Matt Luke says competition will drive his offensive line

Matt Luke speaks with the media on media day last week.

David Hood - Senior Writer - Sunday, July 28 2024

CLEMSON – Matt Luke has been with his players through bowl practice, spring practice, and now the summer. Next up is August camp, and he’s anxious to see the competition that awaits.

Luke was hired last December to take over Clemson’s offensive line and coached the Tigers in the Gator Bowl and spring practice. He’s kept an eye on his charges all summer and is now ready to see what they can do in camp.

“I think they're coming off spring and now we call this the transformational phase, where they're running, lifting, changing their bodies,” Luke said. “But so far, everything's been really good. They had a great first session of summer and now after July 4th, second summer, then kind of ramping up into fall camp, but just kind of really pleased with they are body weight wise. They all came back in shape after the 4th of July, so that's something they are excited about. Got some competition in some spots which is good, and got some guys that are coming back off of injuries, which is good. Some older guys that have played and are back off injury. So good to have those guys back and just being leaders. There's some player-only practices where we can't be out there, but it's good to have some experience to help out those younger guys.”

He has two numbers in mind when it comes to depth.

“We have a lot of guys that have played, so I'd say comfortably seven or eight guys I feel comfortable putting in the game and guys that have had some experience. So that's a good thing,” Luke said. “Ryan Linthicum left the spring as the starter, but getting Walker Parks back in fall camp will free up Harris (Sewell) and Trent (Howard) to both kind of push there. I'd say Harris is trying to push for that spot, but I think competition will make them both better. And then anytime you're going into a first game like we are, I think practicing against the defense that we practice against really helps you and gives you confidence going in knowing, hey, okay, if we can go out there in the scrimmage and hold up, we can really have real confidence. Not fake confidence, but real confidence going into that first game.”

Parks played in the first two games a year ago but missed the rest of the season and spring recovering from an injury. However, he brings 2,107 career snaps of experience to the line.

“I didn't get to coach him in the bowl game and then he was out there a little bit in indo (individual reps), but not anything in the team reps, but his weight is back, he's back over 300 pounds. He looks really good,” Luke said. “He's able to do all the running and he's been full speed and all the weight lifting. So I think just having his experience and his toughness is big. But even when he wasn't in there, he was back behind me, coaching and talking to the younger players. Having a guy like that and his mentality and his toughness really, really helps. So having him back out there for fall camp will be good, but we will actually see where we are probably seven or eight practices in.”

Coaching in the Gator Bowl gave Luke an early look at what he has to work with.

“I think one of the best decisions was coming in that bowl game, because the best way to get to know somebody is to get thrown in a tough situation, to get thrown into the fire,” he said. “I have to coach them, have to be in there making adjustments. That's how you get to know people, and I think having that really helped going into the spring because you already had a little bit of a base as opposed to just coming in right before the spring. So, I think the bowl game was tough just because learning on the fly, you have really a week to get ready to go, but I do think it paid dividends in the spring.”