Injury bug hits running back room hard for spring

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney met with the media Wednesday and updated the injury status of his team as the Tigers begin spring practice. Swinney said both rising sophomore running back Will Shipley and rising junior running back Kobe Pace will be …

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney met with the media Wednesday and updated the injury status of his team as the Tigers begin spring practice.

Swinney said both rising sophomore running back Will Shipley and rising junior running back Kobe Pace will be out for the spring.

Shipley missed two games last season after suffering a knee injury at NC State, while Pace underwent toe surgery after the season.

“Will Shipley looks great,” Swinney said. “There’s nobody more disappointed than Will Shipley that he couldn’t do mat drills. That guy loves every ounce of everything, but he’s in a good spot with his rehab.”

“Kobe Pace with his big toe, the surgery that he had on that, he’s rehabbing well,” Swinney added.

Swinney added that the absences of Shipley and Pace presents a big opportunity for rising sophomore running back Phil Mafah to show what he can do this spring.

“It’s a great opportunity for Mafah to kind of be the guy this spring,” Swinney said. “He didn’t really get a chance to be the guy. Kobe did, Shipley did, so it should be a great experience for him to catch up a little bit this spring.”

Clemson Variety & Frame is doing their part to help bring you some classic new barware and help one of the local businesses that helps make Clemson special.

Order your Nick’s barware and do your part to help. #SaveNicks

3 pressing offseason questions for Clemson’s special teams

With the offseason a couple of weeks old now, The Clemson Insider is pondering some of the most pressing on-field questions for Clemson’s football program as the Tigers wipe the slate clean and start fresh in 2022. Clemson is coming off yet another …

Clemson is coming off yet another 10-win season, but there’s still some uncertainty and room for improvement in all facets of the Tigers’ game heading into Dabo Swinney’s 14th season at the helm. After probing the offense and defense, here are some inquiries for the special teams.

Who’s the next punter?

The special teams unit got a major lift when veteran placekicker B.T. Potter decided to return for a sixth season, but Will Spiers is leaving after five years with program, meaning Clemson will be breaking in a new punter next season.

Who will that be?

Aidan Swanson is the betting favorite. The third-year sophomore has gotten some limited game reps during his time with the Tigers. He punted three times this season and is averaging 38.1 yards on eight punts so far in his career.

Clemson will need Swanson to take another step in his development is he’s going to be the guy, but newcomer Jack Smith could also get a look. A member of the Tigers’ 2022 recruiting class, Smith is coming to Clemson from Saraland (Alabama) High, where he was a four-year starter at punter and impressive enough for the Tigers to bring him in as a scholarship player.

Smith was ranked the nation’s No. 5 punter by Kohl’s Kicking.

Can the punt return game be improved?

Senior receiver Will Brown did his primary job filling in as the Tigers’ punt returner in the second half of the season by securing each catch and avoiding any muffs. But Clemson didn’t get much more than that.

Brown averaged just 2.1 yards on the 12 punts he got a chance to return as Clemson averaged just 4.4 yards per punt return as a team — 5 yards fewer than was it averaged in that department a season ago.

Of course, Brown, whose longest return went for 17 yards, stepped into that role for an injured Will Taylor, who provided the punt return game with a spark before tearing his ACL in the fifth game of the season against Boston College. Taylor averaged 10.7 yards per return and nearly made a house call against South Carolina State, breaking off a 51-yarder in that game, easily the Tigers’ longest punt return of the season.

But will Clemson keep Taylor as its primary punt returner coming off knee reconstruction surgery? Or might the Tigers opt for someone else — running back Will Shipley, perhaps? — in that role moving forward?

Whichever direction the Tigers decide to go here, they could use a little more after the catch.

Can Will Shipley become the next dual-role standout?

Speaking of Shipley, he didn’t just excel as a running back in Year 1 for the Tigers.

Yes, the former five-star signee stepped in and became Clemson’s leading rusher by the end of his freshman season, but he was also the primary return man on kickoffs. Shipley was pretty good at it, too, averaging 27.1 yards on his 14 kickoff returns.

About the only thing the speedy Shipley didn’t do was return one for a touchdown, though he came close against Louisville with a 75-yarder in that game. Shipley could be the latest running back at Clemson to double as a major threat in the return game, too.

Travis Etienne also returned kicks during his record-setting career. Of course, Shipley’s position coach, College Football Hall of Famer C.J. Spiller, is the poster boy for mastering both roles at Clemson, setting the record at the time (which he still shares) for the most kickoff returns for touchdowns in NCAA history when he played.

Fellow running back Kobe Pace also dropped deep on kickoffs and returned four of them this season. But if this season was any indication, Shipley is emerging as the Tigers’ next big-play weapon in that role.

Clemson Variety & Frame is doing their part to help bring you some classic new barware and help one of the local businesses that helps make Clemson special.

Order your Nick’s barware and do your part to help. #SaveNicks

3 pressing offseason questions for Clemson’s offense

Clemson is coming off yet another 10-win season, but there’s still some uncertainty and room for improvement in all facets of the Tigers’ game heading into Dabo Swinney’s 14th season at the helm. Let’s start with the offense, which will now be run by first-year coordinator Brandon Streeter.

Can Clemson solidify its offensive line?

More specifically, the interior of the group up front.

