Scout team players have worn Clemson orange all week in practice at Notre Dame Prep High School in preparation for Saturday’s game. Huguely has played slot wide receiver, doing his best impression of Clemson’s No. 13 Hunter Renfrow.
Hugely said the game plan has been in place before the Christmas break, and it’s just a matter of perfecting it this week. He was here with the Buckeyes a year ago at the Fiesta Bowl, but this time the bowl is a semifinal game in the College Football Playoffs, so it feels different.
“Practice has been different,” Huguely said. “The whole mentality has been different. We’re really locked in.”
The players do get some down time. A group of them saw the new Denzel Washington movie, “Fences,” and they’ve also visited a mall. At media day, Huguely had fun by going against the Fiesta Bowl mascot, Spirit, in a push-up contest. Spirit won, Huguely said, but cheated.
“It’s been a good experience,” Huguely said. “The weather feels good out here. It’s better than Ohio’s weather.”
The Buckeyes haven’t played a game in a month, but that game against Michigan remains fresh in their memories.
“I was so nervous,” Hugely said. “Some of the players couldn’t even watch. The stadium was loud. That’s probably the loudest I remember it being. It was crazy. I got lost in the middle of the crowd.”
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