Number one, like others, the freshman defenders are amazing and better than advertised. Woods is as advertised, S Green is as good or better than advertised, Parker is gonna be on the field this year and a difference maker, Barnes didn't stand out to me on film in HS but he sure looked great yesterday! Lewis looked great too. My goodness what a haul!
Now to this season and why I think we are better than top 4 and maybe even natty good. Let's break down the positions.
QB Cade looked great yesterday. Still needs to work on his pocket presence and if he would just be disciplined enough to throw the ball away instead of dropping back 15 yards... I think he will grow and have a great year. I think Cade could end up right behind Drake Maye as All ACC 2nd Team. Vizzy looked good but our D's speed looked to be ahead of him.
RB Probably top group in the country, right? This is gonna be the key to our offense this year. Oline is good and running game should mask some skill position (WR) deficiencies. As long as both are healthy, this tandem should have 2,000 yards between them. Adams Jr. may need a few carries a game to check his temperature. He seems like a guy who can get hot.
WR I know a lot is made of this being pitiful but if we can get just a little healthy, Collins, Turner and Williams should be good enough to threaten the back end of most defenses. Randall and Noble Johnson development could be critical too. Maybe Brown and/or Hanafin will blow up. Hopefully a strong RB and TE share will ease the pain here.
TE I think Briningstool could be the first Clemson TE to get a look at the 1st round of NFL Draft in my lifetime. I can't remember a better prospect for us at this position and that includes Allen. He should get Dalton Kincaid type targets and have a huge year! We'll see. Josh Sapp sure looked good yesterday too and I think he leaves Clemson with a lot of nice moments. Ennis will get looks. Hopefully Dixon or Henry will be too good to redshirt as well.
OLine I think we will miss McFadden but he wasn't flawless at LT by any means. I think he has a nice future in NFL as a guard. Leigh and Miller should do nicely but Parks and Tate could slide out if need be. Those with Mayes at guard and Putnam solid at center gives us a lot of flexibility and depth. Sewell and Sadler are gonna be ready sooner than later as well. Go back and watch Owens at guard yesterday! He loses another 20 pounds and look out! He was throwing people around and feet are better than they should be at that size. Oline is good at least and elite at best this year. Talented, deep and young!
Now to Defense! Has easy potential to be best defense in America and that's not close to lip service.
DE The only question marks, on D, come here and maybe CB2. The crazy part is the DT position being so good should make any DE we put out shine. They can't be double teamed or we will live 5 yards in backfield with interior guys. XT's health and emergence is maybe most important piece to this team. He could get to 10 sacks just by staying on the field. Mascoll being on the field is a waist imo. He just doesn't have the burst the position deserves and would rather a Denhoff, Lawson, Patterson or one of the young cats like Parker get the nod, even if they don't know how to set a hard edge quite yet. Just my opinion. Think we will end up being okay here but if we had a KJ Henry here, I'd feel a heck of a lot better. Woods moving out here would sure change the dynamic as well!
DT Man we are Salty, Deep and Young! We know what we have in Davis and Ruke. WIlliams and Page would start for 98% of the country and they are not as good as Woods and Green, lol. Vic Burley coming in. Do you feel bad for Caden Story and Capehart yet? Good lord!
LB I can't imagine I would trade these 3 for any other group in CFB. Trotter is special, Carter is a 1st rounder waiting to happen, Woodazz is gonna kill some people this year. The great news is the backup group looked good yesterday. Dudley, McCloud and Anderson all looked the part yesterday and WHEN we add Sammy Brown, this group just keeps rolling.
DB Was it fun to watch this group yesterday? My gosh. Mukuba missing tackle of Mafah is more Mafah than Mukuba. Will be fun to see which will have the better NFL career between Mukuba and Carter. Mickens is gonna have a big year and has great ball skills. Venebles is still Venebles. Covil and Griffin are more than capable. Barnes looks so dang good. Didn't see that coming. Wouldn't trade our safety room with any in the country. Now to Wiggins. How he had progressed is incredible. Another 1st round talent, he will be lock down good. The battle for CB2 should be fierce. Pride, Greene, Lukus, Sherdian Jones, Shelton Lewis... and we still have 2 highly regarded freshman coming in. Talented, Deep and Young, again!
SP Teams I think we will be fine with Swanson at P. The kicker battle with Gunn and Boyd should be a fun one.
This team is ready to roll IMO. We will dominate the ACC for sure. I really don't think we will be underdogs in any game but maybe we lose one to the schedule. Regardless, we only lose one and we are in the playoffs. I think this team will be a really tough out and has a chance to win it all. We should be really stoked at the potential of this team. Now, did I sway anyone?
