Tate says Tigers are determined to make something happen in 2024

Marcus Tate says that this year’s group is the most focused he’s seen since he arrived four years ago.

David Hood - Senior Writer - Saturday, August 03 2024

CLEMSON – Marcus Tate enters the interview session and greets everyone with a big smile. The quiet giant is generally regarded as a player favorite, and he isn’t loud just to be loud. When he speaks, there is generally a message in his words.

So, when he says that this year’s team is all about the team, you listen, and he says that this year’s group is the most focused he’s seen since he arrived four years ago.

“This is the hungriest team I’ve ever been a part of, and I think that’s been the difference between this team and years past,” Tate said Thursday. “I would say we all want the same thing, and no one’s doing something for themselves. We’re all competing to get to the end, we’re all competing to finish the best way we possibly can, and everybody’s training with that in mind. It’s not everybody’s just training for themselves, to show off for themselves. It’s not like that, and that’s why I say we’re the hungriest team, because it’s a very collective thought process that we’re all going through as we’re training through the offseason.”

Tate has played a lot of games for the Tigers and is a three-year starter who enters 2024 having played 1,843 career offensive snaps over 32 games (27 starts) since 2021 despite battling several injuries. He became only the third Clemson true freshman offensive lineman since 1972 to start a season opener when he started against Georgia in 2021.

However, each of the last two seasons have ended with injuries, and he feels a certain urgency to make this season his best. And a 9-4 record? That won’t cut it.

“I think the biggest thing when it comes to going 9-4 – even the other couple years, you’ve got to change what you’re doing,” Tate said. “And I feel like we came into this offseason saying we can’t keep doing the same thing we were doing the past three years.”

The offensive line members spent the offseason bonding and getting closer. If that means someone stepping outside of their comfort zone to be a leader, so be it. The mindset was that you can’t wait for something good to happen; you have to go out and make it happen.

“And that goes with as an O-line, being closer with each other every day, hanging out with each other, training together,” Tate said. “That even goes with doing more team bonding stuff as a whole team, more people leading by example, being more vocal leaders. A lot of us had to step out of our comfort zone, and I’ve seen a lot of people do it. We have a bunch of players on this team that are doing that, and I think everybody saw after last year that we couldn’t keep doing the same thing. It’s not just because we’re Clemson that stuff is gonna happen — like, we’ve got to make it happen, and I think everybody’s been pretty intentional with their offseason and doing that.”