After left guard Marcus Tate suffered a season-ending knee injury in the win over Miami last Saturday, a new starter will be fulfilling his position for this week’s rivalry game versus South Carolina. Junior offensive lineman Mitchell Mayes has been a guy for Clemson who can come in and fulfill many different positions on the offensive line.
Mayes, who started at right guard for Walker Parks when Parks was out versus Louisville, hasn’t seen much playing time as a starter during his time at Clemson, but at a critical point in the season, it is time for the North Carolina native to step into a starting role.
Alongside Mayes on the offensive line this week is teammate and roommate Jordan McFadden. McFadden, a fifth-year senior, assessed Mayes’ performance last week and also shared that he has seen a growth in him as of recently. Being his roommate has allowed McFadden to witness the work that he puts in, both on the field and in the film room.
“Mitchell is a guy who’s been here for a while. He hasn’t necessarily played as much, but when Walker was out, Mitchell came in and played well,” McFadden said. “With Marcus getting hurt in the first quarter, and Mitchell came in and played well, that’s what you want. He’s been begging for a shot and he got it, and to come in and play well and to prepare each week not knowing if you are going to play or not is tough. I give kudos to Mitchell for that, not knowing if he was going to play Saturday or not, but he came in and did what he was supposed to do, and it was exciting to kind of see the growth of Mitchell from when he first got here to now.”
McFadden also emphasized that Mayes is prepared to step up and assume the starting role this weekend.
“I could tell in his face that he was ready to go,” McFadden said. “He had prepared, and we live together so it’s easy to stay on him to make sure he’s watching tape or whatever. He takes it serious, whether it be recovery, the film room. He prepares each week as if he is a starter. Knowing he was coming in, I told him that he’s fine, he did it the week before. He goes against the best guys in the country each day in practice.”
Brandon Streeter also shared his perspective on Mayes assuming a more critical role on offense this Saturday. The offensive coordinator expressed that the more playing time Mayes gets, the more he trusts and feels confident in his abilities when he enters the game.
“He did really good against Louisville,” Streeter said. “He had some mistakes, but for the most part he was very productive against Louisville. First start, I’m sure he had a lot of pressure on him to perform well. He came over very well against Miami. Again, he just showed us that we can be very comfortable with him in there. He’s just gaining confidence each week. He has done very, very well each week. Excited about him getting more and more opportunities, and that’s what this program is about: next-man-up mentality. That’s what he’s been able to do.”
