Preliminary reports indicate that redshirt Freshman Dalton Freeman will start over Mason Cloy at the center position against Wake. This is encouraging news from this offensive line and overall depth for this unit. Along with depth, the move allows Clemson to try to shore up the tackle spot by moving David Smith from guard to tackle and possibly getting Cloy some snaps at the guard spot.
Freeman, a Pelion native, is said to have great footwork and pass protection skills. Going into fall camp, those in the know expected Freeman to push for a starting role all fall. He has received significant playing time to this point in the season. Greenville News has been following this all week, and has a pretty good outline of Brad's opinion on things here and Anderson Independent here.
Let's be clear what this actually means. Freeman currently sees significant playing time on a weekly basis, so the coaches have confidence in him. The important aspect here is trying to fix the glaring eyesore that is the right tackle position. Cloy has enough size to immediately take effective reps at the guard position, freeing up David Smith to add depth to the Cory Lambert Landon Walker revolving door, especially after losing Chris Hairston for a couple games earlier this season.
This issue has been discussed almost daily here, with most agreeing that we are in this situation because of good ole' Heinz ketchup-man himself. If you missed the problems up front, Dr. B gives you a pretty good idea of our overall problems here and here, so it is something that we all have been aware of for some time now.
In other news, the CU AD has slated the Halloween day contest against Coastal will begin at 1:30 and available only on ESPN360.
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Maybe you can elaborate on how this hels at RT.
ReplyDeleteIf Lambert and Wlaker are not getting the job done, then they still aren't going to be getting it done when they are in there.
If Smith can get it done, then why is he not starting there now? If he can't, then you just add another guy to the mix and then we complain about 3 guys getting beat at RT instead of 2.
Is it really a problem of guys being too tired, or just that they are getting whipped even when they are fresh?
-Z
That should read "helps."
ReplyDeleteAnd "Walker" not Wlaker.
Unfortunately we don't have a 350 lb Polish guy named Wlaker to start at RT.
- Z
Its a problem of an incompetent B. Scott playing musical chairs if you ask me.
ReplyDeleteCloy is being moved out solely to have somebody who can push McClain. Smith is another body to move over to push Walker/Lambert to improve.
This is a depth move used to try to get another body in the mix with the piss poor job done by the RT to date and the lack of depth at this position (I know my "Oh Shit" meter went through the roof when Hairston was injured because there was no quality depth behind him. Now I am not sure about the quality, but there is a warm body to fill this role).
ReplyDeleteI expect Smith to be a little quicker (as a guard and a lighter player than Walker or Lambert) and am hoping this equates in not allowing the end to run right around him on every other passing play. We already get shit for push up-front, so that won't change a thing.
Looking back on it, the loss of JK Jay before camp is much much bigger than I realized back then.