Clemson Offensive Line Overloading On Depth to Dominate 2025

In a just a couple short years, the Clemson Tigers have turned a weakness into a great strength

In just a short year, Matt Luke has changed everything at Clemson | Ken Ruinard / USA Today Network South Carolina / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

It was only two years ago that many believed that the Clemson Tigers' offensive line was its biggest weakness. Now, Matt Luke has transformed it into the team’s strength. 

The Clemson offensive line coach arrived last season with head coach Dabo Swinney immediately seeing the changes that came with it: more time for quarterback Cade Klubnik and three linemen with All-ACC honors at the end of the season. 

From years past, where Swinney had to shuffle in young players due to injuries, the offensive line room has been talked about with high praises, giving the coaching staff a problem of how to keep players on the field. 

“I don’t see any form or fashion that those first seven guys aren’t going to play,” Swinney said on Saturday. “They’re all going to play, it’s just too close. I mean, they’re all really good players, but obviously five of them went out there [and] we will figure that out as we get closer to the game, but really pleased with that group.” 

Saturday marked Clemson’s first scrimmage inside Memorial Stadium, and he continued to rave about the work that Luke has done with the line. The Tigers returned four of the team’s five starters to help return the foundation in the trenches: Tristan Leigh, Ryan Linthicum, Walker Parks and Blake Miller. 

At the left guard spot, where graduate Marcus Tate played, Swinney has a choice between Collin Sadler, Harris Sewell and Elyjah Thurmon, guys that he calls “cross-trained”, where they can play multiple positions on the line. 

Now, it’s the freshmen who have taken the next step. Swinney has pointed out standouts Gavin Blanchard and Brayden Jacobs. Blanchard stood out on Saturday’s scrimmage, with the head coach saying that he is “taking advantage of his opportunity.”

“He’s played some center today, he’s played left guard, he’s played right guard, he’s played right tackle,” Swinney said about Blanchard. “True freshman. And he’s functional, so to be able to be functional at four positions as a true freshman, that tells you how he’s made from a football IQ standpoint.”

Jacobs, who is the son of NFL running back and Super Bowl champion Brandon Jacobs, has caught the eye of both Luke and Swinney due to his 6-foot-7, 355-pound frame. 

“I think he’s got a bright future ahead,” Luke said. “I’m going to put him out there and put him in those situations, see how he does, but he still has got to go earn it. You don’t give anything to anybody; he’s got to go earn it.”

It’s a strong mixture of experience and talent in the room, with Swinney’s next big question being who his next guy in the depth chart will be. He has seven as of this past weekend, but he’s looking for more players ready to start in a few weeks. 

“So, who’s the eighth?” Swinney said. “I’d say Brayden’s right there. Then we go from there, Dietrick [Pennington] and [Mason] Wade and Easton [Ware], you start getting into our younger guys. I want us to come out of camp with 10, but we have seven starters and we just have got to cross-train some of them.”

For Luke, who’s had stints as an offensive line coach at Ole Miss and Georgia, he’s never had a starter-ready depth that has exceeded more than 10 players, but he could have something brewing with his line at Clemson. 

“You want to have 15 if you can, but typically, if you have eight or nine guys that have a legitimate chance, that’s pretty good,” Luke said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever had 10 guys where you just know you feel great about, but just to create that depth is huge.”