Chad Morris’ Offensive Line Is Developing With One Player As The 'Anchor'

With a new quarterback and a new offensive coordinator, Clemson football needs some offensive crutches to lean on as its new additions adjust to life. The biggest and most critical of those crutches is the offensive line, which is taking shape under Chad Morris through Clemson’s spring practices.

“They’ve all kind of seem like they've gotten in a sync together,” Morris said. “We're still rotating some guys around, but we feel, we feel pretty good about what we have up front with those guys.”

Still several months out from the start of the season, the Tigers are putting the puzzle together one piece at a time, with one man in the middle of it all: Harris Sewell. Entering his senior season, Sewell has played in 35 of Clemson’s last 40 games and started in 17 of those.

"He's definitely been an anchor on the offensive line," Morris said of Sewell.

In the offseason, Clemson lost their previous anchor: Blake Miller. Now preparing for the NFL Draft, Miller set records for offensive snaps (3,778) and consecutive starts (54) during his time on Clemson’s offensive line.

Looking to fill the gap, Sewell will be relied on heavily to get the little details right — something offensive line coach Matt Luke stressed heavily to Miller during his time.

“He stressed to everyone the importance of the details. That's been a big thing with him,” Miller said about Luke during the 2024-25 season.

But Sewell isn’t the only one who will be hearing that from Luke. Morris feels that Clemson has ample options when it comes to offensive protection, with some guys still developing.

"I think we've got eight or nine guys that we feel good about, and then I think we've got some freshmen that we feel really good about and just need more time,” Morris said. “We've got enough for a good rotation and plenty of competition.”

But of those eight or nine guys, a starting five is slowly beginning to emerge. In Wednesday’s training session, Clemson ran tempo drills where SMU transfer Chris Johnson Jr. was given the role of RB1. Guarding him was Brayden Jacobs at left tackle, Tucker Kattus at left guard, Sewell at center, Elyjah Thurmon at right guard and Easton Ware at right tackle.

Of those five names, Thurmon is an especially interesting one to note. Having suffered a broken ankle in 2024, Thurmond played a handful of games in 2025 before being ruled out for surgery. On the road to recovery, Thurmond is taking the highway.

“I've been really pleased with him. This has been a really good week for him,” Morris said about Thurmond. “We've been able to move him around the offensive line. I mean, he's that guy who can play all the positions.”

Having redshirted 2025, Thurmon still has three years of eligibility. So while he is one of the more experienced linemen with two years under Dabo Swinney, Thurmond has the opportunity to turn the page and become a rock for years to come.

In hopes of doing so, Thurmon personally identified some freshmen that could do something similar for the future of Clemson football.

“Grant Wise sticks out to me. He’s a dawg,” Thurmon said.

Freshmen Leo Delaney and Carter Scruggs were also given some love by Thurmond, as Thurmond noted that he had already seen them make major improvements to their game in just the last few weeks.

With the spring game less than 48 hours away, fans will soon have an even more satisfying taste of what Clemson’s offensive line is to bring.

But for Chad Morris, the spring is just the beginning. Things will take serious shape in the summer.

“Bottom line, we have to have a great summer. And this is just a start. This isn't ‘we're getting ready to go play next week.’ This is to get ready to get into summer,” Morris said. “Now, these guys know our expectations. This is how we're going to practice. This is what our demands are.”