Clemson Offense Post-Spring Review
Clemson enters 2020 in the midst of one of the most prolific stretches of offense in college football history. One year after scoring a school-record 664 points in 2018, Clemson scored 659 points in 2019. Clemson now accounts for two of the 22 650-point seasons in major college football history, including two of only 16 since Division I split in 1978. Clemson was the first school with back-to-back 650-point seasons since Yale in 1888-89. Yale’s accomplishments predated the start of official NCAA recordkeeping in 1937, and the second year of their feat (1889) was coincidentally the year Clemson was founded.
Clemson’s remarkable consistency on offense has been mirrored by the consistency of the unit’s coaching staff. Clemson’s full-time offensive assistants remained the same from the 2014 Russell Athletic Bowl through last year’s College Football Playoff National Championship Game, a 75-game, five-plus-season stretch with no coaching turnover, a remarkable feat of stability in today’s game.
The run of stability ended only by virtue of the offense’s immense success, as the unit’s productivity led to former Co-Offensive Coordinator/Wide Receivers Coach Jeff Scott being named the head coach at South Florida for 2020. With Scott’s departure, Tony Elliott will now drop the “Co-“ label and become Offensive Coordinator/Running Backs Coach. Quarterbacks Coach Brandon Streeter has added the Passing Game Coordinator role and handed his Recruiting Coordinator title to Todd Bates. Tyler Grisham, a former Clemson receiver who spent six years at Clemson from 2014-19 as a graduate assistant and analyst, becomes Wide Receivers Coach at “Wide Receiver U.”
The stability of Clemson’s offense from 2019 to 2020 got a somewhat-unexpected boost on Jan. 17, four days following the national championship game, when running back Travis Etienne (Jennings, La.) announced his intention to return for his senior season. Through his first three seasons, Etienne had already cemented his status in Clemson and ACC history, becoming Clemson’s all-time leading rusher and its first 4,000-yard rusher while also securing ACC records for career rushing touchdowns, career total touchdowns and career points by a non-kicker. Now, Etienne, who was the first running back to win back-to-back ACC Player of the Year honors since Mike Voight in 1975-76, will attempt to become the first three-time winner in conference history and join Herschel Walker, a three-time SEC Player of the Year from 1980-82, as the only players to win conference player of the year honors three times in a career.
But Clemson’s returning production is not limited to the man wearing No. 9. Returning for his third campaign at Clemson is junior quarterback Trevor Lawrence (Cartersville, Ga.), who enters 2020 with a 25-1 career record as a starter and the highest winning percentage among qualified quarterbacks in school history (.961). Lawrence has completed 527-of-804 passes for 6,945 yards and 66 touchdowns in his 30-game career, including his first four career contests, when he entered in reserve.
The passing/rushing combination of Lawrence and Etienne represents one of the most productive returning duos in the history of college football. Of the 139 career 4,000-yard rushers in FBS history, only 14 accrued 4,000 yards prior to their final season. Of those 14, only two returned alongside a career 6,000-yard passer, placing the 2020 Clemson Tigers alongside the 2018 Washington Huskies (Jake Browning and Myles Gaskin) and 2001 Oregon State Beavers (Jonathan Smith and Ken Simonton) as the only programs in FBS history to return a duo with a 6,000-yard passer and 4,000-yard rusher.
The composition of Clemson’s quarterback room has changed for 2020, as Lawrence will no longer be backed up by Chase Brice, who will graduate this May with the intent to transfer and finish his career at Duke. The position behind Lawrence could be contested by a pair of freshmen, including redshirt freshman Taisun Phommachanh (Bridgeport, Conn.), who appeared in three contests while redshirting in 2019, as well as true freshman D.J. Uiagalelei (Inland Empire, Calif.), who enrolled in January after signing as a consensus Top 10 recruit in the 2020 class.
With Etienne’s return, Clemson’s running backs group returns entirely intact. Junior Lyn-J Dixon (Butler, Ga.) has been extraordinarily productive in limited opportunities while spelling Etienne over the past two seasons, ranking second in Clemson history and seventh in ACC history among qualified players in yards per carry (7.12). The group also benefits from the leadership of former walk-on Darien Rencher (Anderson, S.C.), a fifth-year senior who scored the first two touchdowns of his career while continuing his ascent as one of the program’s top vocal leaders on and off the field. Sophomores Chez Mellusi (Naples, Fla.) and Michel Dukes (Charleston, S.C.) each saw more than 65 snaps and combined for five touchdowns as true freshmen a season ago.
