By Will Vandervort.
By Will Vandervort
The productivity a defense begins up front. In between the tackles, that is where it all counts. Where you find a great defense, you always find a great defensive front.
It’s no coincidence that Clemson’s improvements on the defensive side of the football in 2012 began once guys like Josh Watson, Grady Jarrett, DeShawn Williams, D.J. Reader and Carlos Watkins started to understand their roles, while gaining valuable experience.
“There was such a big drop off the last two years on the defensive line,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said. “Two years ago it was Brandon Thompson, Andrea Branch and those guys. Then it was all freshmen. It was Josh, DeShawn, Grady and Corey (Crawford), none of those guys had played.
“It was such a drop off. Not in talent, but in knowledge and experience and that leads to execution.”
In the first half of 2012, the Tigers only tallied seven sacks, and with the lack of a consistent pass rush, they gave up 445.5 yards and 27.3 points per game. But eventually the green light came on for guys like Jarrett and Watson, and the defense started to pick things up.
During the last seven games of the season, Clemson recorded 27 sacks, including six against LSU in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. In that seven game window, the Tigers gave up 353.9 yards and 22.7 points per contest. Do the math. That was nearly 100 yards and five less points a game.
LSU managed only 219 total yards and 99 yards on the ground in Clemson’s 25-24 victory. In fact, teams only rushed for 101.7 yards per game in the last half of the season. Opponents averaged 202.7 yards in the first six games.
“The LSU game, and what we did the last half of the season, has really given us confidence,” Williams said.
That confidence has been shining through this spring. In both scrimmages, as part of Clemson’s 15 practices the last five weeks, the defensive line has had its way with the offensive line for the most part. In Wednesday’s scrimmage at Death Valley, they played a big role in the 14 sacks as defensive end Vic Beasley recorded five and Jarrett had three.
“I think we are coming together,” Beasley said. “We were talking in the locker room that we wanted to come out here and dominate. It is a mind thing. We put it in our mind that we were going to do it. When you really want to accomplish something you have to come out with the right mindset.”
No running back gained more than 39 yards in Wednesday’s scrimmage, while Reader had four tackles for loss. The scrimmage from the week before was much of the same.
“Everybody always says it starts up front and those guys have been pretty consistent,” defensive coordinator Brent Venables said. “I’m pleased with their progress and where they left off from a year ago.
“They continue to make improvements and are improving every day.”
What has helped Clemson get better along the defensive line is the quality of depth it has. Venables says they have seven players rotating in and out at defensive tackle and five more at defensive end. It is a good problem to have, something Clemson has not had in quite a while.
“Every good team I have been on has had that situation,” Swinney said. “You have had guys in the trenches that could play and you don’t even have to think about it. Some guys get hot and maybe he started the game, but maybe he didn’t, yet he is the dominant player that day.
“Vic was a guy trying to figure it out last year and Tavaris (Barnes), would he take another step? Those were a lot of what ifs last year, but now they are all completing hard and they are a very unselfish group.”
And because they are competing, they are all pushing each other, which in turn has made everybody hungry.
“We are deep and everyone wants to eat,” Jarrett said. “If you want to get on the field, you have to go full speed. It is competition, but it is all friendly competition.”