Position Grades: Clemson at Georgia Tech

ATLANTA— The Clemson Tigers turned it on late en route to a 41-10 win over the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Monday night. As is the case after every Clemson football game, we give you our unfiltered grades for the game.

The Tigers have now won each of their last eight conference openers since 2015, the longest conference-opener winning streak in school history.

“Every championship team we’ve had since I’ve been here, we’ve won the opener. So it’s a big night for us,” said Head Coach Dabo Swinney. “Just a great team effort and we played four quarters of Clemson football.”

Defense (as a whole): A

The Tiger defense did exactly what the pundits thought they would do, dominate an opponent. The Tigers started the game with an interception, and allowed only 13 first downs, held the Yellow Jackets to 2-16 third down conversions, 0-3 on fourth down conversions and only 238 yards.

The Tigers were led by KJ Henry, who finished the game with six tackles, one sack, 2.5 tackles for loss and a forced fumble. Henry looked like he was auditioning to play on Monday nights for the Falcons.

Offensive Line: D

Just a week ago we heard from Dabo Swinney about how excited he was to see the offensive line this season, a group that he felt could easily go eight deep—a sentiment that was echoed by offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter. However, the offensive line was not a highlight of the Tigers game, in fact, it may have been one of the low points.

Blake Miller, who the coaches have raved about through camp, looked overmatched and unprepared. Jordan McFadden got used and abused at times. The offensive line gave up three sacks and five TFLs.

QBs: B-

DJ Uiagalelei will catch a lot of flak from fans for his shaky start, but after the first quarter we believed that Uiagalelei played fairly solid football. He finished the game 19-32 for 210 yards and a touchdown, adding 22 yards on the ground. Uiagalelei did not get a ton of help from his receivers or offensive line.

Then you have Cade Klubnik...who in his only series went 4-6 for 49 yards and a touchdown.

WRs: C-

The receivers did not help Uiagalelei out. In fact, the starting three--Collins, Spector and Ngata--combined for combined for four receptions for 61 yards, while the dynamic duo of Drew Swinney and Will Taylor, who Klubnik threw to, combined for four receptions for 49 yards.

A bright spot was the play of true freshman Antonio Williams, who led the Tigers with four receptions for 37 yards.