Unfortunately, we are who we are ............

Sep 26, 2021, 8:24 AM

At this point, based on what we have been told over and over about this offense, i.e. they were just as ineffective in the pre-season scrimmages, it's not going to get any better there. Just cobble together what you can and move forward with who you have. It's obvious that they have no confidence in TP or he would have played by now. Might as well plod ahead with DJ, at least he can take the licks that are still coming.

Is DJ a Heisman candidate and will he ever be? Who knows but he appears to be more suited for an offense with a big OL that can protect him so that he doesnt have to move and can just hand off right and left and throw the occasional deep ball. And that, I think, brings us to the root of Clemson's current problems, which have been there for years, but masked by Generational talent at QB, RB and WR. Our OL isn't a D1 OL. We have either mis-recruited there or cannot develop what we have. Bottom line - if you have no OL, absent a Generational skill player or players, you will not be a TOP 10 team and right now, we have zero generational skill players, just the facts. Dont believe that - look at FSU and even OK right now - you can have skill but if you let the OL talent and development wither, it will catch up with you and, in a bad way.

So, we work with what we have for the rest of the year and try to build them for the future, if that's possible. I also think you have to have a lot of "DAWG" in you to be really good at that position and I do not see that in very many of the Clemson OL. Could we dip into the transfer portal? Why not - BAMA did it and got a great Center the year before last that really anchored their line. Will they come to Clemson? Who knows, but we might want to try.

Bottom line - we are who are now, out of the playoffs, maybe out to the ACC championship and maybe staring at 5-6 losses. Time to regroup, try to figure out if we have truly serviceable players up front and work them in the lineup. Will 2022 be any better? Not without an OL, not with this group of OL. Again, DW4 and TLAW, Higgins, Etienne, etc covered that for us but they aren't coming back and, if we DO NOT fix the OL, there will be no more of those players coming either.

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I like this point you make re: relationship between system & players. I tend to agree that our entire approach over the last decade skewed too heavily on the former - getting the right players for our system. It also “validated” a system that may not have been all that great to begin with. I mean, how sustainable is a college offensive system that needs a first round NFL QB to run it well?

If (big if right now) we had offensive coaches who were more flexible and creative, the pivot to making the most of players we have makes a ton of sense. And I agree with you at this point we should be trying more of that. I just think now we’re in a really tough spot in that we don’t have a generational, mobile QB and don’t have a system that’s flexible enough or OL good enough to play to his strengths. There’s addl player/system issues, ie not having a viable slot receiver, so many of our WRs being the same type player. And I can’t tell where we are on tight ends right now, if we even have one good enough to target consistently. Imo, this offense relies too heavily on some key pieces that we don’t have or aren’t utilizing. That’s a really hard thing to fix overnight. And maybe I’m bias but I think a lot of Clemson fans understand that. What I find so frustrating is to go week after week, game after game, seeing so little progress being made.

Unfortunately, we are who we are ............

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Now that we don’t have to worry as much about W’s and L’s

Re: Now that we don’t have to worry as much about W’s and L’s

Re: Unfortunately, we are who we are ............

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