May 18, 2013

2013 Returning Experience: Defensive Backs

February 6, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Travis Blanks

The bad news is Clemson loses about 6,800 snaps in the defensive backfield. If you ask a lot of Tiger fans the good news is Clemson loses 6,800 snaps in the defensive backfield.

Gone are Rashard Hall, Xavier Brewer and Jonathan Meeks, who all individually or collectively were the focal points of the fans ire when long plays, bad angles and poor tackling plagued the secondary.


2012 Defensive Backs Experience Final –

Not all is lost though as the Tigers return 4 players with between 366 and 700 career snaps.

The question is will it be a matter of addition by subtraction or will the defensive backfield suffer through another tough season.

Travis Blanks played about as well as you could expect a true freshman and has a bright future. The other three have all had ups and downs in their time at Clemson and questions remain about the skill level of this group.

Not listed above are redshirt Ronald Geohaghan and Hargrave Military placement Cordrea Tankersley.

This is a group that should be updated immediately assuming current commitments sign LOIs on National Signing Day (today).

Still, this is post is about returning experience and depending on true freshmen to play in the defensive backfield is a dicey proposition at best.

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Keep An Eye On…

November 16, 2012 by 1 Comment
OrangeandWhite.com

OrangeandWhite.com

The Tiger pass defense. It’s been a long time since the Tigers faced a quarterback with the tools that Mike Glennon possesses. Working backwards the Tigers have seen Maryland, Duke, Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech and Boston College.

It’s true that Duke’s Sean Renfree has a higher passing efficiency rating than Glennon, but all things considered I’m a bit more worried about Glennon than I was about Renfree. Maybe it was just the Duke brand that caused me to take Renfree lightly despite the fact that he had a decent game against the Tigers.

In my mind what separates the two is the potential for Glennon to get hot and go on a streak against a less than optimal and thin defensive backfield. I never really got that sense with Renfree and Duke despite a long touchdown pass.

I don’t think it’ll be enough to overcome the Clemson offense, especially in Death Valley, but it is something to keep an eye on especially if Glennon comes out on fire early and with South Carolina looming next week.

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Analyzing Clemson’s 2012 Linebacker Experience

July 10, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Linebacker is a position where the Tigers return all experience of note, losing only career third teamer Daniel Andrews, former walk-on Steve Demaras and Colton Walls before he played a down.

Consistency and tackling have been the bugaboos for this group prior to 2011, but with the infusion of Stephone Anthony and Tony Steward the trend is pointing upward.


Linebacker Experience –

While Steward is recovering from injury and mired on the depth chart, Anthony came out of the spring as the starter in the middle.

Quandon Christian, Corico Hawkins and Tig Willard are all experienced linebackers and true freshman Travis Blanks is currently listed with this group as the Nickel Back.

Barring injuries the success or failure of this group won’t be based on experience as 3 at these positions have 827 snaps or more. Anthony’s 292 snaps equate to about 4 games, but he appeared solid, grounded and has star potential.

One of the more interesting story lines of the season will be how this group plays and performs with the change from Kevin Steele to Brent Venables.

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