TE Spring Preview: Tigers Need More
Editor’s note: @ClemsonSI is running a series of 10 positional breakdowns each day previewing spring football.
The Clemson Tigers have had a bevy of ultra-talented tight ends in their history.
Whether it was Bennie Cunningham, Jim Riggs, Keith Jennings, Dwayne Allen or, most recently, Jordan Leggett, the Tigers have always had a great deal of success at the tight end position.
But over the last three seasons, production took a huge drop-off.
Here’s a spring preview of Clemson’s tight ends:
Returning players: J.C. Chalk (rising redshirt senior), Luke Price (rising redshirt junior), Braden Galloway (rising junior), Davis Allen (rising sophomore) and Jaelyn Lay (rising redshirt freshman)
Newcomer: Sage Ennis
Departures: JL Banks
Expectations: The expectations for the tight end position can't get much lower.
Since the departure of Jordan Leggett, who accounted for eight touchdowns his senior season and finished his career with 18 touchdowns, the tight end position has accounted for only three receiving touchdowns.
Key position battle: Lay and Galloway.
After serving his one-year suspension for a banned substance, Galloway showed the impact he can have for the Tiger offense in the final two games of the season.
Galloway made season debut vs. No. 2 Ohio State, playing 33 snaps in Clemson’s 16-point comeback win in the Fiesta Bowl and caught two passes for 60 yards, including a career-long 42 yarder, vs. No. 1 LSU.
Lay was expected to have an impact on the Tigers' lackluster passing game involving the tight ends, but the emergence of Davis Allen meant that Lay was relegated to redshirting. After a year of learning the position, look for Lay to have an impact on the Tigers' passing attack this spring.
I've not seen a more competitive player than Jaelyn Lay. His skill set is super, super special,” defensive coordinator Brent Venables said of Lay last season. “We (linebackers) matched up with the tight ends in camp and Jaelyn Lay is the most impressive tight end I have seen in a camp since I've been coaching. Hopefully he brings work ethic and toughness and competitiveness to grind with him — and I believe he will, because I think he's made of the right stuff. I really like what he's about."
Areas to improve: The Tigers have sorely missed the big-play, matchup issues that can be created by having a dynamic weapon at the tight end position.
While many around the fan base thought that former Tiger Milan Richard would be able to fill the void left by Leggett, the plan for Richard did not pan out.
The Tigers have seen in the impact that a dynamic tight end can have on a game, as former Alabama tight end O.J. Howard torched the Tigers in back-to-back national championship games and last season Thaddeus Moss was nearly unguardable for the LSU Tigers.
Impact player: Braden Galloway will be counted on in a big way for the Tigers, as he enters 2020 having previously recorded seven catches for 112 yards with a touchdown in 152 snaps over 14 career games.
Player to step up: Jaelyn Lay. Lay entered Clemson with all of the accolades, standing 6-foot-6 and weighing 270 pounds, he was rated as one of the top five tight ends or H-Backs in the nation by ESPN and Rivals.
ESPN ranked Lay as the fourth best tight end/H-back, while Rivals ranked him fifth in that position and ranked as the No. 165 best all-around player in the nation and 16th-best player from the state of Georgia.
