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YOUR BALANCE
Skalski or Boulware
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Skalski or Boulware


Jan 18, 2022, 8:50 AM

Now that James Skalski's Clemson career has come to an end I have to ask. Who do you think was a better Will linebacker for Clemson, James Skalski or Ben Boulware.

I think when both are playing their best Skalski has the higher ceiling with his size and leadership, although he took a bit longer to develop and had a problem not getting targeting penalties sometimes. Boulware was a great linebacker and could always sniff out the ball, but he was limited in terms of size and athleticism more so that Skalski.

What do you think Tiger-net?

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Re: Skalski or Boulware


Jan 18, 2022, 8:52 AM

That’s tough. Skills wise I’m going Skalski. Total package I’m going Boulware, plus this gives him bonus points.

https://youtu.be/jlXWdx6olQ0

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... and a 15-yard penalty.***


Jan 18, 2022, 1:15 PM



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"When I was young, I was sure of many things; now there are only two things of which I am sure: one is, that I am a miserable sinner; and the other, that Christ is an all-sufficient Saviour. He is well-taught who learns these two lessons." -John Newton


Kendall Joseph.***


Jan 18, 2022, 8:54 AM



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Re: Kendall Joseph.***


Jan 18, 2022, 9:05 AM

Sure would be nice to have him this season.

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Re: Kendall Joseph.***


Jan 18, 2022, 1:25 PM [ in reply to Kendall Joseph.*** ]

Kendall Joseph was great he was more athletic than both, but if I remember right he spent more time at Mike than Will.

Even so its impressive that he was able to switch and not miss a beat. I think he's an unsung hero of those championship defenses.

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Re: Skalski or Boulware


Jan 18, 2022, 8:56 AM

Man thats tough. Remember how Ben shut down the Lamar Jackson highlight reel?

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Re: Skalski or Boulware


Jan 18, 2022, 8:58 AM

Skalski, Boulware was a great one and I’d like to have him back but he wasn’t good in pass coverage.

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Re: Skalski or Boulware


Jan 18, 2022, 8:58 AM

Love the both but I’m going Boulware. His ability to detect the play and the audible, put himself and others in position to stop the play, were just uncanny. I’d love to have seen them both on the field together at there primes at Clemson .

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Re: Skalski or Boulware


Jan 18, 2022, 8:59 AM

Them, their

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Re: Skalski or Boulware


Jan 18, 2022, 9:02 AM

SKALSKI. Better speed.

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Skalski - Easy!


Jan 18, 2022, 12:52 PM

Skalski was better overall easily in my mind. Better in pass coverage and appeared to be a better team leader. Boulware might have been tougher - but as far as who was the better player: "easily J. Skalski"!

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Re: Skalski or Boulware


Jan 18, 2022, 9:09 AM

Tough call. Agree Skalski has more size and speed. But in terms of overall team role and motivating, challenging, etc, hard to go against Boulware. Guy is a DUDE. They both were perfect Coach V dogs!

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Re: Skalski or Boulware


Jan 18, 2022, 4:21 PM

I luv Ben !!

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the tug abides


Re: Skalski or Boulware


Jan 18, 2022, 9:10 AM

Boulware. Far more durable, and made big play after the big play in all the high stakes games.

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Re: Skalski or Boulware


Jan 18, 2022, 9:27 AM

Agree - loved Skalski when he was in the game, but unfortunately it seemed like he was injured or ejected for every big game! Boulware just had that knack of rising to the occasion in the big moments despite his physical limitations.

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Re: Skalski or Boulware


Jan 18, 2022, 9:15 AM

Going Boulware, but man, Tre Lamar sure gets forgotten a ton… he was a bad man, HUGE and one of the fasted guys on the field.

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Re: Skalski or Boulware


Jan 18, 2022, 1:26 PM

Tre Lamar was dog, but I'm pretty sure he played Mike LB.

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Re: Skalski or Boulware


Jan 18, 2022, 9:24 AM

Ben B and its not close. Ben was more durable, a better leader and always tackled with his head up so he never got kicked out for targeting. Ben also gets points for the suplex.

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Re: Skalski or Boulware


Jan 18, 2022, 9:25 AM

Neither are NFL guys so I have to go with the best results during the career so Skalski is the guy for me. They were both great leaders but not in the Top 10 of linebackers at Clemson.

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Tik, the most incredible thing to me is that it seems


Jan 18, 2022, 9:56 AM

just like yesterday we were raving over Boulware's commitment to Clemson, as we were Skalski's.

Some of the best parts of games were seeing both in full beast mode!

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Re: Skalski or Boulware


Jan 18, 2022, 10:22 AM

How would you guys rank Spencer Shuey in this mix? He's kind of a forgotten one, but that O-State game keeps him forever in my whoa category.

Just for fun, here are the stat comparisons:

https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/james-skalski-1.html
https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/ben-boulware-1.html
https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/spencer-shuey-1.html

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Re: Skalski or Boulware


Jan 18, 2022, 1:33 PM

I really thought about putting Shuey in tbe comparison but I think he's behind both. Neither Skalski or Boulware were super athletic and Shuey was probably the least athletic of the bunch.

Credit does need to be given though. He could always find the ball carrier and kind of set the tone for what BV wanted from the Will linebacker spot.

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Tough to go with one but I’d say Boulware.***


Jan 18, 2022, 10:24 AM



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Re: Skalski or Boulware


Jan 18, 2022, 11:09 AM

I give Skalski the edge because he didn't have the luxury of being kept completely clean by the Power Rangers in front of him. I think having that d-line allowed Boulware a lot more freedom while he was playing.

Skalski is also better in the coverage game.

Boulware was better as a straight pass rusher from the LB spot.

Overall they had similar careers, but again I think Skalski did it with less protection from his d-line so I give him the edge as the better player since he got similar results with less help up front.

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very tough to call...


Jan 18, 2022, 12:47 PM

I'd like to have them both on the field for one year and go from there. It would be hard to beat the LB's we had in the late 80's.

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Re: Skalski or Boulware


Jan 18, 2022, 1:45 PM

Skalski was the coach on the field, he was always on top of things. Boulware was the lions heart of that defense... tough call... really similar tough nosed hard playing guys...

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Your post deserves more TU's. Excellent football


Jan 18, 2022, 2:17 PM

conversation.

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Re: Skalski or Boulware


Jan 18, 2022, 3:14 PM

Have to love the heart of both. They’re basically the same guy in my mind. Great players for Clemson. Both embody the spirit of college ball. Very cerebral players who did more with less athletically. I hate to see Skalski go.

Having said this, at Clemson we should be able to recruit total package, NFL style linebackers with more size and speed than both. I’m guessing both are at best 4.7-4.8ish 40 yd dash guys? This becomes a real liability in coverage on backs and TE’s and really hurts running down mobile QB’s and backs in the flat, etc.

I’d like to see us transition from the Shuey/boulware/Skalski type backer and stick to the Simmons (Anthony, Wayne, Isaiah) athletic backer mold. Hard to believe three of our greatest LB’s ever had the same last name! There’s some trivia for ya. You can throw in Ed McDaniel, the Judge, and LaVern (haha) too. Most folks forget Keith Adams because he didn’t play on great teams, but I still think he is the best Clemson LB I have ever seen play in the valley. I’m hoping Wes recruits athletic animals like these.

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Re: Skalski or Boulware


Jan 18, 2022, 4:19 PM



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the tug abides


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