The Return of the Tight End to the Clemson Offense

Since the departure of Jordan Leggett after the 2016 season, the team has struggled to find that next breakout player at the position of tight end—at least until this season.

Throughout Dabo Swinney's tenure as head football coach at Clemson, there have been a number of talented tight ends come through the program. Guys like Michael Palmer, Dwayne Allen, Brandon Ford in the earlier years, and more recently Jordan Leggett in the College Football Playoff era.

"I mean that's the way it's been here...since I've been the head coach I mean, you know, we had a little last year but you know our personnel, we've always been a big tight end oriented team, you can go back," head coach Dabo Swinney said. "My first group there. Mike Palmer, Michael Palmer, I think went on play five years in the NFL and Dwayne Allen took over from him. Obviously, he was a great one. Brandon Ford came after him. Jordan Leggett came after."

However, since the departure of Leggett after the 2016 season, the team has struggled to find that next breakout player at the position.

In 2016, Leggett caught 46 passes, with seven of those being touchdowns.

Now, five years later, the Tigers are expecting junior Davis Allen and senior Braden Galloway to issue in a return to the era of a dynamic tight end.

"Man those boys are battling. I'm pushing them," offensive coordinator Tony Elliott said. "Can run either one of them out there first. I'm asking them to take the lead to bring the rest of the group together. I'm a firm believer in my position that it's about the standard of the position and not about the individual. The only we can play to that standard is if everybody elevates their play, and we do that by being together and pushing each other.

"Their mindset is come in, compete, be a physical presence in the run game and then when we're in the pass game, you can't tell a difference between a tight end and wide receiver, they look just like the wide outs."

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