school records, school single season
passing mark, completions, touchdowns, completion percentage. I mean, there's stats

(01:05:32):
that back it up. But is it retire your jersey good?
I'm just not so sure that they are. And I
think that the reason that his name is being up
there is because his last name is Sanders. If down

(01:05:55):
the road and I think this is a healthy way
to do it five ten years. If you look back
and go, you know what, we need to retire shudor
Sanders number, then you do it. But to do it
the year after they play, even with even with Travis Hunter,
to me, seems way too soon, way too soon. And

(01:06:18):
Dion was also asked about whether or not he'll go
back and maybe retire some of the older star players
the former Colorado Buffalo legends. Here's Dion's take.

Speaker 12 (01:06:38):
On that, going back to the retied Jersey conversation, have
you chatted with Rick about honoring the past in addition
to obviously Travis, some of these guys that you know
predated that are all Americans and college Hall of famers.

Speaker 6 (01:06:53):
That I'm into coaching in football right now, like like like,
I don't know if you saw this, and I want
you to make note of this. I had a wonderful
idea one day. Why am I just talking about these
guys that're certainly gonna get drafted. I'm gonna talk about
all my guys because I love all of them and
if it wasn't if it were for them, I wouldn't
be where I am now. So I did a personal

(01:07:14):
video for every kid that's getting ready to go in
the draft of the seniors, I undered every last one
of them. That's my responsibility. I feel for my era,
for my team, for my guys because of what they
did for me. When I started going back into something
that I don't know nothing about, that I wasn't involved in.
I'm gonna ruffle feathers because I'm gonna forget somebody, bless

(01:07:36):
you that I don't know nothing about, and that's gonna
be a problem. And I don't want to be put
in that position. I want to be the good steward
on what God has placed me over and I feel
like I am, but all that yesterday's stuff, I don't
know about that because I'm gonna somebody's gonna get sensitive.
I have some dear friends. I know Cordell and uh

(01:08:00):
Westbrook is my guy. We had a great talk the
other night. Who else several guys, you know, especially that
whole lineage of corners that were great here. So's it's
it's good, it's good. I wish I could just shake everyone.
Can we start off with me just shaking everyone's hand
that played him before, just getting him a hug? Right?

(01:08:22):
They gotta come back from that, right, Let's start with that.
Let's start off right there. That's what I want to do.

Speaker 1 (01:08:30):
So Dion basically saying, hey, look, I don't know anything
about those guys. I wasn't here, don't want to have
to judge them, don't want to leave anybody out the fans,
things should be in. I'm just focusing on my guys now.
The other thing about it, if you want to like
kind of nitpick it a little bit, is that deonce
quote number two and number twelve are officially untouchable, essentially,

(01:08:54):
you know, retiring those numbers forever. And when the kid's
name is Sanders and it's your son, I just I
don't know. It just it's very hard to think that
that quickly. You really feel like he's so good that

(01:09:15):
his numbers should be retired. Is Eric Benemy's number retired?
I don't know. You go through the great players, he
mentioned some of them at the end, or their numbers retired,
I don't know, But if they're not, it's hard for
me to retire Shador's number. If you want to retire
guys that won the Heisman Trophy or Shawn Salam those names,

(01:09:37):
that's fine. Travis Hunter. That's fine, but a really good
quarterback just retiring his number, and he just happens to
be your son, eh, I don't know. Maybe wait and
let the next coach make that decision. That's probably the
better way to go about that. Quick break, we'll come
back with more here as we close in on the

(01:09:57):
back of the program. On a Friday afternoon, Lawton swan
with you on a Friday the show The Shakes of
south Land. So I was thinking, just briefly here during
the break about Dion. Imagine if if Dion had not
put those guys in, had not retired Shador and Travis Hunter,
and if it was done like just in a blanket

(01:10:18):
waving of the magic wand because I'm the head coach whatever,
and there's no committee, you know, I know Tim Beray
is part of a committee for the ring of honor,
on and on and on. But if it's just the
coach doing it, imagine just for a second having the
attitude that Dion and I like Dion had when he
said I don't know anything about those guys before. And

(01:10:39):
imagine if Dion, instead of putting his son and Travis
Hunter in, had decided, you know what, I'm gonna let
it marinate, let it get to another administration, Let it
get to another you know, coaching system, or twenty years
down the line, when these guys are a little older,
maybe they appreciate it a little more. Get back to
Boulder to have that day when they're thirty eight versus

(01:10:59):
when they're twenty two.

