By William Qualkinbush.

Last week, Kalon Davis was asked if he ever gets confused about who is on either side of him because of the constant shuffling of personnel up front for Clemson. Davis flipped the script with his answer.

“Sometimes, I don’t know if I’m going to be on the right or left,” he said with a grin. “At this point, it’s just like, whoever’s there, I hope they’re doing well.”

It has been that kind of a year for Davis, one of the few consistent faces on the offensive line for the Tigers as injury and attrition have taken a collective toll on the number of bodies at coordinator Chad Morris’ disposal.

Davis is one of two offensive lineman to start every game thus far for the Tigers—Reid Webster is the other—but he has not exactly been consistently deployed. Of the eight starts attributed to Davis this season, half have come at right guard. The other half have been split between left guard and left tackle.

The scrambling up front can be overwhelming, even for a veteran like Davis. He is asked to play multiple positions within the same game without knowing who will be joining him on the line.

Davis says dealing with several different players on the line has forced him to dwell on the intricacies of each position. He says he has become a better student as the season has progressed.

“Everyone wants to play to the best of their abilities,” Davis said. “Just knowing little things like that will actually help you a lot more than most people think.”

Davis cites an example from his time at left tackle. Two different players—Webster and David Beasley—have played alongside him at left guard, and Davis knows he has to set himself differently before the snap to be able to gel well with each of them.

“Playing next to Reid and playing next to Beasley are completely different,” he said. “They just do a lot of the small things different.”

Davis has been primarily at guard as a Tiger, but he has had to spend significant time at both tackle spots in 2014. Much of the pre-snap talking is done by the center, but Davis says there is much more communication involved with playing on the edge, as opposed to being an interior lineman.

“The guard is pretty much the silent position,” he said. “You have like two calls, and one of those, you don’t even need to make it. Everyone already knows it’s there.”

Even so, as an elder statesman, Davis says he has become more vocal this season, regardless of where he might line up on a given play. He understands the young players pressed into duty for depth reasons look to him for guidance, and he has a message of confidence and strength for them.

“Obviously, you’re doing something good,” Davis said. “You really just have to keep doing what you’re doing because if you weren’t doing something good before, then you wouldn’t be in this position.”

No matter what position that might be from down to down.