CLEMSON — When Tommy Bowden came on the job 10 years ago, he wasn’t the biggest fan of using scholarships on special teams players.

Boy, how the times have changed.

The Tigers have an abundance of scholarship specialists in Mark Buchholz, Jimmy Maners, Richard Jackson, Dawson Zimmerman and Spencer Benton, with many still in tight competition for the starting placekicking and punting duties. And don’t forget freshman Matt Skinner, recruited primarily as a long snapper, who is battling for a starting spot with walk-on Charles Roediger.

Buchholz looks to have a hold on retaining his starting duties at placekicker, but competition is wide open at punter, where it looks like it’s a dead heat between the returning starter, Maners, and Zimmerman, a true freshman.

Bowden, who personally charts the progress of all his kickers for 15 minutes each practice, said competition is still tight and nothing has been settled yet.

“Buchholz did better on field goals (today), but I’m a little more concerned about my punting right now and having a guy separate from the pack,” he said.

Jackson, a redshirt sophomore, was highly recruited out of Riverside High School, where he was a Parade All-American, and is still in the running for both punting and kicking duties. But he appears to be in the doghouse after a rough summer and missing a recent special teams meeting.

“We had everybody show up this summer, and he stayed home,” Bowden said. “He was in shape and everything, so that wasn’t very good.”

Lambert picking it up. Junior Cory Lambert, slated to be the Tigers starting right tackle, has picked up ground on left tackle Chris Hairston during fall practice, which the coaching staff has been waiting to see.

Lambert, a Greenville High School product, has the physical tools to be dominant at his position, but has been criticized in the past for not be aggressive enough – which hasn’t been the case during camp.

“We also need Cory to elevate his level of play and get close to Chris, and he has over the last 10 days,” Bowden said.

Young guns impress. While special praise has been held for true freshmen such as Da’Quan Bowers and Jamie Harper, the Tigers new quarterbacks have been impressive.

After reviewing the tape from Saturday’s scrimmage, Bowden said both Jon Richt and Kyle Parker were impressive in their first fall scrimmages.

“They don’t get a whole bunch of work during practice now, and I thought they went in there and ran the ship pretty good,” Bowden said.