So I finally had some time this week to really sit and closely watch some Clemson football. I watched the first half of FSU and first 3 quarters of Wake.
There are a few undeniable facts about this team: 1) The offense is much, much more efficient (dare I say better coordinated?) than it was a year ago. 2) The defense is talented, but the depth concerns are legitimate. 3) we are, ultimately, a team that has bullied a bunch of bad teams and got beat by 4 touchdowns by the only really good team we’ve played.
How good this Clemson team is or can be still remains to be seen. November games against Louisville, Pitt, and South Carolina (and probably Miami in the ACC Championship) will be big tests of just how good we are. If we can roll through those teams, then hey maybe we are ready to get back on the field with an elite, national contender and be more competitive. But watching this team, I just have a suspicion that while we may run the table, win the ACC, and make the playoff (and maybe even win a game there) we don’t really belong in the conversation when it comes to true national title contenders.
But, there’s still a long way to go, and Clemson has certainly benefitted in years past by being able to improve week over week against lesser competition. By time December rolls around, we will probably be a more complete team than we are now - but then again, so will all the other guys.
One thing can be said without a doubt - we’re better than we were in 2023.
Looking at the offense, everything is just working better now, isn’t it? Things are more smooth, we aren’t seeing turnovers, mind bottling mental errors and pre snap issues, and the pace of our play has been consistent. This all starts, of course, with the QB.
Klubnik is remarkably improved from where he was a year ago, playing with much more confidence, avoiding putting the ball in jeopardy, and helping out the OL by not running into pressure.
To be sure, there are still areas of improvement that he can make. His accuracy is still wildly off at times, and sometimes you can still see him get a little jittery in the pocket, although he does a better job of stepping away from pressure now, whereas in the past we’ve seen him literally just run into the arms of an otherwise blocked defender. This confidence and improved calm have allowed him to show off his top level arm strength and has also made him a much bigger threat with his legs, as he’s much better and finding running space when nothing’s open and is choosing to run rather than forcing a bad ball into coverage.
Check out this incredible throw here. I’m not sure he actually needed to roll out here, but he stayed calm, in control, and threw an absolute laser right on target. Klubnik has certainly had his growing pains, but there ain’t that many college QBs who can make that pass with that velocity on it.
And here against FSU. The Klubnik we knew last year starts bailing on the pocket the second he senses that #5 getting around Miller on the right side. Instead he trusts the protection, stays in pocket, and gives his playmaker a chance to make a play. Not a perfectly placed ball, you probably want that a little shorter, but Antonio just gets up there and makes a great play.
It probably does help with Klubnik’s trust of the OL that the OL has been more trustworthy this year. IMO the most stark difference in the OL from last year to this year is in the pass protection. Things have been much cleaner on that end so far, and our tackles have really taken a nice leap in terms of their pass pro fundamentals. We also see way less confusion from the OL and we’ve generally improved on picking up stunts/twists etc. Again, not perfect, we got beat by a couple stunts against FSU, but in general there seems to be a lot less leakage due to confusion up front.
Fundamentally speaking, Miller is easily the best of the bunch, I don’t think its particularly close. Even in that clip above, he’s got a tough job. He’s got to step forward at the snap to sell the run to the 2nd level, then recover into pass pro, and Miller does this pretty damn well which is what allows Klubnik enough time tom make that pass.
Miller’s game still has some holes. He’s not particularly good when he has to pull, which he is often asked to do in our offense. He struggles with his decision making on whether to turn up inside the kick out or continue on for a seal block. He also gets too high and loses a little control of his body and becomes more of a nail than a hammer.
Here’s an example of him missing the gap when pulling. Parks gets a nice kickout block and Miller should turn up inside of him here and become a lead blocker, you can see that’s what Mafah is expecting him to do. Instead Miller continues outside to try to create a seal block, which just completely wrecks the play.
On the other side, Leigh’s fundamentals aren’t as clean but he’s super athletic and strong and is a really outstanding run blocker. His pass pro is sold but he gets off balance at times. A good pass rusher can beat him with a 2nd move as he over corrects on his techinique, meaning if a guy beats him with a bull rush, he’ll start leaning forward too much and get beat around the edge with speed by the same guy. His feet also get too close together at times. But by and large, he’s a solid player out there.
