DT musings on offense...

Jul 8, 2018, 7:46 PM

(long post warning...if you hate long posts, RUN FOREST RUN! You've been warned! LOTTA WORDS!!!!)

Everybody, I think, knows about our D...as long as our thin-ish secondary stays healthy we should have one of the best defenses in college football. Maybe the best.

Our O is where the questions begin. The pundits keep saying Clemson will have a "workmanlike" offense in 2018..I'm not so sure about that. I think Downfield Rocketball could be back. Some thoughts in my head, in no particular order:

*I like our OL...our starting OL, anyway. Your most vital positions are usually LT and C in that order and we have NFL-prospect seniors at both of them. Mitch Hyatt is trying to show he's worth a first-round pick, and Justin Falcinelli will hear his name called at some point...what hurt Jay Guillermo wasn't his tape or college production - which was great - it was the fact that he was just 6'1" in actuality with short arms...Falcinelli has legit NFL measureables and an equally strong body of work. We're breaking in two new guards but John Simpson probably prompted Taylor Hearn's early jump to the NFL...Hearn just simply wasn't going to hold off the uber-talented Simpson for any longer and I suspect he knew it. We also got more athletic at RG by moving Sean Pollard inside...he's not the in-line snowplow the departed Tyrone Crowder was but he's athletic enough to pull and get to the second level (so is Simpson), and having two guards that athletic is a rare luxury for us, and allows the Tigers to do NFL-type stuff like the backside pulling guard that's gotten en vogue in the NFL. Tremayne Anchrum actually reminds me a lot of former Clemson standout Brandon Thomas...he's a little short and squat for an OT, but he moves really well and has long arms and might project to OG in the NFL...and I do think he'll play there. Depth behind those guys is looking a little thin and we're definitely going to be looking for young guys and former project players to step up. It'll be interesting to see if we can continue our 8-man rotation from next year.

*We got younger at WR...and I think, better. McCloud and Cain are gone to the NFL - as 6th rounders - but the crew we're featuring might be aspiring to a lot more than that. Tee Higgins (named for former Tennessee great Tee Martin) has everyone thinking "the next great one"...he had trouble getting off the line last year when somebody pressed him, but he was pretty much uncoverable in the open field, which prompted a temporary move to the slot...well, he was getting off the press this Spring at the boundary spot and getting downfield...and doing a whole lotta damage. His sidekick at the 2-spot looks like Amari Rodgers, actual son of Tee Martin, and another Tennessee dude...whatever. He looks like Artavis Scott clone to me, a WR in a RB's body, and considering Scott averaged about 85 catches a year at Clemson I'll take that. Obviously we still have the Perpetually Open Hunter Renfrow - now a senior! - and he is what he is, which is a guy who I don't think has ever been covered in his life and who could probably grab 20 balls a game at 10-11 yards a pop if you cared to feed him that much. After that there's a ton of intriguing and highly-rated options...a guy I think the staff is planning on feeding is 5th-year guy Trevion Thompson, who can play all three spots and has waited his turn with the patience of Job...I'd be surprised if Thompson didn't get 70-80 targets this year because they think he's an NFL guy and he's definitely earned the chance.

So much about this group depends on the QB. They did suffer some last year from Clemson's ball-control approach...I suspect that changes this year. A lot.

*Do we have a Heisman sleeper at RB? I wonder. Travis Etienne just has that "something"...he was a clueless, underdeveloped true frosh last year who still managed to look like a threat to house it every time he touched the ball...and he averaged - get this - 7.2 yards per touch. He also managed 13 TD's, many of them of the See Ya variety. I'm curious to see what he looks like now that he's actually found the weightroom and learned the playbook. Tavien Feaster managed 6.1ypc himself splitting time...the guy I find intriguing, though, is Adam Choice, who once was legitimately ahead of Wayne Gallman on the depth chart before he tore up his knee. He finally looked like he had that step back last year and got 4.9ypc, but they were Big Boy sledgehammer-type yards, and Choice is a 220+ pound bruiser who looks like a very nice change-up to Etienne. As a fifth-year senior Choice could certainly factor. My guess would be we'll see those three tote the load, with incoming frosh Lyn-J Dixon taking advantage of the new redshirt rule to appear in 3-4 games in spot duty. Dixon, to my eyes, looks a lot like Andre Ellington or at least a Hot Rod McDowell on film, a smallish, very quick slasher who likes doing his damage north-south right between the tackles.

