Maye: Tiger linebackers playing with a chip on their shoulders

Brandon Maye was moved from the MIKE to the WILL linebacker spot in the spring. (Photos: fotoman)

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sat Aug 07 10:34:17 GMT-04:00 2010

CLEMSON – Brandon Maye says that all of the off-season criticism of the Clemson linebackers does indeed sting, and for that reason his group headed into fall camp with a definite chip on their shoulders.

The Clemson linebackers came under intense scrutiny and criticism following a late season spate of games that saw opposing offenses run almost at will through the gaps that Tiger linebackers were supposed to be manning, and Maye said his peers are using that criticism as motivation as they prepare for the 2010 season.

“Every day, we are going to practice like it, and we’re going to play like we have a chip on our shoulders,” said Maye, the junior from Mobile, AL. “Coach Steele demands excellence and I’m going to put it on myself to get guys going, more so this year than last year. But we’re getting better every day and everybody is hungry. We have a group that feels like they have something to prove. “

Maye, at middle linebacker, was a lightning rod for much of that criticism despite a season that saw him tally 103 tackles and set a Clemson single-season record with five forced fumbles, but he said he never let the personal get to him, even when Steele moved him to the WILL linebacker spot in the spring.

“No, I don’t listen to any of that,” Maye said. “That is nonsense for me. I’m just concentrating on getting better. Of course, I’ve switched positions now, and I’m learning the plays more and more. But that criticism will have no bearing on this season. All of this hard work we are doing, it will all show up at the end and everybody will see what time it is.”

Sophomore Corico Hawkins, who has taken over at the MIKE linebacker spot, said he has no concerns about his group heading into the season.

“We just go out every day and we work hard,” Hawkins said. “That’s really all we can do. We don’t really worry about all that other stuff. The coaches recruit great guys, and they put us in position to make plays, and I’m very confident we’re going to get the job done.”

A huge surprise for the Clemson defense during the spring was the emergence of freshman linebacker Quandon Christian, out of Lake View, S.C., and he has seemingly secured the SAM spot, and he said that the group has set out to prove all of the naysayers wrong.

“We are out to prove everybody wrong, because they said we are the weak spot on the defense,” Christian said. “I think what happened last year was just focus. People weren’t really focused and it showed on the field in the way that it ended. But we set our minds in the spring that we’re going to get better as a linebacking corps. We said we’re going to learn all the plays and learn what everybody else has to do and then do what we have to do on the field to get better.”