Three Standout Observations from Clemson's Newly Released Depth Chart

Coming off a gut-wrenching 51-10 season-opening loss to No. 11 LSU, Clemson has released its first official depth chart ahead of Saturday's home opener against Georgia Southern.

The release offers the first real look at how head coach Dabo Swinney and his staff are approaching the aftermath of that blowout loss. With that in mind, here are three observations that stood out to us here at Clemson Tigers on SI, and what they could mean going forward.

QB Battle Returns

As we know, two quarterbacks took the field for Clemson on Saturday, that being redshirt junior Christopher Vizzina — the starter — and true freshman Tait Reynolds.

Vizzina was benched for Reynolds during the final drive of the first half before returning in the fourth quarter, finishing the game 10-of-16 for 86 yards and a pick-six. The true freshman, on the other hand, finished the game 4-of-6 for 22 yards after playing the entirety of the third quarter.

Following the contest, Swinney said that he didn’t know who would be the starter heading into Week 2

"I don't know," he said on Saturday "I mean, we got to watch the tape and evaluate, and we'll go from there."

Well, now we have the answer: the two quarterbacks will enter the home opener as co-starters, and if I had to guess, Vizzina will lead the troops onto the field first.

However, Swinney said on Tuesday that he’s not going to inform the public on how they’re going to manage the two as co-starters vs. Georgia Southern.

“I’m not going to get into the specifics of how we’re going to manage the quarterbacks other than they’re both going to play,” he stated. “And again, that’s just where we are, where we came out of the competition. We just need to go play games.

We had to go to LSU on an opener, you know, we got to go play some games. And then all of a sudden, you’ve got 13 snaps and it’s 24-3. And so it didn’t really go according to our script. But we didn’t really come out of the game with true clarity, you know, it just wasn’t enough… Eventually something’s going to happen one way or another, but we got to go play.”

Offensive Line Adjustments

One of the primary reasons for Clemson’s blowout loss was the failure to control the line of scrimmage, not just on the offensive side, but on both sides. To be specific, the Tigers allowed 309 rushing yards while accumulating just 40 of their own on 26 touches.

The offensive line also stood out due to its lack of experience.

Outside of Harris Sewell and Brayden Jacobs, the other three starters have combined for just three career starts, and even Jacobs, one of the more experienced names on paper, has only four career starts himself. Not to mention, starter Easton Ware hadn't played a snap of college football before Saturday, and Sewell was an offensive guard before switching to center ahead of this season.

Heading into Week 2, Ware will now be moved to second-string right tackle behind fifth-year Collin Sadler, who missed Week 1 with what Swinney described as a “fluke” injury. Additionally, junior Ronan O’Connell — who graded out the worst of all offensive lineman last week — will be a co-starter at right guard alongside second-year Tucker Kattus, who has logged two offensive snaps in his young career.

Two Co-Starter Spots in the Secondary

On the back-end of the secondary, senior Ronan Hanafin is listed as the co-starter at not only Rover alongside Southern Mississippi transfer Corey Myrick, but also at free safety alongside Old Dominion transfer Jerome Carter III.

Myrick and Hanafin being made co-starters is pretty understandable as both performed below average, according to PFF grades. However, Carter was one of the best performing players in the Week 1 contest, totaling 10 tackles and one pass deflection while grading out as a top five defensive player.

At the end of the day, though, it’s not a knock on either Myrick or Carter as Swinney describes the secondary as a “really good group” and was a “bright spot” amid Saturday’s loss.

“I think we got a really good group. I think they got a chance to be really really good,” he praised. “Uh, I think there were some bright spots embedded in the disappointment and I think our secondary is a bright spot. I think Elliot [Washington] really showed he’s going to be a good one. We know what Ashton [Hampton] is. You know, we gained some knowledge coming out of it with those guys, seeing them for the first time.

Myrick, you know, he’s physical. He had a couple, again, you’re going to have some missed tackles in every first game. You get two scrimmages, that’s all you get. And so there’s always going to be that. You see that in the NFL, too. But a couple missed tackles, but I thought it wasn’t too big for him. He’s a physical kid. And uh man, I thought Jerome Carter really showed some stuff as well. I mean, it’s a good group. [Corian] Gipson, [he’s] a really good player. I think [the secondary] is going to be a strength for us.”

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