Here’s the 4th down goal line play from the Wake game. We put Leigh and Miller both on the left side here in a tackle over formation. Watch Leigh just bury his guy while Miller gets just enough (and maybe a tiny hold) on the backer to keep that gap wide open for Mafah. You can also see the defense gets lured inside by Klubnik opening to the opposite side. This is a really nice play well executed by everyone, including Woods on the lead block.
In the middle we are solid, not elite, not dominant necessarily, but solid. I’ve always like Parks’s physicality and general mean spiritedness, but I’ve also always thought he was a better tackle than a guard. I think he’s a better player at 290-300 than he is at 310-320, but he needs that extra bulk inside. But I think we’ve got a really solid starting 5 and 2 really good tackles that we can win with.
The real question though is how much have they been truly tested since the Georgia game? FSU is the only other team we’ve played that has anything close to similar personnel and the offense looke anemic at times there, though I’d lay the blame for that on play selection in the red zone more than I would poor OL play.
On defense - look man, I love Peter Woods, dude is a baller and a great player, but he’s not a defensive end. He can play end and be successful, but he isn’t as athletic as Christian Wilkins and is a more true inside player and he just lacks some of the athleticism/speed that we really need out on the edge at times. But when you look at the depth chart, it also makes sense that he’d be the guy they push out there because Capehart and Page are monsters inside.
This is how you stop that slow mesh play Wake Forest runs. And that center for Wake didn’t fare any better when Page was lined up across from him either, dude had a bad day all around.
I have a lot of questions about our secondary and our overall depth on defense. They got pushed a bit more by Stanford than what I think most of us anticipated, and there will come a game where they have to make a big play for us to win and I have some concerns about their ability to deliver in a big situation late in the game against a quality opponent.
Overall, we’ve got a good team. Certainly a much better team than we had a year ago. The turn around on offense has been impressive. But, we have to remind ourselves that we have played exactly 1 elite team, and they beat us by 31 points. So while there’s reason to be excited, I’d pump the brakes on any dreams of holding up anything beyond the ACC championship trophy this season. Crazier things have certainly happened, and with the expanded playoff we’ll at least have a chance.
Go Tigers!
There are a few undeniable facts about this team: 1) The offense is much, much more efficient (dare I say better coordinated?) than it was a year ago. 2) The defense is talented, but the depth concerns are legitimate. 3) we are, ultimately, a team that has bullied a bunch of bad teams and got beat by 4 touchdowns by the only really good team we’ve played.
How good this Clemson team is or can be still remains to be seen. November games against Louisville, Pitt, and South Carolina (and probably Miami in the ACC Championship) will be big tests of just how good we are. If we can roll through those teams, then hey maybe we are ready to get back on the field with an elite, national contender and be more competitive. But watching this team, I just have a suspicion that while we may run the table, win the ACC, and make the playoff (and maybe even win a game there) we don’t really belong in the conversation when it comes to true national title contenders.
But, there’s still a long way to go, and Clemson has certainly benefitted in years past by being able to improve week over week against lesser competition. By time December rolls around, we will probably be a more complete team than we are now - but then again, so will all the other guys.
One thing can be said without a doubt - we’re better than we were in 2023.
Looking at the offense, everything is just working better now, isn’t it? Things are more smooth, we aren’t seeing turnovers, mind bottling mental errors and pre snap issues, and the pace of our play has been consistent. This all starts, of course, with the QB.
Klubnik is remarkably improved from where he was a year ago, playing with much more confidence, avoiding putting the ball in jeopardy, and helping out the OL by not running into pressure.
To be sure, there are still areas of improvement that he can make. His accuracy is still wildly off at times, and sometimes you can still see him get a little jittery in the pocket, although he does a better job of stepping away from pressure now, whereas in the past we’ve seen him literally just run into the arms of an otherwise blocked defender. This confidence and improved calm have allowed him to show off his top level arm strength and has also made him a much bigger threat with his legs, as he’s much better and finding running space when nothing’s open and is choosing to run rather than forcing a bad ball into coverage.
Check out this incredible throw here. I’m not sure he actually needed to roll out here, but he stayed calm, in control, and threw an absolute laser right on target. Klubnik has certainly had his growing pains, but there ain’t that many college QBs who can make that pass with that velocity on it.