Even with one starting tackle switching from the right side to the left (Jordan McFadden) and another moving to the top of the depth chart for the first time in his career (Walker Parks), turned out Clemson didn’t have much to worry about on the edges. McFadden and Parks, both of whom are returning next season, comprised arguably the top tackle tandem in the ACC.

Yet the Tigers still went with a different starting combination up front in eight of their 13 games because injuries and performance kept the interior of the line from forming any real continuity. Matt Bockhorst moved over to start the season at center but then moved back to guard before a knee injury cut short his fifth and final season. Mason Trotter and Hunter Rayburn shared starts at center the rest of the way while also lining up at guard. Before the season was over, six different players had started a game at guard, including true freshman Marcus Tate.

Bockhorst, who had more experience than any of them, is gone. Veteran Will Putnam is the starting right guard when he’s healthy, but the fact that Clemson has pursued multiple offensive linemen in the transfer portal is a good indication of just how important Swinney and his staff believe it is to add to if not upgrade what the Tigers already have at the guard and center positions.

While the running game improved in the back half of the season – a healthy Will Shipley and Kobe Pace helped, too – all the moving parts up front certainly didn’t help an offense that took a major step back overall. First-year offensive line coach Thomas Austin has his work cut out for him.

Can the Tigers find the explosion again, particularly through the air?

Speaking of going backward, Clemson’s passing game was a shell of its former self. The Tigers went from a top-10 offense nationally in 2020 to one that averaged just 26.3 points and 359.2 yards largely because they threw for just 191.2 yards per game (103rd nationally).

Several factors played into that, but one was the lack of explosive plays.

Clemson averaged the fewest yards per play in the ACC (5.1). Nobody in the league had fewer plays of at least 40 yards than the Tigers, who produced just 13 such plays. Their longest play from scrimmage was Phil Mafah’s 63-yard run against Florida State.

The Tigers’ longest pass went for 58 yards against Wake Forest, but they had just 14 other completions all season that covered at least 30 yards, the fourth-fewest in the ACC.

The big plays were a glaring omission from Clemson’s offensive attack considering how much they’ve been a part of it in recent years. In five of the six previous seasons, Clemson had either the most or second-most plays of 20 yards or more in the league.

Not having that quick-strike ability put pressure on the offense’s execution to be sharper for longer when having to use more plays to piece together drives, which didn’t always go well for Clemson either (19 turnovers). It’s an element the Tigers need to rediscover under Streeter.

Who will be the starting quarterback?

For now, it’s D.J. Uiagalelei. Will that still be the case into next season?

As referenced in the first question, to lay all of the blame for the Tigers’ offensive struggles at the feet of Uiagalelei would be unfair. It would be just as unfair to place it all on his supporting cast, too.

Uiagalelei had his moments, particularly as he fought through a sprained knee and a bum finger to finish the season. But his overall play was average at best in his first season as Clemson’s full-time starter, which was far from the expectation for the former five-star recruit even if it was reasonable to expect some level of dropoff from Trevor Lawrence.

The accuracy issues have been well-documented for the ACC’s second-worst passer from an efficiency standpoint. Turnovers were an issue, too, as Uiagalelei threw more interceptions (10) than touchdowns (9).

A clean bill of health should help moving into the offseason. So should another year working with Streeter, who helped recruit Uiagalelei to Clemson as the quarterbacks coach, a role he’ll continue to serve in after being promoted following former offensive coordinator Tony Elliott’s departure for Virginia.

But Uiagalelei will also have some real competition for his job. His primary backup, Taisun Phommachanh, has hit the transfer portal, clearing the way for incoming five-star quarterback signee Cade Klubnik to take over the role if not more. Klubnik, who will bring more mobility to the position, was recently named MaxPreps’ National Player of the Year, which, ironically enough, makes him just the second Clemson signee to ever earn that honor along with Uiagalelei.

Klubnik, who’s already on campus, will join Clemson’s quarterback room this spring as a mid-year enrollee. Ultimately, as Streeter has mentioned, Clemson’s looking for consistency from its starting quarterback, something it will need a lot more of if the Tigers hope to get back to being a title contender sooner rather than later.

Clemson Variety & Frame is doing their part to help bring you some classic new barware and help one of the local businesses that helps make Clemson special.

Order your Nick’s barware and do your part to help. #SaveNicks

Taking inventory: Special teams

Clemson ended its season less than a week ago, but it’s never too early to look ahead. The Clemson Insider is taking some time to analyze how the Tigers performed at each position this season and where the Tigers stand with each entering the …

Clemson ended its season less than a week ago, but it’s never too early to look ahead.

The Clemson Insider is taking some time to analyze how the Tigers performed at each position this season and where the Tigers stand with each entering the offseason. Quarterback, running back, tight end, receiver, center, guard, offensive tackle, defensive tackle, defensive end, linebacker, cornerback and safety have already been assessed.

Last up are the specialists.

A quick note first: This is where things currently stand with Clemson’s personnel on special teams. With the one-time transfer rule and recruiting still in full effect, things are always subject to change. This story will be updated as needed to reflect any future modifications at the position.

2021 in review

Clemson began the season with arguably the top kicker-punter tandem in the ACC in B.T. Potter and Will Spiers. The season ended with the duo being able to make the same argument.

