Offseason Work Key to Dominant Start by Bryan Bresee, Clemson Defense
Brent Venables' defense has been fairly dominant through the season's first two games.
The Tigers have not only held two consecutive opponents out of the end zone, they have yet to give up more than 260 yards of offense, and are allowing just 4.06 yards per play.
Sophomore defensive tackle Bryan Bresee credits the preparation the team put in over the offseason for the impressive start on the defensive side of the ball, but at the same time said the group is far from a finished product.
"I think it's what we all expected from the offseason and everything, just how we were performing," Bresee told the media on Tuesday. "I mean it's awesome to see us come together now and do it in games. Yeah I mean it's really cool to see it'll all be put together but there's still like I said a lot of stuff we need to work on and get better at throughout the remainder of the season so just gotta keep working."
Bresee started ten games as a freshman and was named the ACC's Rookie of the Year after recording 6.5 tackles for loss and four sacks last year. However, Bresee said that after mostly relying on his talent in 2020, that season of experience has given him a much better understanding of Venables' complex scheme.
"Last year was just kind of just felt like looking back on film as I'm like 'oh my gosh, what was I doing,'" Bresee said. "So just looking back on all that now and this offseason has been really good for me technique-wise and all that kind of stuff. Learning just more about football than I did last year. It makes the game a lot easier so yeah that's helped me a lot."
The interior defensive lineman thinks his biggest area of improvement has come in his ability to stop the run.
"Probably my run game, playing against the run," he said. "I struggled last year against the run, and I've done a much better job this year with it."
After holding S.C. State to just 34 rushing yards in a 49-3 win last weekend, Clemson will now welcome Georgia Tech to town this weekend. The Yellow Jackets will bring with them what Bresee said are two very good running backs, and he and the rest of the Tigers' defense are looking forward to the challenge of slowing them down.
"Both of the running backs are good," Bresee said. "They have explosive play potential, they are able to make big plays, they're able to break tackles, they're really good players. They got some weapons so I mean, just love the challenge. Every team has different challenges so just kind of honing in on this week's challenges are going to be gonna be important for us."
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