And here against FSU. The Klubnik we knew last year starts bailing on the pocket the second he senses that #5 getting around Miller on the right side. Instead he trusts the protection, stays in pocket, and gives his playmaker a chance to make a play. Not a perfectly placed ball, you probably want that a little shorter, but Antonio just gets up there and makes a great play.
It probably does help with Klubnik’s trust of the OL that the OL has been more trustworthy this year. IMO the most stark difference in the OL from last year to this year is in the pass protection. Things have been much cleaner on that end so far, and our tackles have really taken a nice leap in terms of their pass pro fundamentals. We also see way less confusion from the OL and we’ve generally improved on picking up stunts/twists etc. Again, not perfect, we got beat by a couple stunts against FSU, but in general there seems to be a lot less leakage due to confusion up front.
Fundamentally speaking, Miller is easily the best of the bunch, I don’t think its particularly close. Even in that clip above, he’s got a tough job. He’s got to step forward at the snap to sell the run to the 2nd level, then recover into pass pro, and Miller does this pretty damn well which is what allows Klubnik enough time tom make that pass.
Miller’s game still has some holes. He’s not particularly good when he has to pull, which he is often asked to do in our offense. He struggles with his decision making on whether to turn up inside the kick out or continue on for a seal block. He also gets too high and loses a little control of his body and becomes more of a nail than a hammer.
Here’s an example of him missing the gap when pulling. Parks gets a nice kickout block and Miller should turn up inside of him here and become a lead blocker, you can see that’s what Mafah is expecting him to do. Instead Miller continues outside to try to create a seal block, which just completely wrecks the play.
On the other side, Leigh’s fundamentals aren’t as clean but he’s super athletic and strong and is a really outstanding run blocker. His pass pro is sold but he gets off balance at times. A good pass rusher can beat him with a 2nd move as he over corrects on his techinique, meaning if a guy beats him with a bull rush, he’ll start leaning forward too much and get beat around the edge with speed by the same guy. His feet also get too close together at times. But by and large, he’s a solid player out there.
Here’s the 4th down goal line play from the Wake game. We put Leigh and Miller both on the left side here in a tackle over formation. Watch Leigh just bury his guy while Miller gets just enough (and maybe a tiny hold) on the backer to keep that gap wide open for Mafah. You can also see the defense gets lured inside by Klubnik opening to the opposite side. This is a really nice play well executed by everyone, including Woods on the lead block.
In the middle we are solid, not elite, not dominant necessarily, but solid. I’ve always like Parks’s physicality and general mean spiritedness, but I’ve also always thought he was a better tackle than a guard. I think he’s a better player at 290-300 than he is at 310-320, but he needs that extra bulk inside. But I think we’ve got a really solid starting 5 and 2 really good tackles that we can win with.
The real question though is how much have they been truly tested since the Georgia game? FSU is the only other team we’ve played that has anything close to similar personnel and the offense looke anemic at times there, though I’d lay the blame for that on play selection in the red zone more than I would poor OL play.
On defense - look man, I love Peter Woods, dude is a baller and a great player, but he’s not a defensive end. He can play end and be successful, but he isn’t as athletic as Christian Wilkins and is a more true inside player and he just lacks some of the athleticism/speed that we really need out on the edge at times. But when you look at the depth chart, it also makes sense that he’d be the guy they push out there because Capehart and Page are monsters inside.
This is how you stop that slow mesh play Wake Forest runs. And that center for Wake didn’t fare any better when Page was lined up across from him either, dude had a bad day all around.
I have a lot of questions about our secondary and our overall depth on defense. They got pushed a bit more by Stanford than what I think most of us anticipated, and there will come a game where they have to make a big play for us to win and I have some concerns about their ability to deliver in a big situation late in the game against a quality opponent.
Overall, we’ve got a good team. Certainly a much better team than we had a year ago. The turn around on offense has been impressive. But, we have to remind ourselves that we have played exactly 1 elite team, and they beat us by 31 points. So while there’s reason to be excited, I’d pump the brakes on any dreams of holding up anything beyond the ACC championship trophy this season. Crazier things have certainly happened, and with the expanded playoff we’ll at least have a chance.
Go Tigers!
