Tigers Experiment on the Line with Loss of Black

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CLEMSON - Almost lost in the shuffle of special teams blunders and offensive

exploits in last Thursday's 48-31 loss at Florida State was another serious

injury to a Clemson offensive lineman.

Backup guard Nick Black, who had started one game this season and proven

himself to be a valuable member of the line rotation, suffered a broken right

leg during the second quarter in Tallahassee. Black will miss the rest of the

regular season in yet another blow to the one position the Tigers could ill

afford this type of injury.

Senior tackle Derrick Brantley was lost for the season earlier this year with

a pair of torn ligaments in his knee.

"Sometimes you'll get injured for a week or two, or someone will get injured

for a game, but now we've had a starting tackle and a critical backup go out

for the year," head coach Tommy Bowden said. "It's where we were thin anyway.

It's a position we didn't want to sustain any injuries because we were thin

anyway."

The loss of Black leaves redshirt freshman Mark Jetton and graduate Nathan

Gillespie as the top two reserves. Sophomore junior college transfer Vontrell

Jamison - who just three weeks ago moved from defensive end to offensive

tackle - also becomes more important, as does redshirt freshman Chip Myrick.

And Black's injury moves Roman Fry, the only true freshman lineman dressing

and traveling with the team, one step closer to being forced into action this

season.

Whatever the case, Bowden expects some experimentation this week.

"Jamison made some really good progress during the open date, and Nate

Gillespie has played both guard and tackle," he said. "You kick Nate in at

guard, let Vontrell continue to come on, and Jetton and Myrick are a couple

of other guys you can experiment with.

"I'm trying to redshirt all those other guys, and with seven games left -

eight with a bowl - you don't want to pull one of those guys out if they're

only going to play a snap or two. We've got a couple of pieces of the puzzle,

but it's getting really critical."

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