Despite that hiccup against Florida State when he uncharacteristically missed three field goals, Potter still had what is statistically the best season he’s enjoyed in a Clemson uniform so far. The senior connected on 81% of his field goals (21 of 26) and made 13 straight at one point. He drilled a season-long 51-yarder – 2 yards short of a career-best – in the Cheez-It Bowl win over Iowa State.

Spiers, who recently announced on social media that this was his last season at Clemson, finished strong, too. He averaged better than 40 yards on his 65 punts, having 27 of them pinned inside the opponents’ 20-yard line. That’s the most he’s ever had pinned that deep in his five years at Clemson.

Spiers also executed a fake punt for a first down against Syracuse, completing a 17-yard pass to tight end Davis Allen that kept alive what eventually turned into a touchdown drive. Clemson also dialed up a fake field goal against Connecticut, and holder Will Swinney found paydirt on a 6-yard run for the first touchdown of a blowout victory.

Clemson wasn’t flashy in the return game, particularly once its primary punt returner, freshman receiver Will Taylor, went down with a season-ending knee injury five games in. Senior Will Brown stepped in and averaged roughly 3 yards per return with his longest going for 17 yards, though Brown avoided costly turnovers in that department.

Will Shipley and Kobe Pace each averaged more than 20 yards on kick returns and will be back next season. Potter is also returning for a sixth season, giving Clemson’s special teams a major lift heading into next season. Others like long snapper Jack Maddox still have some decisions to make.

Who’s leaving?

Spiers, Brown (maybe), Maddox (maybe), Swinney

Who’s staying?

Aiden Swanson, Potter, Shipley, Pace, Brown (maybe), Maddox (maybe)

Who’s joining?

Swanson, a junior, could be Spiers’ successor, but Clemson has signed some competition at that spot in Saraland (Alabama) High punter Jack Smith.. The Tigers have also added a kicker in the 2022 recruiting cycle in Florida native Robert Gunn.

Christmas is right around the corner. Once again Clemson Variety & Frame is ready to make it a special holiday for your favorite Tiger.

Order today to make sure your gift arrives in time for Christmas.

Streeter’s debut a mixed bag for Clemson’s offense

ORLANDO, Fla. – Considering the circumstances, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney gave both of his coordinators the highest possible grade in their play-calling debuts, even if both sides of the side didn’t have nearly the same type of production. “A-plus,” …

ORLANDO, Fla. — Considering the circumstances, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney gave both of his coordinators the highest possible grade in their play-calling debuts, even if both sides of the side didn’t have nearly the same type of production.

“A-plus,” Swinney said following the Tigers’ Cheez-It Bowl win over Iowa State. “Because we just beat a good football team, and we had 30 scholarship players unavailable. I don’t know what else you can ask.”

While Wesley Goodwin’s defense stymied the Cyclones for most of the night, allowing just 270 total yards and one touchdown, the offense under newly minted coordinator Brandon Streeter capped its rollercoaster season by hitting another valley in the 20-13 victory, though the absence of more significant contributors didn’t help.

A receiving corps that’s been far from whole during the back half of the season got Joseph Ngata back for the bowl game and thought it would have E.J. Williams, too. But Williams was another scratch because of COVID-19 protocols. Meanwhile, interior offensive lineman Mason Trotter, who’d started seven games this season, was held out because of a violation of team rules, according to ESPN’s game broadcast.

Even with attrition that never really stopped all season because of injuries, COVID protocols or other undisclosed reasons, Clemson was still able to find some life late in the regular season, averaging more than 36 points over the last five games of Tony Elliott’s time as the play caller. Of course, Iowa State’s defense was stingier than any of those Clemson faced during that span (Florida State, Louisville, UConn, Wake Forest, South Carolina).

Streeter, who was promoted from quarterbacks coach once Elliott was named the head coach at Virginia earlier this month, took over just in time to game plan for an Iowa State defense ranked in the top 25 nationally in points and yards allowed. Clemson averaged just 4.5 yards per play and only reached the end zone once against the Cyclones.

Still, there was some new, effective flavor to the Tigers’ attack at times.

Clemson occasionally pushed the pace and got off 70 plays, just the sixth time all season the Tigers have run at least that many. There was also a new formation or two, including a two-back set where Pace or Shipley lined up directly behind quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei in the shotgun and the other back to the side of him. Streeter dialed up that formation a couple of times, including a misdirection delayed handoff to Shipley that turned into a 12-yard run touchdown run midway through the third quarter that gave Clemson its first two-score lead.

“He came in, he’s brought energy, and he’s done it his own way,” Uiagalelei said. “That’s the biggest thing, coming in after someone that leaves like Coach Elliott, someone that was an amazing coordinator after all these years that he’s been, you don’t want to be compared or you don’t want to kind of be like that same person. You want to be able to have your own identity. Coach Streeter has been doing that.”

There was also a two-minute drill that was largely well executed at the end of the first half that included two conversions on third-and-long to get Clemson to Iowa State’s 19-yard line, setting up a B.T. Potter field-goal attempt that was missed. But there were plenty of times like so many others this season where the nation’s 99th-ranked offense was stuck in neutral.

Clemson tried to pound away at Iowa State with Shipley, Pace and Uiagalelei but averaged just 3.2 yards per rush. And with three of their top four receivers out, the Tigers tried to attack the Cyclones horizontally rather than vertically when it went to the air.

