By Eric Sprott (Contact / Staff Bio)
March 27, 2008 - 12:14 a.m. EST

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Rex Brown

Clemson's C.J. Spiller breaks into the open field during the Chick-fil-A Bowl last season at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. Tigers' coach Tommy Bowden praised the performance of his running backs during Wednesday's practice.

CLEMSON — Despite the noted absence of James Davis from spring practice, the Clemson offense didn’t have much trouble in short yardage situations in action on Wednesday afternoon on the practice fields behind the Jervey athletic center.

The Tigers’ offensive unit did so well in fact, the defense stayed behind on the field after the offense headed to the locker room to run some sprints and take a tongue-lashing for giving up so many scores in the goal-line scrimmage to end the practice.

“The reason the defense was out there is because we got out on the goal line and the offense scored about every time. It wasn’t very impressive,” said Tigers head coach Tommy Bowden.

The running backs doing the damage on Wednesday afternoon were All-ACC tailback C.J. Spiller, as well as Rendrick Taylor in only his second practice in the backfield after the three-year letter winner at wide receiver tried a short stint at linebacker earlier this spring.

With a nose for the big play, Spiller was sometimes criticized last season for trying to bounce to the outside rather than running between the tackles, but Bowden said the rising junior looking fine doing just that on Wednesday.

“I thought C.J. did a good job of hitting it in a little crease, getting his body in there and running north-south,” he said.

On top of the criticism of Spiller in that area, there were several times last season where fans questioned the Tigers’ play-calling in short-yardage situations, calling for passes instead of running with All-ACC talent in Davis and Spiller.

Bowden deflected that criticism, however, saying it’s hard to argue with the numbers the Tigers put up last season when it came to those short-yardage situations.

“Our third down conversion rate is towards the top of the conference and our scoring in the redzone is probably leading the ACC,” he said.

“I don’t want to say it’s been real poor, because statistically it hasn’t been. But, the bigger the guy slamming it up there, the better chance you have.”

With Taylor, weighing in at 242 pounds, now in the backfield, Clemson already has another bigger body to throw into the mix along with Davis and Spiller.

When the fall rolls around, highly-touted, 227-pound Jamie Harper will also be in backfield rotation, as rivals.com billed him as the top fullback recruit in the nation.

Red Raider influence. With Greenville High School graduate Cory Lambert penciled in as the Tigers’ new starting left tackle, fellow Red Raider alum David Smith looks like the front-runner to be lining up next to Lambert at left guard.

The two Greenville graduates, who didn’t actually play together during their prep careers, will look to replace All-ACC seniors Barry Richardson and Chris McDuffie at left tackle and left guard, respectively.

Smith, who came into Clemson a bit undersized for an offensive guard, drew high praise from Bowden Wednesday.

“David Smith is making a move,” he said. “He’s running with the first team. He missed our first scrimmage because of class, so we went into spring break with some questions about him, but he’s move to first team left guard and has done real well.”

Hunter sees first action. Freshman linebacker Stanley Hunter saw live action for the first time on Wednesday afternoon after clearance from his doctors following an epileptic seizure several weeks ago.

Hunter, who had originally signed with Clemson in 2007, had a presence according to Bowden.

“He kind of jumped off the radar, and I was pleased because we’re thin at that position,” he said. “Today was the first day he could do it at full speed, and you knew he was out there.”

Clemson hosts coaches’ clinic. On Thursday and Friday, Bowden and his staff will welcome a bevy of high school coaches for a coaching clinic.

Indianapolis Colts’ offensive coordinator Mike Christensen, a former Clemson assistant under Tommy West, will be on hand to speak, as well as longtime Air Force head coach Fisher DeBerry.