Clemson's Parks Surprised By The Early Playing Time
With Clemson graduating four senior offensive linemen, offensive tackle Walker Parks said he was hoping to be able to get some playing time in his first year with the Tigers.
Parks said one of the reasons he chose to come to Clemson was the fact they play a lot of guys early and try to play as many people as they can.
"I didn't have any expectations," Parks said Tuesday. "Being a freshman I know my place but getting early playing time means a lot to me. I played a bunch of snaps, especially against the Citadel and got a little bit in the Wake Forest game."
Parks said he has appeared in each of Clemson's first four victories this season, which he did not expect, but says he was ready mainly due to the trial by fire he experienced when he stepped on campus in June.
"Going into fall camp I realized how much about football I did not know," Parks said. "Watching tape from high school, run block and pass set technique, I knew a decent amount but nowhere near what I needed to know. I still need to develop."
Parks said the talent coming in on the defensive line (Myles Murphy, Bryan Bresee) and the guys already on the roster showed him that college football is much different than high school.
"I remember doing one-on-one's and getting absolutely dogged by these guys," Parks said. "That's when I realized that I needed to work on my stance and weight distribution, work on my punch pretty much everything all around. In high school, the guys weren't this fast or this strong so if I got hands on them it was over, but if you're not technically sound all around you're going to get whooped by these guys."
Helping Parks is offensive line coach Robbie Caldwell.
"We have a lot of young guys that need developing, so (Caldwell) has to stay on us," Parks said. "He's been hard on us, but it's been working. He's having to develop us quicker than usual because normally we have the redshirt year and a year to get ready, but we don't have that this year. How much I didn't know about football he's taught me. He and Jackson (Carman) and Jordan (McFadden) have helped me a bunch, and that's been a huge part of my progression."