Uiagalelei tied a season-high with 21 completions (on 33 attempts), but those totaled just 187 yards. Ngata, Clemson’s second-leading receiver from a yardage standpoint, didn’t have a catch in his first game in nearly two months. Uiagalelei’s longest completion covered just 19 yards.

And when Iowa State scored 10 unanswered points late in the second half to cut into its 17-point deficit and make things interesting, Clemson’s offense missed out on multiple opportunities to stretch the lead back out. The Tigers’ final three possessions netted just 32 yards on 10 plays, each ending in a punt that ultimately left it up to the defense to preserve Clemson’s eighth bowl in in the last 10 tries.

The next two months will allow the Tigers to heal up and get much closer to whole on that side of the ball heading into spring practice. But it’s safe to say there’s still plenty of work to do for the offense.

Players are confident their new coordinator is the right one for the job.

“Being moved up to the offensive coordinator job, I know he’s going to do an amazing job,” Uiagalelei said.

Christmas is right around the corner. Once again Clemson Variety & Frame is ready to make it a special holiday for your favorite Tiger.

Order today to make sure your gift arrives in time for Christmas.

Taking inventory: Running back

Clemson still has a bowl game left to play this season, but it’s never too early to look ahead. With the regular season in the books, TCI is taking some time to analyze how the Tigers performed at each position this fall and where the Tigers stand …

Clemson still has a bowl game left to play this season, but it’s never too early to look ahead.

With the regular season in the books, TCI is taking some time to analyze how the Tigers performed at each position this fall and where the Tigers stand with each as the offseason quickly approaches. Quarterback was the first position assessed.

Next up is running back.

A quick note first: This is where things currently stand with Clemson’s personnel at running back. With the one-time transfer rule and recruiting still in full effect, things are always subject to change. This story will be updated as needed to reflect any future modifications at the position.

2021 in review

Much like the quarterback position, it was always going to be hard for Clemson to duplicate the production it got at running back last season given the loss of Travis Etienne, who finished his time with the Tigers as the ACC’s all-time leader in rushing yards and touchdowns.

Clemson began the season with plenty of options, the first sign the Tigers might take a committee approach to trying to replace their All-American back. Lyn-J Dixon — Etienne’s primary backup — Kobe Pace and true freshman Will Shipley quickly separated themselves as the top three backs, but that soon became a top two when Dixon decided to transfer three games into the season. Michel Dukes’ decision to transfer later cut further into Clemson’s backfield depth.

It forced Clemson coach Dabo Swinney to pull the redshirt off another true freshman, Phil Mafah, who’s provided a viable No. 3 option for the Tigers with 304 yards on just 66 carries. He also owns the Tigers’ longest play from scrimmage so far, a 63-yard run against Florida State.

But Pace and Shipley have been the 1-2 punch that’s played the biggest part in Clemson improving its running game over the course of the season.

A five-star signee out of the North Carolina prep ranks, Shipley always figured to be a contributor in the first year of the post-Etienne era, but his raw talent coupled with some of the attrition quickly shot him to the top of the depth chart. The 5-foot-11, 205-pound speedster got his first start four games into his collegiate career.

He missed two games after suffering a leg injury against North Carolina State in late September but came on strong after getting back close to full strength to become Clemson’s leading rusher. He’s rushed for 678 yards and 10 touchdowns with all three of his 100-yard games coming in the last four he’s played. He matched a season-high with 128 yards on just 19 carries his last time out against South Carolina, and he’s also caught 11 passes for 63 yards.

Meanwhile, Pace has been a more-than-serviceable complement to Shipley’s speed and shiftiness. Nobody on the team is averaging more yards per carry than Pace (6.4), who had 316 of his 590 rushing yards in two games. That included a career-best 191-yard day in the Tigers’ rout of Wake Forest.

The duo has helped Clemson go from averaging 145 rushing yards in its first seven games to 208 over the last five.

Sixth-year senior Darien Rencher has played in all 12 games, most as a contributor on special teams. He’s got 19 carries for 62 yards in his final season of eligibility, but Shipley, Pace and Mafah have proven themselves to be a strong foundation at the position going forward.

Who’s leaving?

Dixon, Dukes, Rencher

Who’s staying?

Shipley, Pace, Mafah

Who’s joining?

Clemson doesn’t yet have a running back as part of its 2022 recruiting class, but Jennings (Louisiana) four-star back Trevor Etienne — Travis’ younger brother — is one of the Tigers’ top remaining targets.

Clemson Variety & Frame is doing their part to help bring you some classic new barware and help one of the local businesses that helps make Clemson special.

Order your Nick’s barware and do your part to help. #SaveNicks

Clemson’s late offensive surge, examined

Clemson’s offense enters bowl season in a much different place than it was six weeks ago – one that many wondered if the Tigers could ever reach despite the outward confidence of those within the program. Clemson’s coaches and players insisted there …

Clemson’s offense enters bowl season in a much different place than it was six weeks ago — one that many wondered if the Tigers could ever reach despite the outward confidence of those within the program.

