Swinney credits Matt Luke as offensive line sees success in scrimmage

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CLEMSON – If there was a winner in Saturday’s stadium scrimmage, it was the offensive line, and head coach Dabo Swinney credits Matt Luke with that group’s turnaround.

The Tigers scrimmaged for over two hours in Death Valley Saturday, and Swinney said one group stood out.

“If I had to just say who won the day, I'd say the OL won the day,” Swinney said. “I'm really pleased with how they've performed, now to this point. And then I was anxious to see 'em go today, and I thought they came right out, opening drive, a touchdown drive.”

It’s a group that has matured since last season.

“Well, they're older, they're more mature. I mean that's what it's called in football, it's development. You've got Tristan Leigh who is a third-year, fourth-year player now and he's a second-year starter,” Swinney said. “If you're made of the right stuff and you have pride in your performance, you get better. We are so quick to judge young players. Walker Parks is back. Marcus Tate is a fourth-year senior. He's not a freshman. Blake Miller is a third-year starter, so we're just deeper. Trent Howard is a fifth-year senior that has started for us.

“Harris Sewell is not a true freshman anymore. He's played a whole year. He started some games. Collin Sadler is a starter for us. I mean, we've got just more guys that have played a lot of football, and so you should be better. I mean it's not a surprise, just like it's not a surprise sometimes when you have some young guys that you have an account on that maybe have to go through a few growing pains.”

Swinney hired Luke at the end of last season, ending Luke’s short retirement after a stint as head coach at Ole Miss and one as the offensive line coach at Georgia. Swinney credited the players with buying into Luke’s philosophy.

“Well, he's great. I mean, he's smart. He's been a head coach. He understands my job very well, and he's been around a lot. He's been great,” Swinney said. “He's got a veteran group, and those guys have really bought into what he's asking to do, and he's been really, really proud of them. He's done an awesome job, all those guys. I mean, we've got four offensive line coaches now, so there isn’t anywhere to hide out there. It's a one-to-one ratio almost. All those guys are doing a great job.”

The competition at center continues as Ryan Linthicum, Sewell and Howard look to replace Will Putnam.

“Good battle. I mean, it continues on. They're just stacking days,” Swinney said. “Really pleased with Linthicum and Harris. They're taking a ton of the reps, and then we're rolling Trent in there. He’s working at guard and center, so we feel like we could go play with all three of those guys and we really truly feel that. So that's a nice battle. That's kind of day to day and they just got to keep stacking days, keep competing, but I'm not disappointed in them.”

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