During his weekly Tuesday media availability, Dabo Swinney addressed Clemson’s offensive line depth, or lack thereof, for that matter.
Swinney referenced a classic ’90s movie when talking about the Tigers’ offensive front heading into Saturday night’s matchup at Louisville.
“We got A Few Good Men, that’s it,” Swinney said. “Three Men and a truck, here we come. We gotta make it work somehow.”
Clemson has no new additional injuries across the offensive line, however, both Will Putnam and Mason Trotter are considered day-to-day at the moment. It appears that both will likely be game-time decisions.
If that’s the case, Clemson will have to dip further into its offensive line depth. The Tigers are already without Matt Bockhorst, Tayquon Johnson, John Williams and freshman Dietrick Pennington, who have all suffered season-ending injuries.
With that, Swinney was asked about how ready guys like Mitchell Mayes and Paul Tchio are to step up and see significant snaps if called upon.
“I think Mitchell is ready,” he said. “I think he’s a mature redshirt freshman…I think he’s really grown. You haven’t seen a lot of him, the same thing, every game is life or death and every play is win or lose. We haven’t had an opportunity to use him as much. Walker [Parks] is our best player over there right now. But, I got a lot of confidence in Mitchell. I think he’s going to be a good player for us.”
Swinney believes the same goes for Tchio, but it sounds like he still has some work to do.
“Paul, he is big, very physical. I just think he’s got to still work on the details in what he does,” he said. “A little better practice habits and things like that.”
Swinney compared Tchio’s current situation to where Hunter Rayburn was last season.
Rayburn, of course, started at center in Clemson’s 19-13 win over Boston College back on Saturday, Oct. 2. Since then, he missed two games due to COVID protocol, but was back in the mix this past Saturday against Florida State and saw a majority of snaps after Trotter went down with an injury.
“Rayburn is really coming on and it’s just fun to see…and the light has come on for that kid, he said. “His athleticism, physicality, his understanding of the game, how he practices, how he prepares. He’s just at a different level and that’s kind of what I hope happens for Tchio…he’s gonna be a very good player. He’s just got to be a little more committed to the details and a little better practice guy…he’s got to be ready.”
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