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When has our O ever been great in September?
Sep 15, 2019, 10:32 AM
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Under Dabo, our offense never looks great in September...and this year is no exception.
There's a lot of reasons for that, but IMHO, the #1 reason is the usual one: we play a bunch of guys and it takes time to sort their roles out and develop the young ones. Last night we played eight receivers - Higgins, Rogers, Ross, Overton, Powell, Ladsen, Ngata, and Will Swinney - and four TE's - Chalk, Price, Lay, and Davis Allen. We played four RB's - Etienne, Dixon, Rencher, and Chez Mellusi. We played at least nine O-linemen.
Most of those guys saw significant snaps, during stretches of the game where the outcome was still very much in question.
How many catches did the young guys and reserves not quite make last night? Ngata is flashing mad tools but he still isn't making catches...but it's coming if we keep feeding him. Ladsen started cold as well (but finished hot!)...again, typical of a guy who's super-talented but green. And how many missed blocking assignments, false starts, and whatnot happened because we were playing so many OL's and TE's? I saw a few jump out and I haven't even really looked at the tape yet.
We're also trying a bunch of things that are not really in our veteran guys' comfort zones. I noticed Higgins and Ross being asked to drag and cross a lot more than they're used to doing; throughout high school (and even at Clemson) they've been pure vertical guys who lived outside the hashes, but they need to be able to run those routes or guys will squat on the back-shoulder fades (which one Syracuse CB did, and got a pick off of last night) and go routes, if that's all they can run.
We have to re-establish the TE position at Clemson, and we're obviously trying. We haven't had a really good pass-catcher since Jordan Leggett left, and I saw our young TE's being deliberately targeted downfield. JC Chalk made a great post route for a TD (that was called back), but it's an encouraging sign, and we saw good stuff from a true frosh David Allen last night too. Lawrence missed a wide-open Jaelyn Lay late because he was rolling left and pulled the trigger too slow; that won't be happening in November.
We know Lawrence can stand in the pocket and fling it; that's also not all of Clemson's offense. And he's shown progression on a lot of things he simply didn't show last year, albeit with mixed results thus far. He's showing off his running ability, and doing a lot of damage with his feet. He's visibly working on extending plays with his feet and firing on the move - which got him picked last night when he uncharacteristically missed a squatting safety...but then, he's never been a scampering QB before, either. He's manipulating safeties with play-action and even throw-action, getting them to bite down on what look like those short screens that are a staple of RPO, and then firing down the middle when they bite or even hesitate. Haven't seen that before either.
We're doing a lot of new things, whatever. And it'll pay off as the year develops.
We're also getting used to the Post-Renfrow era. Overton, sorry, is a good outside receiver, but he's not a fit in the slot. Our O looks a lot more natural with the likes of Amari Rogers or TJ Chase in the slot position...and the slot is going to be incredibly important to Clemson this year because it's apparent a lot of people are going to flood the box and bring heat and take their chances with Lawrence and our receivers rather than let Etienne run for 200 a game on them.
Other little things - Darien Rencher's still ahead of Mellusi and Dukes in the pecking order, undoubtedly because of his experience in the offense and reliability in pass-pro. Rencher also isn't near as explosive as Mellusi. Rencher, keep in mind, is a former walk-on and can get you that three or four yards and a cloud of dust, and there's no question he's well worth the scholie he earned, but Mellusi showed his afterburners on that last TD. But Mellusi isn't ready to displace Rencher yet and probably won't be for awhile, so when Etienne and Dixon are out, Clemson's deciding between those 3-4 yards a cloud of dust, and the good play/awful play you see out of new players.
We'll get our best rotation sorted out, and we'll get the young guys going. We always do...after the first month of the season or so. Which, again, happens when you play so many guys, and in different roles.
This is how Clemson does it, folks. This is how Dabo does it. Every year. We are not a sexy September team that makes mad style points early. Dabo builds his squads for November and December, and always has.
Oh, and BTW...Clemson's first three opponents all were Power 5 bowl teams last year (and Syracuse won 10 games and A&M 9!)...and A&M and 'Cuse were Top-25 to start 2019. Not exactly the Sisters of the Poor or cupcakes, and Clemson those three games by an average of 29 points. I'd be interested to see how many players the Tigers played against those 3 a game...my guess would be around 75. Which most teams don't manage playing South Kalamazoo State in a bodybag game.
FWIW.
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