Walker Parks enters his junior season as half of arguably the ACC’s top tackle tandem with Jordan McFadden, having started all 13 games at right tackle for Clemson last season and logging all 1,068 of his career snaps on the edge to this point.
That could change this fall.
Parks has been cross-training at guard during preseason camp, a development he said initially came about at the suggestion of first-year offensive line coach Thomas Austin. Parks said he dabbled at guard in the spring but has started to split his reps more heavily over the last couple of practices.
Thursday’s full-padded practice wasn’t open to the media for viewing, but Parks said he repped almost exclusively at right guard.
“I’m not opposed to anything,” Parks said. “I’ll play right or left. Tackle or guard. Center. I’ll play whatever they need. (The coaches) brought it up, so I said, ‘Yeah I’m game.’ So just cross-training a little bit in case something happens or I might go out there first. We’ll see who that best five is.”
The right guard spot became vacant at the start of the spring when senior Will Putnam slid over to center. Bryn Tucker was getting a majority of the first-team reps early in camp. Mitchell Mayes is also working there, though the junior was spotted early in camp with a brace on his left arm.
Trent Howard is also capable of lining up at guard, but Parks is now in the mix. After playing around 300 pounds last season, Parks weighed in last week at 314 pounds. It’s an addition Park said he needs in case he finds himself lining up on the interior in games.
“Definitely happy with it,” Parks said. “If I move inside and play a little bit of right guard, I’ve got my weight up.”
When Parks takes practice reps on the inside, true freshman Blake Miller has been stepping in to get the first-team reps at right tackle. The objective for the Tigers’ coaching staff is to evaluate the group and piece together what it believes are the best starting five for Clemson’s Labor Day opener against Georgia Tech.
For Parks, that could apparently be inside or out.
“Day 1, I might go out there at guard or might go out there at tackle,” Parks said. “We’ll just see how it shakes out.”
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