The most pressing questions for Clemson’s offensive line continue to be on the interior, specifically at the guard spots.
Senior Jordan McFadden and junior Walker Parks are entrenched as one of the ACC’s top tackle tandems while Clemson coach Dabo Swinney recently made it clear that Will Putnam will take over at center after the Tigers didn’t add any transfer linemen during the offseason. Marcus Tate, who started a handful of games last year as a true freshman, is the prohibitive favorite to hold on to his starting job at left guard after taking what coaches called a positive step in his development this spring.
That leaves right guard as the one with the most uncertainty up front, which doesn’t come as much of a surprise considering it’s the position where Putnam started the last two years before making the move to center in the spring. But first-year offensive line coach Thomas Austin revealed there are two players with a leg up on the rest of the competition there heading into fall camp, which starts Friday for Clemson.
“Right now, we have Bryn (Tucker) and Mitchell (Mayes) both slotted as starters,” Austin said of the right guard spot. “So at our first practice, if Mitchell is the first guy and Bryn is the second, then the next period, one of them is going to take the ones reps and one take the twos. And they’ll alternate every single time.”
Mayes has played 12 games his first two seasons at Clemson as a backup lineman, mostly at tackle. But the 6-foot-3, 310-pounder slid inside almost exclusively during the spring to help with the depth at guard and has taken advantage of his newfound opportunity.
“(Mayes) has worked really hard, but he’s also been kind of a putty guy,” Austin said. “He’s played tackle and guard, but we tried to leave him at guard as much as we could for the spring to give him a fair shot and to see how he feels.”
While Mayes’ game reps have been limited so far, he’s a veteran compared to Tucker despite both players entering their third year in the program. Tucker has logged just 79 snaps over nine games at Clemson heading into his redshirt sophomore season, but the Knoxville, Tennessee, native has developed physically to the point he now checks in at 6-3 and 320 pounds.
Yet Austin said it’s the strides Tucker has made mentally during his time with the Tigers that primarily has him closer to the top of the depth chart.
“Tucker has physical tools,” Austin said. “He’s a big, strong guy who can move people. For him, it’s understanding the offense and the finer details of it. I think, from a mental standpoint, he’s kind of taken that next step, which has really helped him.”
John Williams, Trent Howard and redshirt freshman Dietrick Pennington will join them in the competition over the next month. Starting with Mayes and Tucker, Austin said all of their performances will be evaluated on a daily basis before deciding who runs out first at the position in the Tigers’ Labor Day opener against Georgia Tech.
“Every day, the guy that graded out better will be the first guy out there,” Austin said. “We do want it to mean something for that guy to be the first guy in the flex lines and the first guy in practice. Really when you get into your scrimmage situations, sometimes guys separate themselves even more because (the coaches) are off the field, it’s not as controlled of an environment, you let them play and see who can kind of distance themselves a little bit.”
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