Clemson’s coaches and players insisted there was so much more to come on that side of the ball, but, for the longest time, the offense’s actions didn’t come close to matching those words. Once Clemson got done mustering just 17 points in a 10-point loss at Pittsburgh on Oct. 23 to drop the Tigers to 4-3 overall on the season, they had gone nearly the first two-thirds of the season without being able to crack the 20-point mark in regulation against FBS competition.

Then things changed.

Clemson’s offense scored 24 points against Florida State, using a drive late in the fourth quarter to put the Tigers ahead in what eventually turned into a 10-point win. The Tigers reached 30 points in another comeback victory against Louisville the following week, and they’ve continued to surge since. Clemson had its best showing against an FBS opponent in a 21-point pasting of then-No. 10 Wake Forest on Nov. 20 before tying its highest point total on the road all season in a 30-0 rout of South Carolina to end the regular season.

After scoring more than 19 points just once through the first seven games (49 against FCS member South Carolina State), the Tigers have averaged 36.2 over the last five. And with Clemson having scored just one non-offensive touchdown during that span, the offense is responsible for just about all of them.

Clemson still ranks 95th out of 130 FBS teams in total offense, so how have the Tigers done it? It’s largely a three-pronged answer.

First, a group that struggled mightily to get out of its own way during the first seven games has executed better of late, which has contributed to more big plays that Clemson had grown accustomed to for the better part of a decade going back to the Deshaun Watson era. The Tigers rank 95th nationally and last in the ACC with just 48 plays of 20 yards or more this season, so it’s a part of Clemson’s attack that’s been non-existent at times.

But more than 58% of those plays came in the final five games, including 18 in the last three.

D.J. Uiagalelei has still struggled with his accuracy at times — he owns the second-lowest completion percentage among starting ACC quarterbacks — but Clemson’s sophomore signal caller has been more precise on the deep ball than he was earlier in the season. He had a 46-yard strike to Beaux Collins to get the Tigers on the board first at Louisville. There was a 52-yard heave to Collins early against Wake Forest and a 58-yard scoring connection between the two later in that game. Uiagalelei also hit Dacari Collins for a 37-yard gain on a double move against Carolina.

But Clemson is still averaging just 10.6 yards per completion (15th-lowest nationally), so the chunk plays haven’t been limited to the air. In fact, it’s the Tigers’ vast improvement in the running game that’s spearheaded their turnaround.

Outside of a 129-yard clunker against Connecticut — a game the Tigers played without their top two running backs (Will Shipley and Kobe Pace) and a starting offensive lineman (Will Putnam) — Clemson has been one of the ACC’s top rushing teams during the back half of the season, taking a lot of the pressure off a passing game that’s still missing its top four receivers. The Tigers have averaged 208 rushing yards over their last five games, nearly 63 more per game than the first seven (145.1).

Shipley has led the way with three 100-yard games in the last four he’s played, including tying a season-high with 128 against Carolina. He had a 29-yard touchdown run in that game and a 21-yarder for the go-ahead score late against Florida State. Pace, who added a 34-yard touchdown against the Gamecocks, ripped off a career-high 191 of Clemson’s season-high 333 rushing yards against Wake Forest, which included a 39-yarder to set up the Tigers’ final score.

An offensive line that started to settle in had something to do with that, too.

Whether it be performance-based moves, injuries or a combination of the two, the group has played musical chairs for much of the season with offensive line coach Robbie Caldwell running out seven different starting combinations up front. The last one came when Putnam returned to his starting spot at right guard against Wake Forest. Clemson, which decided to bench true freshman Marcus Tate in favor of Hunter Rayburn at left guard and leave Mason Trotter at center, has averaged 6.1 yards per carry since.

And when some of those explosive plays have helped the Tigers get close to the end zone, they’ve maximized those opportunities more often than not.

Clemson scored touchdowns on three of its five red-zone possessions against UConn and was even more efficient its next time out against Wake Forest, ending five of its seven trips into the Demon Deacons’ 20-yard line in the end zone. The Tigers went 1 of 2 in that category against Carolina but got points on both trips, which was more of the norm for Clemson in its last four games. During that span, the Tigers came away with points on 15 of their 18 trips into the red zone.

Couple all of that with a defense that’s given up the second-fewest points in the FBS, and it’s easy to understand why Clemson ended the regular season on a five-game winning streak. The Tigers will try to keep that momentum going into the offseason in their bowl game, which will officially be announced Sunday.

Clemson Variety & Frame is doing their part to help bring you some classic new barware and help one of the local businesses that helps make Clemson special.

Order your Nick’s barware and do your part to help. #SaveNicks

5 surprises from Clemson’s regular season

Clemson reeled off five straight wins to finish the regular season strong. But for the first time since 2014, the Tigers won’t be part of the College Football Playoff. They’re not even playing for an ACC championship this weekend. In other words, …

In other words, not everything went as expected for Clemson, even amid a season that came with its share of transition on offense in the post-Trevor Lawrence era.

As Clemson waits to see which bowl game it will end up in to officially put a bow on the 2021 season, here’s a look at five surprises — good and bad — that played out for the Tigers this fall.

D.J. Uiagalelei’s performance

It’s not all that surprising that Clemson’s offense took a step back with Lawrence and Travis Etienne — you know, the program’s all-time leading rusher — no longer around. But given the way Uiagalelei played when he got his shot last season, it was hard to envision this coming from Lawrence’s successor.

