By Will Vandervort.

Though he would not admit it, Clemson quarterback Cole Stoudt had to have taken a big swallow when he learned his starting left tackle, Isaiah Battle—the guy who protects his blindside—went down early in Wednesday’s practice with a lower leg injury.

“I didn’t know he went down because I wasn’t down there,” Stoudt said. “I know the O-line did well, but I didn’t know he went down. He is athletic enough so I know he will get back up.”

Battle did get back up, but he got up gingerly and slowly walked towards longtime trainer Danny Poole for assistance.

Wednesday was the first day in which the team went live—full pads—in training camp and the worst thing that could have happened occurred as someone rolled up Battle’s legs during what head coach Dabo Swinney likes to call “Paw Drills,” which is when three offensive linemen take on three defensive linemen with a running back set up behind the offensive line.

“He is alright,” Swinney said after practice. “He just got rolled up from behind. He was nursing it a little bit out there today, but he is okay.”

He didn’t look okay, and everyone knows the Tigers cannot afford to lose Battle. Depth at the tackle positions is the weakest spot on the team and Battle has the most experience. But Swinney is a “glass half-full” kind of guy. He believes Battle’s injury on Wednesday could be a blessing in disguise.

“Sometimes those things are positive because you get a chance to see how certain guys are going to respond,” Swinney said. “We got a chance to really tax the OL today and challenge a few guys. I really kind of moved them around myself today.

“We did some good things there. I’m anxious to watch the tape and see exactly what we got done, but Isaiah is okay. He will be alright.”

With Battle on the sidelines watching practice, the Tigers mixed and matched their offensive linemen. They started with Kalon Davis playing left tackle, Reid Webster at left guard, Ryan Norton at center, Tyrone Crowder at right guard and Joe Gore at right tackle.

That changed later in practice as Swinney moved guys around to see how they would respond to certain things. The guy who made the biggest impression was Davis, who played a lot at left tackle.

“That is something we are trying to challenge him with,” the Clemson coach said. “That big ole’ boy can move. He is smart. He is one of the smartest guys we have on the team and he has a lot of pride and he actually likes it.

“That’s an advantage right there. If Battle is all of sudden available, we really have a chance to see how Kalon is going to respond here. I thought he did a really good job.”

Shaq Anthony is also working left tackle as well as right tackle, though Swinney says, he has to keep on improving. Gore worked at both tackle positions and Swinney has been pleased with his progress. Eric Mac Lain also worked a little bit a left and right tackle as well as left and right guard.

“From that standpoint, and where we are in camp, to give those guys as much exposure as possible so they can really take ownership of the whole big picture, I think it is going to pay off for us at some point,” he said. “We will continue to roll those guys around and as we get closer – right now we are trying to give them all an equal opportunity. But once we get dialed in, I think we will have three or four tackles that we think can win for us.”