Dawson's Diary: day five

CLEMSON - The latest installment in Dawson Zimmerman's chronicles of spring practice.

In today’s practice I learned the value of having some type of thermal long-sleeve apparel underneath the sleeveless shirt we normally wear.

I failed to wear mine, and as a result listened to Coach Swinney’s end of practice talk with my body emulating the movements of a jackhammer. The practice was miserable because of the cold and I was horrified at its conclusion to find my feet blackened with frostbite. So I guess I’ll have to get treatment on that. Our trainer Danny Poole should be able to perform the amputation and subsequent transplant.

Besides the fact that my body was ravaged by the hyperborean winds and the type of sprinkling rain that isn’t falling hard enough to be fun but only increases your levels of annoyance with moisture, practice went pretty well.

Contributing to my hypothermal state was the nature of our practice, which was half-normal practice, half-scrimmage. So for half the practice I stood and let my legs atrophy. Our scrimmage was entertaining to watch in spite of the cold.

Someone who I consistently see doing well is Andre Ellington who is proving that he is dangerous both running and receiving the ball. Today I saw him make some cuts that, if I were attempting to tackle him, would decimate my ligaments and banish me to life in a wheelchair. I also thought that both Spencer Benton and Richard Jackson have improved with their placekicking and it showed with them being more consistent out there today.

Our defense once again looked solid and our offense occasionally shows flashes of brilliance.

At this time I would like to give a shout out to the managers who I don’t think get enough credit for what they do, as they spend as much or more time than we do at the practice fields.

Most people think of managers as being the sniveling kids with the taped glasses who offer players water bottles only to have the water bottle viciously slapped to the ground. Although in some cases this is true, I have found this is not the case with our managers. Today they suffered out in the rain like we did, and also at the beginning of practice were quick to inform me that there are sections on their rain jackets that are susceptible to water soaking through, making it look like they are lactating. Which is a bit odd.

There are a couple managers on our Windjammers Intramural Softball Dynasty, and they have proven that they are more valuable than only setting up drills and mixing Gatorade. They are as capable of jamming the wind as any of us. I look forward to the rest of spring practice and pray that the weather will be considerably warmer.

-Dawson