Closer Look: Playing time breakdown, notable PFF grades from Clemson-Wake Forest

By the numbers, Phil Mafah had his best run grade of the season despite his O-line's play.

by Brandon Rink - Staff Writer - Tue Oct 10 10:27:47 GMT-04:00 2023

Taking a look at the playing time and notable Pro Football Focus grades position by position from the 17-12 win over Wake Forest:

Offense

(The number by a player's name initially is the game's snap count, provided by PFF this week. The snaps are all offensive and defensive snaps and do not count special teams. Snap totals for scholarship players and depth chart members are listed in the feature.)

(PFF grades tend to run lower than school grades, so high 80 grades are on the high end, and it's a harsher grade below 60 or so).

PFF unit performance grades: Offense - 62.1; Passing - 52.9; Pass blocking - 90.7; Receiving - 56.7; Running - 75.8; Run blocking - 49.9.

QB: Cade Klubnik 70, Hunter Helms NS, Paul Tyson NS, Christopher Vizzina NS. Notes: Klubnik was tabbed with the best pass-blocking of the season (90.7) in front of him but backed up a sub-50 pass-game grade at Syracuse (49) with another low mark against the Deacs (52.9). He had zero big-time throws in 28 attempts with a 4.7 yards per attempt average. Under pressure, he graded 36.8 as a passer in eight dropbacks there and 45.3 against the blitz (11 dropbacks). After Syracuse’s defense opened up looks for a season-high seven passes of 20+ yards last week, he was not tagged with a single throw of 20+ yards against Wake Forest and only connected on 2-of-5 throws from 10-19 yards out, which he had previously excelled in this season (65.7 cmp%/three big-time throws/4 TDs-0 INTs in the first five games). He suffered three drops from his targets Saturday as well (the most since the five at Duke).

RB: Will Shipley 42, Phil Mafah 27, Domonique Thomas ST, Keith Adams Jr. NS, Jarvis Green NS, Jay Haynes* NS. Notes: Mafah (81.9) and Shipley (67.4) had the two highest offensive grades on the day. The 83.7 run grade for Mafah is the highest of the season and the second-highest of his career (90.2 v. Louisville last year).

WR: Beaux Collins 68, Tyler Brown 58, Troy Stellato 62, Adam Randall 6, Hamp Greene 3, Brannon Spector 1, Hampton Earle ST, Clay Swinney ST, Ronan Hanafin ST, Misun Kelley NS, Noble Johnson NS. Notes: Collins led the way grades-wise (66.9), and he was only joined in the 60s in receiving grade by Mafah (61.3). After a stellar start to the season, the freshman Brown had the first drop of his career and only hauled in three of his seven targets for 22 yards (57.5 grade).

TE: Jake Briningstool 61, Sage Ennis 19, Josh Sapp ST, Markus Dixon NS, Olsen Patt-Henry NS. Notes: Briningstool received a season-high six targets with five catches for 30 yards. He also had his first drop in 26 targets this season. His overall grade (56.7) was on the lower end of a not-great-day overall offensively.

OL: Will Putnam 70, Blake Miller 70, Marcus Tate 70, Harris Sewell 62, Collin Sadler 45, Tristan Leigh 25, Mitchell Mayes 8, Trent Howard NS, Ryan Linthicum NS, Dietrick Pennington NS, Bryn Tucker NS, Zack Owens NS, Ian Reed NS. Notes: It was the best of times and it was the worst of times for the Clemson O-line, which, after being named as PFF’s national O-line of the week at Syracuse, had its best pass-blocking mark (90.7) and its worst run-blocking grade (49.9). Sadler came off the bench to play the most snaps at left tackle and graded out best on the OL (67.2; 86.5 pass-blocking). Mayes started at right guard but was pulled after only four run and pass-block assignments each (75.3 pass-blocking grade; 58.7 run), which made way for the highly-rated freshman Sewell to see a season-best 62 plays (63.6 pass-blocking grade; 49.4 run-blocking). Leigh brought up the rear on run-blocking grades (47.7).

On the season, Clemson’s five-highest-graded offensive linemen (min. 50 snaps) are Miller (66.1), Putnam (65.4), Leigh (63.1), Tate (63.1) and Howard (59.8). Before a season-ending injury, Walker Parks was fourth in that mix (62.9).

Defense

PFF unit performance grades: Defense - 86.2; Run defense - 91.1; Tackling - 90.9; Pass rush - 73.2, Coverage - 78.1.

ED: Xavier Thomas 55, TJ Parker 55, Justin Mascoll 22, Cade Denhoff 5, AJ Hoffler NS, Zaire Patterson NS, Jahiem Lawson NS, David Ojiegbe NS. Notes: Third in snaps, Mascoll paced the group grades-wise (71.9) with a QB hit, two tackles and an assisted tackle. Thomas again led the way in pressures and tallied a sack and another tackle.

DL: Tyler Davis 44 (+2 on offense), Ruke Orhorhoro 36 (+2 on offense), Peter Woods 33, Payton Page 23, DeMonte Capehart 7, Caden Story NS, Stephiylan Green NS, Tré Williams* NS. Notes: Davis made PFF’s team of the week with a Clemson-best 89.1 grade with four pressures, three solo tackles and four more tackle assists. He graded at 86.7 versus Wake’s slow-mesh running attack. Peter Woods logged his best grade of the season (81.2) with three pressures and three solo tackles.

LB: Jeremiah Trotter Jr. 70, Barrett Carter 70, Wade Woodaz 17, Kobe McCloud ST, Jamal Anderson ST, Dee Crayton NS. Notes: Carter (75.4), Trotter (74) and Woodaz (71.6) all graded pretty well, with Trotter (83.7) and Carter (78.1) doing best against the run. After being a constant target in previous weeks, Trotter wasn’t thrown at against Wake.

DB: RJ Mickens 70, Toriano Pride 69, Andrew Mukuba 67, Jeadyn Lukus 41, Khalil Barnes 39, Jalyn Phillips* 17, Avieon Terrell 12, Shelton Lewis 1, Sherrod Covil ST, Kylon Griffin ST, Sheridan Jones* NS, Branden Strozier NS, Rob Billings NS, Kylen Webb NS, Myles Oliver NS, Tyler Venables* NS. Notes: A surprise late addition to the starting lineup for Jones’ pregame condition, Pride was Clemson’s highest-rated corner (77.4) with just 6.2 yards per reception against him. The former Wake Forest commitment Barnes got in on a strip and graded second only to Davis (83.8; 84.2 in coverage; 81 in tackling).

Players listed as out for the game: WR Antonio Williams (listed as game-time decision), CB Nate Wiggins (listed as game-time decision), OL John Williams.

Players listed as out for the season: DL Vic Burley, WR Cole Turner, OL Walker Parks.