Veteran Clemson lineman embraces 'different' style of Matt Luke

Matt Luke brings a different style to Clemson's O-line group.

by Ariana Pensy - Correspondent - Wed Mar 06 13:15:02 GMT-04:00 2024

CLEMSON—Clemson’s offensive line struggled a lot last season, highlighted by allowing junior quarterback Cade Klubnik to get sacked 29 times. The hiring of Matt Luke back in December brought a change at the offensive line coach position, however, and veteran offensive lineman Marcus Tate had a positive first impression of Luke and the energy he brings to the offensive line group.

“My initial impression of him was, ‘Wow.’ It was different, and for me, I love different. I love change and just having a different energy come into the room. He demands excellence out of us, and that was his message,” Tate said. “I feel like that’s going to be really good for our offensive line because we got to pick it up, and I think he’s doing that, and I’m just excited about him. He’s so knowledgeable. He has tons of experience in this game. I don’t know too many offensive line coaches with a resume like his. So, it’s just a blessing to play for him. I’ve known about him since he was at Ole Miss, so I know what was coming in here kind of, and now that I get to play under him, it’s a blessing. I’m just so grateful for the opportunity to be coached by him.”

Part of Clemson's offensive line struggle last season was the number of young players, as this led to less chemistry and greater inexperience among the group. One thing Tate mentioned was needing to know where their eyes should be. However, that is one aspect Coach Luke has honed in on so far during spring practice to ensure the problem is fixed going into next season.

“From a mental side, just understanding the game and where to have our eyes. I think a lot of us is eye placement, and that’s something that Coach Luke really emphasizes with us is having our eyes in the right place and I think with us, we’re doing too much thinking and not just playing. We had a lot (of) new people playing last year. That was probably a part of that,” Tate said. “But I feel like with Coach Luke, he emphasized that. He actually demands it, and that’s been really good, just, he demands that out of us. So, I think that’s going to be fixed. The confidence, when you have two new positions playing, they’re trying to get their feet under them, and I think now that they do, you’re going to see that next step forward from them this year.”

As a personable player, Tate makes it part of his leadership with the offensive linemen to get to know all of the players on the line, develop that chemistry, and make them all part of his family. While it takes time to fully form, as evidenced by the unit's on-field performance, Tate feels the Tigers have improved on that going into next season.

“I feel like our chemistry is going to show on the field, definitely, and just the passion that we’ll play for each other. It takes time to build that, and now that we have that, I feel it’s going to show this next year,” Tate said. “For me, it’s just being able to connect with my guys. I feel like everybody in the room, I’m cool with. I’m very to myself off the field, but I take the time to meet with my teammates and hang out with them, and that’s important to me because family is the most important thing to me, and making those guys my family I think is going to help us all, especially with me being the leader in the room.”

Another player who has stepped up as a leader with the offensive linemen is redshirt junior Tristan Leigh, who was a first-year starter in 2023. Leigh played in all 13 games, starting 11 of them. He split time between guard and left tackle last season, although primarily playing at the left tackle position.

“Tristan Leigh is a very, very passionate person. You get to know him, you will see that right away. He’s a leader right along with me. He cares just as much as anybody else on this team,” Tate said. “Y’all are going to see that man’s the real deal. He’s one of the most compassionate people I’ve ever met. So, I mean, us two, we have our responsibility, and we’re doing our thing with it this year.”

Tate has also been dabbling with moving around the offensive line. He came out of college as the sixth-ranked offensive guard in the nation per Rivals.com and has spent most of his career at Clemson playing the left guard position. However, so far this spring, he has also been taking some reps at right guard to improve his skills overall, as well as provide himself with a challenge in his senior year and show his versatility.

“I’m repping both (left guard and right guard), and I think it’s just to show my capability at both, but also to get reps at both because at the next level, you got to ready to play whatever position, and I want to be able to show that I can play left tackle, left guard, right guard, right tackle. So, that’s what I’m doing right now,” Tate said. “They’re giving me the opportunity to do that, and I’m really enjoying getting to play on the right side because it’s a little different with your hip strength and everything and been able to really focus on that this spring, and I’ve actually really enjoyed (it). It’s been a challenge, and I think that’s something I need coming into my fourth year.”