A former blue-chip recruit himself, Uiagalelei made a grand introduction to the college football world in two spot starts for Lawrence last season, throwing for 781 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions in a comeback win over Boston College and a double-overtime loss on the road against a top-5 Notre Dame team. Uiagalelei has the kind of pure arm talent that many NFL quarterbacks would envy, but he was precise with that strength, too (69.4% completion rate).

That created Heisman Trophy buzz and NIL deals at the both the local and national levels leading up to the season, but whether it was the pressure of taking over full-time for a No. 1 overall draft pick, youth, mechanics or a combination of it all, Uiagalelei wasn’t nearly the same quarterback this season. He completed less than half of his passes five times and owns the second-lowest completion rate (54.7%) among ACC starting quarterbacks. He’s thrown as many interceptions as touchdowns (9).

Uiagalelei has had moments where he’s teased back to shades of his small sample size last season. He’s led fourth-quarter comebacks against Florida State and Louisville and ripped off touchdown tosses of 46 and 58 yards against the Cardinals and Wake Forest, respectively.

He’s also played with a sprained knee and a dinged index finger on his throwing hand the last four games, so Clemson first has to get its quarterback healthy before working with him on his game this offseason.

Yet…

Clemson’s offense finally broke out

There usually comes a time over the course of a 12-game season where the realization sets in that you are what you are. And despite coaches and players trying to talk a breakout performance into existence for the longest, it looked like that point had been reached by the Tigers’ offense in late October when Clemson had yet another anemic showing in a 27-17 loss at Pittsburgh, one in which the Tigers’ second and final touchdown didn’t come until faced with their biggest deficit midway through the fourth quarter.

With two-thirds of their season in the books at that point, there was genuine curiosity as to whether or not Clemson would ever crack the 20-point mark in regulation against an FBS opponent. That question was answered when Clemson’s offense scored 24 points in a comeback win over Florida State the next week, but you would be forgiven if you subscribed to that theory about a blind squirrel and an acorn given the way the unit had been consistently performing.

But it took all of one week for the Tigers to show that wasn’t a one-time thing. They put up 30 on Louisville the following week and then 44 against Connecticut.

The next week? 48 — all from the offense — against then-No. 10 Wake Forest. Then Clemson dropped 30 on South Carolina at Williams-Brice Stadium, where the Gamecocks hadn’t allowed more than 17 to any opponent all season. It averaged out to 36 points over the Tigers’ final four games — or 16 more than their season average.

A resurgent running game spearheaded the turnaround. With an offensive line that finally began to get some continuity to it and Will Shipley and Kobe Pace healthy again, Clemson averaged 208 rushing yards over the last five games. The Tigers saved their best two for last, rushing for a season-high 333 yards and four touchdowns in the 21-point win over Wake Forest before going for 265 yards on the ground against Carolina.

An elite cornerback tandem emerges

Andrew Booth has always been capable of performing at a high level. The only issue for the former five-star recruit, as Clemson coach Dabo Swinney pointed out repeatedly in the preseason, has been staying on the field long enough to have his impact felt consistently in Clemson’s secondary.

But the expectation was that, as long as he could stay healthy, he would be lining up opposite Derion Kendrick, who ended last season as one of the ACC’s top cover corners. But Kendrick was booted from the team during the offseason, leaving a major question as to who the Tigers’ No. 2 corner would be.

Sheridan Jones and Fred Davis were among the other competitors vying for that starting spot opposite Booth, but Mario Goodrich won the job during fall camp and never looked back. As first-team all-ACC performers, he and Booth have morphed into the top cornerback tandem in the ACC.

And not just when it comes to locking down opposing receivers on the outside.

Sure, both have been good in coverage. Goodrich, who’s been thrown at more, is second on the team with seven pass breakups to go with one interception, and Booth has taken advantage of most of the opportunities he’s gotten. South Carolina, for example, had to throw the ball more than it wanted against Clemson with its running game grounded and tried to pick on him. Booth responded with the first multi-interception game of his career.

But both are physical players who don’t mind mixing it up in run support. Goodrich (47 tackles) started the season with 12 tackles against Georgia. Booth has 37, including three for loss. Both are among the team’s top 10 tacklers this season.

They’ve increased their draft stocks to the point that Clemson is going to have to find two new starting corners next season, which was hard to predict before the season started. Booth, who’s played in all but one game as a junior, is widely projected to be taken in the first round of next year’s NFL Draft while Goodrich has accepted an invite to the Senior Bowl.

Several freshmen make major contributions

Clemson brought in plenty of new talent as part of a top-5 recruiting class. But the Tigers have been recruiting at a high level for a while under Swinney, so it was far from a guarantee for many freshmen when it came to trying to crack the two-deep.

But whether it was sheer ability, unforeseen opportunities or a combination of the two, Clemson threw plenty of its newcomers into the fire this season. Some even found themselves in starting roles at key positions.

The most significant impacts were made by Will Shipley and Andrew Mukuba. The fleet-footed Shipley, a former five-star signee, always seemed destined to see the field early even in a crowded backfield that included Etienne’s longtime backup, Lyn-J Dixon.

Shipley began getting some first-team reps early in fall camp, and once Dixon transferred after three games, the writing was on the wall. Shipley and sophomore Kobe Pace quickly separated themselves as the top two backs, but Shipley has more carries than anyone (131) despite missing three games with various injuries. He still leads the Tigers in rushing yards (678) and touchdowns (10).