Now to this season and why I think we are better than top 4 and maybe even natty good. Let's break down the positions.
QB Cade looked great yesterday. Still needs to work on his pocket presence and if he would just be disciplined enough to throw the ball away instead of dropping back 15 yards... I think he will grow and have a great year. I think Cade could end up right behind Drake Maye as All ACC 2nd Team. Vizzy looked good but our D's speed looked to be ahead of him.
RB Probably top group in the country, right? This is gonna be the key to our offense this year. Oline is good and running game should mask some skill position (WR) deficiencies. As long as both are healthy, this tandem should have 2,000 yards between them. Adams Jr. may need a few carries a game to check his temperature. He seems like a guy who can get hot.
WR I know a lot is made of this being pitiful but if we can get just a little healthy, Collins, Turner and Williams should be good enough to threaten the back end of most defenses. Randall and Noble Johnson development could be critical too. Maybe Brown and/or Hanafin will blow up. Hopefully a strong RB and TE share will ease the pain here.
TE I think Briningstool could be the first Clemson TE to get a look at the 1st round of NFL Draft in my lifetime. I can't remember a better prospect for us at this position and that includes Allen. He should get Dalton Kincaid type targets and have a huge year! We'll see. Josh Sapp sure looked good yesterday too and I think he leaves Clemson with a lot of nice moments. Ennis will get looks. Hopefully Dixon or Henry will be too good to redshirt as well.
OLine I think we will miss McFadden but he wasn't flawless at LT by any means. I think he has a nice future in NFL as a guard. Leigh and Miller should do nicely but Parks and Tate could slide out if need be. Those with Mayes at guard and Putnam solid at center gives us a lot of flexibility and depth. Sewell and Sadler are gonna be ready sooner than later as well. Go back and watch Owens at guard yesterday! He loses another 20 pounds and look out! He was throwing people around and feet are better than they should be at that size. Oline is good at least and elite at best this year. Talented, deep and young!
Now to Defense! Has easy potential to be best defense in America and that's not close to lip service.
DE The only question marks, on D, come here and maybe CB2. The crazy part is the DT position being so good should make any DE we put out shine. They can't be double teamed or we will live 5 yards in backfield with interior guys. XT's health and emergence is maybe most important piece to this team. He could get to 10 sacks just by staying on the field. Mascoll being on the field is a waist imo. He just doesn't have the burst the position deserves and would rather a Denhoff, Lawson, Patterson or one of the young cats like Parker get the nod, even if they don't know how to set a hard edge quite yet. Just my opinion. Think we will end up being okay here but if we had a KJ Henry here, I'd feel a heck of a lot better. Woods moving out here would sure change the dynamic as well!
DT Man we are Salty, Deep and Young! We know what we have in Davis and Ruke. WIlliams and Page would start for 98% of the country and they are not as good as Woods and Green, lol. Vic Burley coming in. Do you feel bad for Caden Story and Capehart yet? Good lord!
LB I can't imagine I would trade these 3 for any other group in CFB. Trotter is special, Carter is a 1st rounder waiting to happen, Woodazz is gonna kill some people this year. The great news is the backup group looked good yesterday. Dudley, McCloud and Anderson all looked the part yesterday and WHEN we add Sammy Brown, this group just keeps rolling.
DB Was it fun to watch this group yesterday? My gosh. Mukuba missing tackle of Mafah is more Mafah than Mukuba. Will be fun to see which will have the better NFL career between Mukuba and Carter. Mickens is gonna have a big year and has great ball skills. Venebles is still Venebles. Covil and Griffin are more than capable. Barnes looks so dang good. Didn't see that coming. Wouldn't trade our safety room with any in the country. Now to Wiggins. How he had progressed is incredible. Another 1st round talent, he will be lock down good. The battle for CB2 should be fierce. Pride, Greene, Lukus, Sherdian Jones, Shelton Lewis... and we still have 2 highly regarded freshman coming in. Talented, Deep and Young, again!
SP Teams I think we will be fine with Swanson at P. The kicker battle with Gunn and Boyd should be a fun one.
This team is ready to roll IMO. We will dominate the ACC for sure. I really don't think we will be underdogs in any game but maybe we lose one to the schedule. Regardless, we only lose one and we are in the playoffs. I think this team will be a really tough out and has a chance to win it all. We should be really stoked at the potential of this team. Now, did I sway anyone?
