Clemson Position 360: Offensive line

Blake Miller has garnered some All-America recognition and looks to anchor the O-line in 2024.

Ryan Kantor - Contributor - Sunday, July 28 2024

2023 Performance

After losing just one starter (Jordan McFadden) to the NFL, the Clemson Tigers entered 2023 with a lot of optimism about their offensive line. With four starters returning, major progress was expected but not delivered. The four returning starters made small incremental gains at most while having worse injury luck.

Right guard Walker Parks was lost for the season after Week 2. Despite much chatter that the offensive line was deeper than ever, that one loss seemed to send unrecoverable shockwaves across the offensive line. Trent Howard, Harris Sewell, and Mitchell Mayes all had opportunities to solidify the middle of the offensive line, but all posted final season PFF grades below 53.0.

Over at left guard, Marcus Tate was good in pass protection, posting an excellent 86.7 PFF grade in pass blocking but struggling in run blocking with a sub-60.0 grade. He suffered a knee injury after 508 snaps and was lost for the year. Will Putnam was the veteran starting center and best player in the interior, with a 69.8 PFF grade. He, too, was stronger as a pass blocker than a run blocker.

On the outside, right tackle Blake Miller was Clemson’s lone offensive lineman with a PFF grade of 70 or better in both pass and run blocking. He finished seventh in the ACC with a 72.9 overall grade. On the left side of the line, Tristan Leigh was charged with replacing the superb McFadden but struggled as a run blocker.

Overall, it is hard to say the offensive line's play in 2023 was anything but a disappointment. They had some big injuries to overcome and had their shining moments—namely, performing admirably against Notre Dame—but overall, they were a significant weakness for the Tigers.

Departures & Additions

Much like last season, Clemson only has to replace one true starter, Putnam, who signed a free agent deal with the Raiders. Unfortunately, Putnam played the most snaps of the O-linemen (tied with Blake Miller) and had the second-highest PFF grade (behind Miller). In fact, He logged 3,563 career snaps, which is the second most in Tigers history.

Clemson reportedly offered several transfer offensive linemen to fill this void. At the same time, they were unable to land one, the intent, especially given the general reluctance to consider the portal, points to Putnam being someone that isn’t so easy for them to replace.

In addition to Putnam's exit by graduation, Mayes departs via the transfer portal. He played 352 snaps but struggled at times, as indicated by a very low 47.1 PFF grade. He has since joined the Charlotte 49ers. Zack Owens only played 16 snaps and transferred to Colorado.

Elyjah Thurmon, Mason Wade, Ronan O’Connell, and Watson Young join the offensive line as true freshmen. I was impressed by O’Connell’s tape and discussed it here. Thurmon was a strong late add to the class as well. Still, you generally don’t expect true freshmen to make an impact in year one.

Finally, it is important to highlight one of the biggest changes at offensive line is with the leadership as Matt Luke is the new offensive line coach after finding success in the same role at Ole Miss and Georgia.

2024 Expectations

What do Leigh, Parks, Tate, Sewell, Collin Sadler, and Ryan Linthicum have in common? They were all 247Sports Composite 4-star or 5-star recruits. This position group is not starved for talent, but their potential has largely been untapped. Can Luke change that? Can he do it in just one offseason?

The spring game didn’t give us many answers, especially with Linthicum exiting the contest early. An incoming transfer was wanted and would have been ideal, but bringing in a proven elite position coach is much more than a consolation prize.

The new leadership may be just what this group needs, and they respond quickly, take major strides, and look like a different group. If that’s the case, the sky is the limit for Clemson. Conversely, offensive linemen are notoriously slow to develop. If it takes Luke a while to bring out their best, this group will be a weakness again and likely limit the team’s ceiling to a brief playoff appearance. The offensive line is the biggest X-factor to Clemson’s success in 2024.