Mukuba, meanwhile, impressed enough to grab a starting spot at safety in his first college game against Georgia and has rarely relinquished it. He’s fifth on the team with 52 tackles in nine starts and leads the Tigers with nine pass breakups. Receiver Beaux Collins joined one of the deeper positions on Clemson’s roster and didn’t figure to have nearly as big a role as Shipley or Mukuba, but that changed over the course of the season as the Tigers gradually lost three of their top receivers (Frank Ladson Jr., Justyn Ross. Joseph Ngata) to injuries. Now Collins, who’s provided some big plays through the air (13.8 yards per catch), is second on the team in receptions (28) and receiving yards (387).

Perhaps the biggest surprise among the newcomers was the immediate insertion of Marcus Tate along the offensive line. Once Clemson decided to move Matt Bockhorst over to center at the start of the season, the Tigers needed another starting left guard. Tate has been in and out of the starting lineup since (seven starts), but he has gotten more snaps (555) than any of Clemson’s newcomers.

And it’s easy to forget about Will Taylor, who would’ve been the Tigers’ primary punt returner all season had it not been cut short. A shifty receiver who will also play baseball at Clemson, Taylor showed his speed and athleticism when he returned a punt 51 yards for a touchdown against South Carolina State in the third game of the season before sustaining a season-ending knee injury.

Clemson can still get to 10 wins

This may be the most surprising development of them all given the circumstances surrounding this season.

Clemson still has the nation’s No. 2 scoring defense and an offense that’s come around despite the attrition. Because the loss of a few backup linemen in the preseason and its punt returner six games in was just the start.

Whether it be injuries, transfers or brief absences related to COVID-19, Clemson has also played part if not most of the season without its most experienced running back (Dixon), both starting interior defensive linemen (Bryan Bresee and Tyler Davis), a trio of defensive ends (Xavier Thomas, Justin Foster and Justin Mascoll) and a veteran starter on the offensive line (Bockhorst). The attrition has played a part in Clemson having to go with seven different starting combinations along that offensive front.

And for the last handful of games, Clemson has been without its top four receivers (Ladson, Ngata, Ross and E.J. Williams). Yet the Tigers still won six of their last seven to put themselves in position for an 11th straight double-digit win season, which Swinney has said would be as good as any that have come before it if Clemson can finish the job.

Clemson Variety & Frame is doing their part to help bring you some classic new barware and help one of the local businesses that helps make Clemson special.

Order your Nick’s barware and do your part to help. #SaveNicks

Clemson’s ‘three-headed monster’ took control of Saturday night’s lopsided victory

Clemson knew it was going to have run the ball and do so with authority if it was going to leave Williams-Brice Stadium with its seventh consecutive victory over South Carolina. Behind offensive coordinator Tony Elliott, Clemson crafted a diligent …

Clemson knew it was going to have run the ball and do so with authority if it was going to leave Williams-Brice Stadium with its seventh consecutive victory over South Carolina.

Behind offensive coordinator Tony Elliott, Clemson crafted a diligent game plan. The Tigers were going to run the football and dare South Carolina to stop it.

Needless to say, the Gamecocks had no answer for Clemson’s rushing attack. The Tigers rushed for 265 yards on 43 carries, averaging 6.2 yards per carry.

From a personnel standpoint, the Tigers were running out of bodies at the receiver position. And even if Clemson was relatively healthy out wide, South Carolina came into Saturday’s contest with a top-15 passing defense.

“The backs have really started to come on,” Elliott said following Clemson’s 30-0 win over the Gamecocks on Saturday night. “We finally have some continuity and cohesion on the offensive line. Coming off that performance against Wake, I knew these guys had some confidence. So, it was kind of what we were doing well against the area where they [are] not as well on defense.”

“We wanted to establish the run, really challenging the guys to establish the line of scrimmage,” he added.

Clemson won the battle at the line of scrimmage and established the run with relative ease. Heading into halftime up 17-0, the Tigers had already totaled 193 yards rushing on 25 carries for an average of 7.7 yards per carry.

That, of course, wouldn’t have been possible without Clemson’s offensive line getting the necessary push in the run game.

“The backs were able to get going and get some momentum before any contact,” Elliott said. “So, really proud of those guys. I thought they did a good job of just establishing the line of scrimmage. From the get-go, we were able to run the football.”

South Carolina knew what was coming. Everyone in the stadium knew what was coming. And yet, the Gamecocks still couldn’t stop it.

“I think what it does is it just ignites your sideline,” he said. “There’s nothing more demoralizing to a team than to have the ball ran on you. It just sets the mentality, the mindest, from a physicality standpoint in the trenches. It allows you to stay ahead of the chains…whenever you can establish a line of scrimmage and run the ball, it just ignites the sideline. It helps to control the game.”

Speaking of controlling the game, Clemson was able to do so behind Will Shipley and Kobe Pace for the second consecutive game.

They were able to feed off one another’s energy, combining for 186 yards on 28 carries and two rushing touchdowns. While Shipley accounted for 128 of those 186 yards, it was Pace’s 34-yard rushing touchdown in the second quarter, which put the game out of reach.

