By Hale McGranahan.

There were times last season when Brent Venables had almost every available scholarship safety on the field.

The package, which included Robert Smith, Jayron Kearse, Korrin Wiggins and Jadar Johnson, was frequently used on passing downs as Clemson finished with the country’s top defense.

Here’s a freeze frame from the first quarter of the Russell Athletic Bowl with Smith and Johnson as the two deep safeties. Kearse is in the box to rush the passer and Wiggins is over the slot wide receiver as the nickel back.

Three of those four players will be back in 2015. Smith, the lone departure, finished second on the team with 75 tackles and was third among Tiger defenders with 664 snaps played.

Kearse had 64 tackles over 698 snaps, which were second-most on the team. Wiggins racked up 40 tackles over 521 snaps and Johnson finished with 12 tackles and 242 snaps.

If Venables elects to carry the package into the fall, he won’t have to look far to plug some into Smith’s place.

Reserve T.J. Green, who had 18 tackles over 159 snaps during his first season as a safety at Clemson, will be a junior this fall. So will Travis Blanks, who’s recovering from a pair of knee injuries.

In fact, every safety on Clemson’s roster is either junior or freshman.

Jeff Gibson is coming off a redshirt. Van Smith, who’s already on campus, and Tanner Muse were apart of the Tigers’ 2015 signing class.

The roster’s breakdown leaves safety as a position of need for Clemson in 2017.

Several from that class have already been offered by Clemson, including Devon Hunter (Virginia), Richard LeCounte (Georgia), Cyrus Fagan (Florida) and Bamberg-Ehrhardt’s Savalas Cann.

Others like Davondre ‘Tank’ Robinson (Lake Marion) and Isaiah Pryor (Georgia) haven’t been offered by the Tigers, but they’ve already got several options.

With no senior safeties on the roster, Clemson may not add one in the 2016 signing class. But, with four juniors, look for multiple additions in 2017.