Wide Receiver U is expected to add another to its NFL ranks in April, as Tee Higgins elected to forego his senior season to declare for the 2020 NFL Draft. Higgins used an explosive junior season in 2019 to help catapult him into a tie for Clemson’s record for career receiving touchdowns and into consideration as a potential first-round NFL Draft pick. A similar trajectory could be plausible for junior Justyn Ross (Phenix City, Ala.), who is Clemson’s receiving leader among returning players with 112 career catches for 1,865 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Ross, who not long ago made his name nationally with noteworthy performances in the College Football Playoff as a true freshman, is now one of the veteran voices in the room alongside senior Amari Rodgers (Knoxville, Tenn.). Last Spring, some feared the worst for Rodgers, who tore his ACL on March 25. However, Rodgers’ diligent rehab produced a near-miraculously quick recovery, as he returned to game action 166 days later in Clemson’s second game and finished the season with 627 all-purpose yards and five touchdowns (including one via rush). The versatile slot receiver and returner is expected to ditch his knee brace in 2020 and enters the campaign as one of only five Clemson players since 2000 to record a touchdown by rush, reception and punt return in a career.
Beyond Ross and Rodgers, Clemson’s receiving corps features a number of returning players — younger and older — ready for larger roles. That group includes fifth-year senior Cornell Powell (Greenville, N.C.), senior Will Swinney (Clemson, S.C.), sophomores Frank Ladson Jr. (Miami, Fla.) and Joseph Ngata (Folsom, Calif.) and redshirt freshman Brannon Spector (Calhoun, Ga.).
Clemson’s tight end unit saw a boost in production in last year’s College Football Playoff upon the return of Braden Galloway (Seneca, S.C.). Galloway, who will be a junior in 2020, had a key downfield block on Lawrence’s 67-yard touchdown run against Ohio State and then caught two passes for 60 yards — including a career-long 42-yarder — against LSU. Fifth-year senior J.C. Chalk (Argyle, Texas) started 14 of Clemson’s 15 games at the position last season, playing 415 offensive snaps, while original walk-on Luke Price (Dillon, S.C.) transitioned to the position admirably after opening his career at linebacker. The group has an influx of youth as well, returning sophomore Davis Allen (Calhoun, Ga.) and redshirt freshman Jaelyn Lay (Atlanta, Ga.) while welcoming midyear enrollee Sage Ennis (Graceville, Fla.).
The script will be flipped for the Clemson offensive line in 2020. A year ago, Clemson started four seniors along the offensive line, its first time doing so for the majority of a season since 2007. All five starters earned All-ACC honors, with the four seniors all collecting either first- or second-team selections. The group that has produced 22 all-conference selections in the last five seasons (the most in the Power Five) will look to continue its recent run of trench domination with a largely fresh cast of characters.
The lone returning starter on the offensive line is left tackle Jackson Carman (Fairfield, Ohio), who was a third-team All-ACC honoree and seamlessly stepped into the position held previously by All-American four-year starter Mitch Hyatt.
He is expected to be joined on the line by the other Ohio native on the roster, redshirt junior Matt Bockhorst (Cincinnati, Ohio), who played 421 snaps at guard a season ago, including rotating in capably for soon-to-be NFL draft pick John Simpson. The other side of the line could be anchored by redshirt sophomore Jordan McFadden (Spartanburg, S.C.), who has played 332 snaps in 17 career games, 315 of which came in 14 games last season. Blake Vinson (Ocala, Fla.) could attempt to compete at a myriad of offensive line positions as well after missing most of 2019 with a patella injury.
Spots on the interior of Clemson’s line should be heavily contested this spring among a group that includes fifth-year senior Cade Stewart (Six Mile, S.C.), sophomore Will Putnam (Tampa, Fla.) and redshirt freshmen Hunter Rayburn (Pensacola, Fla.), Mason Trotter (Roebuck, S.C.) and Kaleb Boateng (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.). The group will also be joined by six scholarship signees from Clemson’s 2020 recruiting class, the most offensive line signees in a single class under Dabo Swinney.