Speaker 2 (01:11:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:11:02):
I mean, if you think about it, what if the
next coach had Dion's attitude went well, I don't know
anything about the old guys, I went their coach Like,
That's where I think Dion does need to focus on.
Let's talk about the history and who's great and who
deserves to be in and who does it. Because if
you take the attitude that we just kind of heard
from Dion, then if you had not done it right

(01:11:27):
now and another coach had that attitude, what happens to
those players? And again, I think there's more to it
with some longevity, some space, some time in between your visit,
you know what I mean, your time there as a
player A three four five oz zero zero eighty six
texta line, phone line, let us know what you think.

Speaker 7 (01:11:51):
You know.

Speaker 1 (01:11:51):
We talk a lot about the transfer a portal, and
of course some of this nonsense has filtered down to
the high school level. I saw this news late yesterday afternoon.
Number one ranked twenty twenty seven recruit Cam Pritchett turned

(01:12:18):
down three quarters of a million dollars to transfer high
schools to Sitay to stay at Thompson High School. That's
where Clemson's Peter Woods and Jeremiah Jeremiah Alexander both went
to high school. Trent Seaborne, one of the top prospects

(01:12:40):
and one of the top quarterback prospects in the twenty
twenty seven class, tweeting out after that news came out
he plays at Thompson, he said, we all are loyal
to the soil at Thompson. You all love in the
a Alabaster Alabama. So how do you feel about that? Like,

(01:13:02):
we can certainly look at the situation that we've seen
in college football within go god, that is just so frustrating.
But imagine taking it down to the high school level
and schools trying to poach players for seven hundred and

(01:13:23):
fifty thousand dollars, And my question becomes, where does that
money come from and who really benefits from it? I mean,
after all, it's it's high school football. Well, high school
football is big in the state of Alabama. Swaan high

(01:13:43):
school football is big in the state of Georgia. But
what is your return on investment? How much could you
possibly getting back? Get back who Let's say, let's just
say it's a local car dealer. I'm just I'm for
the sake of the argument, local car dealer. His son
goes to the rival high school. I don't know, just

(01:14:06):
throwing it out there for the discussion. And I'm gonna
pay a kid seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars to
switch school so that my son's team might be better
and maybe we win a state championship in high school football?

(01:14:29):
Where's the return on your investment? Yes, in your community
that gets the player. People might be like, Hey, that
was great of Swan, Chevrolet or whatever for kicking in
to bring this kid over to our high school. The

(01:14:49):
investor or whoever, where the money came from. That person,
I'm almost certain, I'm almost certain that person doesn't get
a cut of the gate. Not to mention, let's say
let's say high school football tickets. I would think ten

(01:15:11):
dollars is the max of a high school football game.
How many fans are at a high school football game
A thousand, maybe three thousand. I mean, I guess if
it's ten dollars a pop, there's three thousand people, that's

(01:15:35):
thirty thousand dollars. You get six home games, right, that's
one hundred and eighty thousand. Where's the Where's the value
in this? For whoever's paying or willing to pay seven
hundred and fifty K for a kid to move like,

(01:15:57):
I don't get the I don't get the value added.
If you don't spend the money, the worst thing that
happens is you don't win the states championship, high school
state championship. And I watched Friday Night Lights the show
when it was on, and I know there were some

(01:16:18):
unscrupulous things going on on that show at the high
school level. But what I can't in my brain compute.
And I'm a sports guy. Maybe you know, text me
eight three, four or five zero z or eighty six?
What is the return on the investment? I can't see it.

(01:16:39):
I truly have no clue what the good side of
this would be for any high school or any individual
willing to part ways with seven hundred and fifty girl
to get a kid to come play high school football. None.
I'm physically my brain does not compute like this is

(01:17:06):
a Windows needs a reboot type error. Blue screen of
death back in the day is what I feel like
I've got right now. Who wins by giving other than
the kid? Hey, listen, can't pritch it if you'd chosen
to take that money. Congrats forgetting seven and fifty thousand
for your family. But somebody's putting that bill and what

(01:17:28):
is their return? I don't get it. Final segment of
the week around the bind keep it locked.

Speaker 10 (01:17:36):
What have you done for me lately? It's a fair question.

Speaker 6 (01:17:41):
Just don't lose sight of the bigger picture.

Speaker 10 (01:17:44):
Don't forget history. Lucky for us at Clemson, the answer
to the questions what have you done for me lately?