What really makes me curious is what'll happen if Clemson develops a downfield passing game if, say, Trevor Lawrence takes over. Back the safeties back out of the box again, and these guys could potentially do amazing amounts of damage. They did a lot of damage last year, and that was mostly against loaded boxes.

*Hey! Are those actual TE's I see? Again: maybe. The TE spot was kind of MIA last year, with Jordan Leggett gone and Garrett Williams out with a torn ACL. Milan Richard did...all right, catching the ball - he got a modest 18 grabs - but he was less than a killer as a blocker. The return of Williams gives Clemson an NFL-caliber blocking TE again, which, again, bodes very well for Clemson's rushing attack, but I also hear murmurs the coaches actually like Williams' catching as well. We'll see. As for Milan Richard, I think he'll benefit greatly from a more polished passing game that actually works the middle of the field and goes vertical, since that's his forte. Senior Cannon Smith is another decent blocker, but I suspect we could see JC Chalk press for time as the year goes along; he looked very good in Spring Ball. Braden Galloway is raw, converting from QB in high school - but has Jordan Leggett's physical toolset...we'll see where he is as well.

*And of course...the QB battle. It almost sounds trite...but I almost think there isn't one. Kelly Bryant did a more-than-adequate job last year guiding the offense, but while he's a tough guy, a leader, an effective running QB, and an effective passer at 20-yards-and-under, there are some things he didn't do well, the deep ball being primary among them. That will either change this summer, or he will without question lose his job to Trevor Lawrence, who might be the best pure passer coming out of high school since John Elway. Lawrence is...a different animal. That doesn't even mention Chase Brice, who keeps drawing comparisons to Charlie Whitehurst, and who, in any other year, would be the guy breathing down Bryant's neck for time. The only real curiosity I have here, really, is how the coaches handle this situation. My hope is, if they're going to have to yank Bryant, they do it early enough he can preserve his redshirt under the new four-games-or-less rule. I'd like to see Bryant get his chance at the NFL, even if it is elsewhere, since I suspect Bryant is still a work in progress himself. (Keep in mind, Bryant only got to start for one year at Clemson, and he only played one year in a true passing offense in high school. If he can show just enough passing moxie, I think he's got enough tools the NFL may develop him, like a Tyrod Taylor.)

Whatever, already. Spot the ball.

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Yes, excellent post as always. I would disagree on one thing though. KB really couldn’t hit anything consistently. I know that sounds like a slam on kb but it’s not meant to be.

What concerns me about the atm game and kb playing is what offense do we run? Do we try and play that game like the auburn game? Hope not.

We have the potential to have the best D ever but a lot of teams are going to study the cuse game and others. They got to because our line is too good but we have got to score points and put the pressure on their offense.

We’ve got to have the freedom to rotate some young guys in for safety and cb to get them ready. Honestly, I think we have got to get up on teams quickly and put them away.

Can’t afford to stress our D. Too much building got to be done for next year and the second half of this year. If we have tight games like last year all the time we’ll potential wear them guys out.

Same with the OL. Got to get the young kids in for meaningful reps.

DT musings on offense...

Excellent post.

TL:DR

Re: DT musings on offense...

Re: DT musings on offense...

Re: DT musings on offense...

Quozzel

Re: DT musings on offense...

Re: DT musings on offense...

TLaw needs to play asap.

Re: TLaw needs to play asap.

Re: DT musings on offense...

I hope to see all 3 of our QBs often. Wish it were 4.

It's just my gut feeling, but I suspect TL is just too good

Thanks for the great post, Quozzel

Give this guy a job***

Re: DT musings on offense...

Thanks for a great read!

Love post like this! Go tigers!***

Re: Love post like this! Go tigers!***

Re: Love post like this! Go tigers!***

As Much As I Appreciate Your Enthusiasm,

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