Clawson Holds First Camp Presser

So, Coach Clawson held his first presser after the first day of practice.  The media pressed him relatively hard on a couple of players who were not back that could have come back, as well as on the grey shirt issue.

First, Anthon Samuel.  As mentioned here, Anthon claimed to have had a change of heart but there was no scholarship left at BG for him.  Coach Clawson said that BG "never got the feeling he was coming back" and when he said he might, they said the best they could do was provide him the next available scholarship.  I think Coach handled this exactly right.  He told Anthon they would support whatever he decided to do.  "You never want to talk a young man away from his wife and family," he said.

The second was LT Fahn Cooper.  Fahn did not leave for a discipline issue nor was he dismissed.  Coach said his family decided he needed to be closer to home (which is Crystal Lake, IL) and so he left.  BG has had trouble holding LTs and this year is replacing both Ts.  (more later).

Jack Carle noted that there are 3 players from the February class who are not on the roster:  WR Michael Rogers (BG's #2 rated recruit), RB Brandon English and DT Shannon Smith.  Coach said in February there might need to be some greyshirting of players.  He was asked about that today and mentioned one of the RBs (presumably English) and that the others might be NCAA Clearinghouse issues.  To be clear, I'm only inferring English as the greyshirt, he only said that all these issues need to be resolved by the start of classes, which is August 26.

As for the next steps, RB is looking better than it might have this summer.  He said Travis Greene has made a nice transition from WR, Jamel Martin is healthy and Jordan Hopgood is healthy, plus Andre Givens 3-4 freshman.

At T, he said that Jacob Bennett, Scott Piazza and Logan Dietz are competing for the 2 starting T positions.  He also said that it would be possible to move a G back out to T as well.  If both Ts are new, at least they will have strength up the middle with Flewellyn, Chief and Huettel.

That was what he had to say...I am getting very pumped.  The season starts tough...Tulsa and Kent...so the Falcons need to be ready to roll right from the start.