Elliott was asked what it’s been like to watch the development of Pace and Shipley, but he turned the question into a referendum on what running backs coach C.J. Spiller has been able to accomplish since taking the reigns of the room from Elliott.

“Man, it’s fun,” Elliott said. “I had the privilege of having Kobe for a year before turning him over to C.J. Just to watch what C.J.’s been able to do in that room. Obviously, that was my baby for 10 years. I took a lot of pride in it. And it’s tough. When I recruited most of those guys, they came to play for me but to watch C.J. step in there and just be who he is and galvanized those relationships within the room…and to be able to bring the best out of those, man it’s just so awesome to watch.

“The type of young men that they are, they’re all very, very high character, young men and that’s what you’re seeing on the field. The ability to get better. The humility that they have to go to work every single day, even when they’re having some success, to be able to find ways to improve, it’s pretty special. The future is very bright.”

Elliott didn’t want reporters to overlook “his man” Phil Mafah, either.

“Phil didn’t play as much throughout the course of the season, but down the stretch, he showed what he’s capable of,” Elliott added. “Man, it’s gonna be a fun three-headed monster that C.J.’s gonna have in the future.”

Mafah finished Saturday’s contest with 11 carries and 43 rushing yards. He scored a 6-yard rushing touchdown on 4th-and-2 with just under three minutes to play. Clemson didn’t want to settle for a field goal. Instead, they were able to punch it in for a touchdown to put a bow on the team’s 30-0 victory.

Time to get the latest Clemson apparel to show your Tiger pride. Order your officially licensed Clemson gear right here!

The good, the bad and the ugly from Clemson’s win over South Carolina

Clemson dominated South Carolina on Saturday at Williams-Brice Stadium to close out the regular season with its fifth straight win. Here’s the good, the bad and the ugly from the Tigers’ 30-0 victory: The good Where to start? The first possession of …

The good

Where to start?

The first possession of the game seems like a good place. Clemson took the opening kickoff and wasted no time setting the tone with a seven-play, 73-yard scoring drive capped by Will Shipley’s 29-yard touchdown run, which yet again became a theme for the Tigers’ offense.

After Clemson racked up a season-high 333 rushing yards the previous week against Wake Forest, the Tigers, again shorthanded at receiver, pounded away at Carolina with 43 rushing attempts and all three of their touchdowns on the ground. An offensive line that started the same five for the second straight week got consistent push, the Tigers again utilized more multiple tight end sets to help block, and Shipley and Kobe Pace did the rest. Clemson ripped off 6.2 yards per carry, an average that actually dropped from a whopping 7.7 in the first half, which included Pace’s 34-yard touchdown early in the second quarter that gave Clemson a three-score lead.

That was plenty for a defense that, for the first time in more than three decades against its biggest rival, didn’t give up anything. Even without the services of starting defensive end Xavier Thomas (hamstring), Clemson suffocated Carolina from the jump, limiting the Gamecocks to 12 yards in the first quarter and three first downs in the first half. By the time it was over, Clemson held Carolina (206) to 158 fewer yards than the Tigers finished with (364) despite the teams running the same number of plays. Carolina’s yards per play? 3.3.

Cornerback Andrew Booth Jr. continued to improve his draft stock with a pair of interceptions, including one deep in Carolina territory late in the first quarter to set up a 29-yard field goal from B.T. Potter, who continued his perfect end to the regular season.

Potter connected on all three of his field-goal attempts to improve his success rate to 82.6% on the season. The senior has gone 11-for-11 since missing those three field goals against Florida State back on Oct. 30.

Throw in one last stop by Clemson’s backups near the goal line as time expired, and it all helped the Tigers notch their first shutout in the series since 1989 en route to their seventh straight win over the Gamecocks, matching their longest winning streak ever against their in-state rival.

The bad

Not that it really had to given the way it moved the ball on the ground, but Clemson’s offense rarely took advantage of that success through the air.

It was another up-and-down day for quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei, who sported a brace again to help support his sprained right knee. With E.J. Williams (leg) also out for the second straight week, he also threw to a skeleton receiver group again, though freshmen Beaux Collins and Dacari Collins had performed well of late in their new starting roles.

But Uiagalelei finished 9 of 19 for 99 yards and threw an interception on the Tigers’ second possession that accounted for Clemson’s lone turnover. There was also a strange call midway through the second quarter with Clemson trying to add to its 17-0 lead at the time.

The Tigers faced fourth-and-1 from Carolina’s 36-yard line, but instead of running it (again, Clemson averaged more than 7 yards a carry in the first two quarters), they tried to draw Carolina offsides and take advantage of a free play through the air. Except the Gamecocks didn’t jump into the neutral zone for a penalty, and Uiagalelei’s heave down the sideline intended for Beaux Collins fell incomplete.

Offensive coordinator Tony Elliott took the blame for that brief halt in the Tigers’ momentum, admitting he “probably outsmarted” himself on that fourth-down call. But Clemson got it back on Potter’s next field goal to cap the Tigers’ first possession of the third quarter and never relinquished it from that point.

The ugly

Clemson played one of its cleaner games of the regular season to end it with a shutout of its archrival on the road. The Tigers also got out of Williams-Brice without any other major injuries — and no visible incidents with Carolina fans afterward — so there’s really nothing to put in this category.