Main scrimmage takeaways: "Nasty" defensive line, offensive line thoughts

Bryan Bresee reacts to making a play during the scrimmage. (Photo courtesy of Clemson Football Twitter)

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sun Aug 15 13:00:07 GMT-04:00 2021

CLEMSON – It’s now less than three weeks until the season opener against Georgia and school starts Wednesday, which always means the end of fall camp as we know it. The Tigers scrimmaged for a few hours Saturday inside the Poe Indoor Facility and while the media isn’t allowed to watch scrimmages, there are some takeaways we can gather from those that were there and the statements made by the coaches and players.

I will start out by saying this – don’t get too caught up in the results of the first scrimmage of camp. The offensive line is still trying to find a workable combination and offensive coordinator Tony Elliott is working on installing the offense. That is why both Elliott and head coach Dabo Swinney mentioned that both sides – the offense and defense – were working on their own things and not necessarily reacting to what the other side was doing like you would in a game. For instance, the offense has a 3rd-and-14 and Elliott wants to work on a wheel route, but Venables decides he wants to try out his seven-man blitz package and sends the house and with no back in to protect the QB – you get the idea.

The defense has a lot of guys who have played a lot of football and Venables can turn them loose. He’s also working with what is likely the best defensive line in the country.

As for that offensive line, I found it interesting that Elliott said Matt Bockhorst started out at center. They have options in Mason Trotter and Hunter Rayburn, but it’s been Bockhorst who has run out with the first group a lot. That means freshman Marcus Tate is manning the left guard spot with the starters, and from all accounts, he has been impressive.

Elliott told me earlier this week that they were trying to pull Rayburn – the leader to start at center coming out of the spring – “through the knothole.” He declined to elaborate on that means, but it looks like they are serious about getting the best five on the field. If that means Bockhorst moves from left guard to center, then so be it. I have to think that the coaches will find a starting five sooner rather than later so they can build some chemistry and continuity heading into the team’s preparations for Georgia. That means some guys have limited chances now to impress.

However, we have heard great things about Mitchell Mayes and Paul Tchio. One observer told me that Mayes was a standout during the scrimmage and is going to be a really good player. So there is going to be depth there, and we’ve heard good things about this group so far. They just have to figure out a rotation and go, and as I said, that might come sooner rather than later.

*As you can expect, DJ Uiagalelei and Hunter Helms were the only quarterbacks that led sustained drives down the field. The other two – Billy Wiles and Will Taylor – got their first time of live-action and it showed. I was told that Wiles ran with the 3’s and Taylor with the 4’s. Taylor had a few nice runs, but both struggled to throw the football.

Perhaps the highlight reel play of the day was a 30-yard pass down the sideline from Helms to Dacari Collins (who had a great day according to everyone). Other than field goals, the only scores mustered by the offense came in redzone situations from the 10 – DJ hit Collins (Dacari) for one score and Pace ran it in for another.

*As for injuries – Swinney mentioned that he thought the Tigers came out of the scrimmage fairly healthy. That is always good news. What is going on with wide receiver Joseph Ngata? We don’t know and I don’t want to speculate. And I’ll leave it at that but I don’t think it’s anything serious.

*Back to the defense – one text said, “nasty.” Another one said, ”dominant.” Another one said, “I still believe defense wins championships and that group is going to win us a lot of games this year.”

When you think about it – let’s say the starting four along the line are Xavier Thomas, Myles Murphy, Bryan Bresee and Tyler Davis – and then you have James Skalski, Trenton Simpson, and Baylon Spector at the next level. We have heard that Andrew Booth and Mario Goodrich are having great camps at corner, and you have veterans like Nolan Turner and Lannden Zanders at safety. And then you think about all of the depth behind that – Andrew Mukuba is coming on fast at safety and Tré Williams at defensive tackle and all of the young backers are flashing. And then I get a message late Saturday that says simply, “Barrett Carter is going to be special.”