Last month, Clemson defensive coordinator Wesley Goodwin said he still had a handful of players listed as co-starters amid one of the unit’s most pressing position battles heading into preseason camp.
“We’ll see how it all sorts out,” Goodwin said of the middle linebacker competition.
Head coach Dabo Swinney echoed Goodwin’s sentiment Friday, adding he doesn’t know if there’s going to be much separation between Lavonta Bentley, Keith Maguire and Jeremiah Trotter in the bid to replace multi-year starter and former team captain James Skalski at that spot.
As Swinney sees it, that shouldn’t be viewed as a negative. Even Trenton Simpson, who’s making the transition from the Sam, or nickel, position to the Will ‘backer spot, could line up at Mike in certain packages.
“They all can play,” Swinney said Friday. “Lavonta Bentley, as a redshirt junior, that’s a bad dude right there. He’s a grown man. … But Trotter, Maguire, Bentley and Trenton Simpson, you can just throw them up in the air.”
Swinney said there’s still a “long way to go” before deciding which one runs out as the starter against Georgia Tech on Labor Day night, but the Tigers could end up taking a committee approach at the position during the course of the season.
“I do know this: If all them guys are healthy, they’re going to play,” Swinney said. “I don’t see them standing on the sidelines. It’s going to be WWE tag team. All right, I’ve got you. I’m in. I’m out. And that’s what you want, man.”
Having played 254 defensive snaps in his three seasons with the Tigers, Bentley has the most game experience of the primary trio. Maguire, also a fourth-year junior, isn’t far behind at 207 snaps in 28 career games. Trotter is the youngest as a true sophomore, but Swinney has praised the former blue-chip signee as one of the most instinctive linebackers he’s ever had at Clemson.
“They have great knowledge. They just need to continue to get that experience,” Goodwin said. “But I feel like all of those guys tackle well, they see things fast, they react fast, they have great leadership and communication skills on the field. So it’s just now their turn to go do it.”
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