A rollercoaster season for Clemson’s defense continued Saturday against Syracuse.
The unit offered little resistance early in the Tigers’ comeback win. Syracuse struck first, needing just five plays and 2 minutes, 15 seconds to go 75 yards for a touchdown midway through the first quarter. The Orange then had Clemson facing a 21-7 deficit midway through the second when quarterback Garrett Shrader scrambled for a 7-yard score that capped a 68-yard march taking just 2:47 off the clock.
But after yielding nearly 200 yards in the first two quarters, Clemson suffocated the Orange during a second-half shutout. All of Syracuse’s drives in the final two quarters ended with a punt or a turnover as the Orange mustered just 119 yards after halftime.
It’s been that way for Clemson’s defense for most of the season. At times, the group looks like the suffocating unit that many expected to see coming into the season. Other times, it looks like anything but.
The Tigers rank in the top 30 nationally in yards (332.5 per game) and points (19.9) allowed after eight games. They’re also outside the top 60 in passing yards allowed (244.6 per game) and red-zone defense (83.3%) Asked what’s led to so much inconsistency on that side of the ball, veteran defensive end K.J. Henry said that question has been posed to him countless times by not only the media but also coaches and his own family.
“For the most part, (the answer) has been I don’t know,” he said. “As much as I’d love to pinpoint the exact problem because then we’d attack it, I can’t really speak to it.”
But Henry does have an educated guess, which centers on some of the new faces the defense is breaking in this season. Clemson has three new starters in the secondary and a pair of first-year starters at linebacker in sophomores Jeremiah Trotter Jr. and Barrett Carter.
Henry said believes that’s contributing to the group not trusting their preparation and play too passive at times.
“That’s just my hunch. I could be totally wrong, but if I’m right, then we’ve just got to work to find and build that confidence,” Henry said. “It could be guys who just don’t have much playing experience, and I definitely understand that. When you’re not out there as much and all you’re doing is learning on the practice field and then you’re thrown out into some critical situations, the first thing any athlete is going to do is think I don’t want to mess up because they care about the moment.
“We’ve just got to shift the mindset in our guys from I don’t want to mess up to I want to dominate this moment and dominate my opponent. That’s where we need to try to get because I feel like that’s where a lot of us are, is I don’t want to mess up. And we just can’t attack in that mindset.”
Henry used the week of practice leading up to the Syracuse game as an example.
“We knew Shrader was a good runner. That was not in question, and the coaches did a great job of preparing us for that throughout the week,” Henry said. “But it seemed like it took us until halftime to kind of believe it with our own eyes as a defense, and I think that’s where if I had to try to pinpoint that exact issue, I think that’s kind of where we have to trust what we’ve been studying all week and trust that we’re eight and about to be nine games in. We’ll get some nuances because people are trying to beat us, but people are who they are at this point in the season. So we’ve really got to trust the preparation and have confidence from that.”
Henry acknowledged all the attrition the defense dealt with in the first half of the season may have played a role in the up-and-down performances as well. But with its share of experience back from the nation’s No. 2 scoring defense last season as well, Henry said he been surprised there’s been this much ebb and flow with the unit.
Henry is part of a defensive line that returned its entire two-deep from last season. Trenton Simpson is in his second season as a full-time starter at the second level, and the back end also features a pair of senior starters in cornerback Sheridan Jones and safety Jalyn Phillips.
“I’m expecting us to go out and dominate,” he said. “So on Saturdays, it definitely comes as a surprise factor because, once again, I know how we practice. You ask (head) coach (Dabo) Swinney or anybody on this team, especially the last three weeks, our practices have been stellar. … When you have that good preparation, that’s where the confidence comes in to know that you’re ready for the moment. So when stuff gets a little off, you just ask questions like, ‘What could it be?’”
Not all of Henry’s teammates subscribe to his theory. Defensive tackle Ruke Orhorhoro said he feels like it’s “the little things” from a technique standpoint that are keeping the unit from putting it all together. And with two-thirds of the regular season in the books, sophomore safety Andrew Mukuba said a perceived lack of experience among the Tigers’ younger contributors isn’t an excuse.
“Everybody’s done played a lot,” Mukuba said. “We’ve got guys on the back end like the freshmen. (Safety Sherrod) Covil has played a lot. I don’t look at him as a freshman because he knows what it’s like to be out there on the field. (Cornerback Toriando) Pride has played a lot. The young guys have played a lot. The sophomores, (cornerback) Nate (Wiggins), he’s been playing a lot. Me, Barrett, Jeremiah.
“Being this deep into games, I feel like everybody should be on the same page and should know what to expect with everything that’s going on out there.”
Henry didn’t exclude himself from the spotty play. He was the one responsible for coverage on Sean Tucker when Syracuse’s star running back caught the Orange’s first touchdown on a wheel route out of the backfield.
“Just going better job this week overall on our technique, and I’m at the helm of that,” Henry said. “I’m not playing perfect either. I have some work to do.”
The defense has an extra week to try to solve the riddle before Clemson’s trip to Notre Dame on Nov. 5.