re: This year’s team will go as far as the Oline will take us

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This year’s team will go as far as the Oline will take us

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So just like every team every season…got it, hot take!

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From all accounts, the talent seems good enough to hold its own, but the mental side of playing line seems to be lacking. This is not ideal for the opener at Clemson who has one of the best Dlines in the country.

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Every OL has to gel. They are required to play as a cohesive unit more than any other position group on the field. If anyone makes a mistake is or just a little slow because they are thinking about what they are doing instead of reacting, then it leads to plays getting blown up. And that’s before they even put their hands on the man across from them. That’s always going to be the issue early in a season for any rebuilt OL.

The potential positive with this year’s OL is that we have the most depth we’ve seen in several years. All it took last year was injuries to Adams and Dellinger in the same week and we had a raw redshirt freshman project Guard out there who wasn’t ready for SEC play. Our pass protection was our strength, and it fell way off for several games after.

Some of them are still young, but you’ve got a lot more guys with 4* and up talent behind every position and real battles to hold the 2 Guard spots. If someone goes down, we have more talent behind them than we did last year. We also didn’t have competition for a spot on the OL for 2 full years. Now guys will have to not just earn, but hold their positions. No matter what, complacency and mistakes won’t be rewarded this season.

Here’s something to consider about Clemson’s DL- it’s all projection at this point. They’ve never consistently delivered the results everyone is expecting. It’s just assumed that they will take the next step. Does this remind you of anything? Maybe LSU’s OL last year?

We may have been elite in pass protection before Dellinger went down, but the run blocking was just not good. We all know they never came close to living up to the hype as a unit. I will expect the same from Clemson’s DL until they prove it on the field.