Silver Lining: Venables sees positives for linebackers despite spring injuries |
CLEMSON – Clemson’s defense wasn’t at full strength at any point this spring, but the absence of so many players who occupy a spot on the two-deep depth chart opened the doors for younger players to get their shot. Defensive coordinator
Brent Venables calls it a silver lining.
Starting linebacker James Skalski and starting safety Nolan Turner didn’t participate in contact drills or scrimmages, defensive end KJ Henry missed the spring recovering from surgery, linebacker Baylon Spector missed the spring recovering from an injury, and several other players missed portions of the spring due to COVID protocols or injury. That opened the door for the youngsters “Obviously, the silver lining is that next group of guys. So guys that could have been maybe not getting as many reps, are getting a lot of reps,” Venables told TigerNet. “That third group and that second group, they've all stepped up to the next group. So the twos, the ones and the threes and the twos, and sometimes the threes ends up being the one. So that's helped them grow. Sometimes it's tough with the growing pains, but it helps you grow. That's how you get better. This is a developmental game. The more you play, the longer you play, the better you should get -- defense in particular is a trained reaction. And so that development will be really good for those guys that were here and not so good for those guys that weren't. But the silver lining is you're really developing guys.” Venables saw particular growth with his linebackers. “I was really pleased with the linebacking group overall for spring. And we didn't talk specifically about that group of guy,” Venables said. “We saw Trenton (Simpson) get better and really start to mature. And you had Mike (Jones) to run out there first and to help him. And now he's kind of had to do it on his own, or it's some other guys that are running out there too, with him to help him. But he's cross-trained, I cross-trained Keith Maguire as well. Vonta Bentley has had a really good spring. He's got to be more consistent in both coverage and tackling, but he's had a really good spring. "Maguire, (Kane) Patterson -- they've had good springs. Jake (Venables) missed the first part under protocol but he's had a good spring as well. That's a good group of leaders. And Sergio Allen has had a really good spring, too, just cross-trained him at multiple positions. So that's the first time for him coming off his redshirt year and he's done a really good job too. Just got to get him to play with confidence and all those guys play with confidence.” Venables said the linebackers have to be better at stopping the run, and he has to be better at making the play call in time so the defense will have time to adjust. “If you're going to get out there, you got to be able to run it. And that means call it, adjust it, line it up and do all the little things right,” Venables said. “So, you can give yourself a chance, both in the run in the passing game. There's lot stress on those backers because of that. Being involved in both the run and the pass, and then all the communication that runs for them as well. I'm proud of them. The work that they've put in, it's been a very consistent group of guys who have performed pretty well.” .
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