Speaker 1 (01:17:54):
What have you done?

Speaker 10 (01:17:55):
Always are the same.

Speaker 5 (01:18:02):
We win.

Speaker 1 (01:18:49):
Final segment on a Friday afternoon long swamping out with
you on Fox Sports Radio fourteen hundred on the iHeartRadio app.
We are where you are on social media? Did put
out of TikTok yesterday? Talked about Lee Corso looking forward

(01:19:09):
to Monday, getting a chance to talk with William qualkin
Bush about this series against Louisville. We'll also get a
chance to get his thoughts on Lee Corso, etc. The
Clemson Tigers today though the big news landing a commitment
from Gordon Seller's four star wide receiver out of Providence

(01:19:29):
Day School up in North Carolina. Read about it on
our website, Clemson Sports Talk dot com. Tigers now with
the second rated recruiting class in the country, speaking of me,
and second rated the baseball team also second rated in
America right now and as Will Van Dervoort noted, a

(01:19:55):
chance to maybe set them mark for the best start
in Clemson history. Well, last segment was about maybe not
Clemson history, but since two thousand and two. Pardon me,
my apologies. Last segment was kind of about the bad
side of INIL and even at the high school level

(01:20:17):
transfer portal and INIL crazy, But how about the good side?
I did see Michigan freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood returned to
his hometown to surprise the high school security guard and
his wife and family with a new vehicle. So I

(01:20:43):
do feel like in this capacity and it was a surprise,
you know. They went through and they did an interview
and talked to him about when they met, and it
was a nice little setup. But I do feel some
level of responsibility in this capacity behind the microphone talking
about these the bad side of NIL in the transfer

(01:21:05):
portal that we often talk about. To take a moment
to focus on some of the positives when those things arise,
are when they are celebrated. I think that's important because
NIL does give an opportunity for other people in a community,

(01:21:28):
other people in your family, to be impacted in a
positive way, and this was one of them. So I felt, like,
you know, after a week and month, months and months
of bashing, always nice to be able to settle in
and say, hey, but you know, it's not all bad
out there. There's still some really, there's still some good

(01:21:50):
that goes on in the world of NIL, and that
would be one of them, all right. So Clemson baseball
underwe at Dug Kingsmore Stadium tomorrow at one o'clock. Midweek
game next week against Georgia should be a huge one.
South Carolina spring game tonight a little Friday night lights

(01:22:14):
for the South Carolina game Cocks as their spring game
gets underway a little later this evening and for me
winding down spring break. Summer will be here soon. Though
summer will be here soon. I've been trying to watch
I've been trying to watch some movies, and I've kind

(01:22:35):
of gotten into the World War two, World War One stuff.
I think I mentioned that the other day Schindler's List,
give it the thumbs up, nineteen seventeen World War One
movie thumbs up, Dunkirk thumbs way down. And then I
watched Fury. I actually enjoyed Fury. I thought that was

(01:22:56):
pretty good. So if you said, Swanni, what have you
been trying to, you know, do over your spring break,
that's probably it. I'm not. I've never watched like westerns.
I just I might have watched Young Guns and Tombstone,
and I don't even sure. I'm not even sure if
Young Guns counts. I did watch most of Deadwood, the

(01:23:20):
series on HBO. I just I don't know that I
can do Western type cowboys stuff. But I even tried.
I did. I tried that that well man, what's that
show called Yellowstone? I couldn't. It's too country for me.
But I think I'm on I think I'm on the kick.

(01:23:42):
I'm gonna make a good run of war, you know,
historical war movies. I think that's where I'm at. I
think that's where I'm at anyway, probably try to knock
out a couple of the night after this Clympson baseball game.
But hey, I do appreciate you guys hanging out with
us again. The website available to you twenty four hours

(01:24:03):
a day, seven days a week. Clemson Sports talt dot
com are advertisers, many of them advertised on the web
as well. And speaking of that, you know, if you
are a business owner in Colombia and you would like
to support this program, get in touch with me Lawton
LWTN at Clemson Sports tal dot com. We'll find a

(01:24:24):
package that's right for you in your business. Would love
to have you come on board and be a supporter
of what we do here and have done here for
what twelve years now? Hard to believe Tom's fun when
when you're having flies. Reverse that all right, We'll be
back on Monday. Until then, as always, y'all take care

(01:24:46):
now and go Tigers.