Matt Bockhorst hasn’t been doing this cross-training thing long, but it’s been long enough for Clemson’s veteran offensive lineman to feel empathy for anyone who’s ever been in his shoes.
“I would never downplay the difficulty of sliding from one offensive line position to another or flipping from left tackle to right tackle,” Bockhorst said. “It happens in the pros and people think it’s just a seamless transition, and it’s simply not.”
Bockhorst’s more natural position is guard. The fifth-year senior started every game there last year and hadn’t repped anywhere along the offensive line much until this spring. That’s when Bockhorst entered the competition to replace the departed Cade Stewart at center, even if he’s not sure exactly what prompted the move at the time.
“That’s a great question honestly,” Bockhorst said. “For me personally, I think I try to be a very self-aware guy, and I know, from a projection-to-the-NFL perspective, that moving to center would be advantageous for a lot of reasons. I think there were conversations about that long ago, just having the ability to snap. Not necessarily to be the starting center but potentially getting film at center.
“Then it just became a conversation of who’s our best five (offensive linemen)? Who are we going to get on our field? And then it transitioned from, hey, this could be advantageous for me to this could be advantageous for the team. With that in mind, I kind of conducted myself this summer with that possibility so that when fall camp rolled around, I wasn’t taking my first snaps. So I’m not really sure how it really started off, but I knew that both sides thought it might be mutually beneficial.”
Playing center comes with a lot of more responsibility than is visible to the naked eye. There are checks to make and protections to call out based on what the defense is showing from one play to the next, but Bockhorst said the biggest adjustment has been getting used to having less space to operate with opposing defensive linemen sometimes lined up mere inches from him, which, for a first-time center, can affect the quality of the center-quarterback exchange.
Bockhorst said that’s especially true lining up against the interior of his own defensive line every day.
“When you’ve got Bryan Bresee breathing down your neck, it’s not very easy,” Bockhorst said. “It’s hard to replicate getting those type of reps when you have an elite player that’s a head-up nose (tackle) on you who’s got elite get-off as we all know,” Bockhorst said. “Doing that is different than coming out here, snapping and just talking a couple of steps.”
But after a summer and an entire fall camp to work on the intricacies of the position, Bockhorst said he’s far more comfortable with it. Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said botched snaps were an issue at times during the Tigers’ first fall scrimmage but noted they were better the second time around.
“There’s some grace involved,” Bockhorst said. “Early on, (the coaches) are like, ‘Hey, we get it.’ But at this point, I’ve been perfect the past couple of days, so let’s keep it that way.”
There’s still a chance Bockhorst runs out at left guard for the Tigers’ first offensive snap against Georgia on Sept. 4, but there’s just as much of a chance that he slides over to center against the Bulldogs. But asked if he’s gotten more reps at center or guard in recent practices, Bockhorst wasn’t about to give anything away.
“I’m not much of a math guy,” he said with a smile.
Bockhorst said he and his primary competition for the center job, sophomores Mason Trotter and Hunter Rayburn, continue to split reps, so there still hasn’t been much separation there. At least, Bockhorst isn’t spilling the beans if there has.
“I’m really getting comfortable, and when I’m getting those reps (at center), I’m feeling pretty good,” Bockhorst said. “Obviously getting consistent with my snaps, that’s the big thing. So just kind of continually getting better. That’s what you want, but everybody’s kind of taking reps.”
Is he comfortable enough to start at his new position Week 1 against an opponent the caliber of Georgia?
“We’ll see what happens as far as the lineup goes, but I feel prepared. I’m confident,” Bockhorst said. “If we didn’t have this defensive front and these defensive packages to go up against every day, I don’t know if I would feel that way.
“If my number is called, then I’ll be ready.”
Time to get the latest Clemson apparel to show your Tiger pride. Order your officially licensed Clemson gear right here!