The TCI staff of Ed McGranahan, Hale McGranahan, Will Vandervort, William Qualkinbush and Robert MacRae go Around the Horn to answer some of the questions surrounding Clemson athletics and college football.
Is the 2015 Clemson football team more talented than the 2013 team?
Robert MacRae – The answer is Yes.
The overall talent on offense is better for the 2015 team on offense. It all starts with DeShaun Watson. Tajh did some great things at Clemson, but wasn’t at his best in the big games. Watson has already proven that he is at his best against the top opponents. At running back the depth and talent is much better than the 2015 team. Although the 13 team had Watkins and Bryant, the overall talent at depth at receiver this year is much better. The talent on the offensive line is even better, although some of the talent is young.
On defense the 2013 team certainly had more experienced, but the 2015 team has more talent that will develop during the season. The secondary in 15 is certainly much better. At linebacker a junior Boulware will be as talented as a junior Anthony. There is more talent at SAM LB this season. The defensive line is the biggest area where the 13 team has the advantage, but again there is plenty of talent on the 15 team, much of it is just young. Christian Wilkins is more talented than any defensive tackle the Tigers have had in over a decade. Watkins and Reader combined with Wilkins will give Clemson a great group of defensive tackles. The 13 defensive ends are better, but again there is plenty of talent, but just a lot of youth after Lawson and Dodd.
On special teams the 13 team certainly gets the nod, with one exception. The 15 team should be much better on kickoff and punt returns.
Overall I have to go with the 15 team even though there have been a couple of significant losses this summer.
Hale McGranahan – At this time two years ago, there were some question marks on both sides of the ball.
Could Roderick McDowell handle being the feature running back? Will the offensive line be OK without Dalton Freeman at center? Is Martavis Bryant ready to compliment Sammy Watkins?
Can Vic Beasley be an every-down defensive end? Will the young, highly-touted linebackers show some signs of improvement? And the secondary, it has to be better than it was in 2012, right?
The answer for all the questions was eventually yes, but it took about half a season or so to really look that way.
To me, this Around the Horn questions should be: Can the 2015 Clemson team be better than the 2013 squad?
The answer is yes, it’s possible, but that’s assuming Deshaun Watson keeps a clean bill of health. That’s first and foremost. Everyone knows that. It’s been the narrative since about the third quarter of the Russell Athletic Bowl
game against Oklahoma.
But Watson isn’t the only key player who needs to stay out of the trainer’s room.
After losing almost the entire two-deep depth from last year’s defensive line, Clemson can’t afford to have many, if any injuries in 2015. It’s almost as critical for D.J. Reader, Shaq Lawson and Carlos Watkins to go the distance
this season, because the depth behind them is just as inexperienced as the guys behind Watson.
There’s one more significant reason why I won’t definitively say the 2015 team will be better.
The offensive line. Even before Isaiah Battle’s dismissal, it was pretty unproven, young and inexperienced. I won’t label it a concern, not yet. But it is most definitely a question mark.
For me, the concern is the kicking game. With Bradley Pinion’s jump to the NFL and Ammon Lakip’s suspension, you’ll enter the season with a first-year starter at every specialist spot on the team: place-kicker, punter, kickoff
specialist, long-snapper and holder.
All that being said, at this time of the year, everyone has question marks. We’ll just have to see how things play out.
Will Vandervort – No!
In my opinion the 2015 team is only better at the quarterback position, the secondary and perhaps running back. Let’s start with the offensive line. In 2013, the O-Line had veteran starters like Brandon Thomas and Tyler Shatley with experienced players like David Beasley at guard. Isaiah Battle eventually took over at right tackle for the injured Gif Timothy. The 2015 class is pretty deep at the guard and center positions, but thanks to Battle’s departure to the NFL, the Tigers have just three tackles ready to play on the roster and two are true freshman and the other has just three starts under his belt.
At wide receiver you had Martavis Bryant and Sammy Watkins. Need I say more? But I do like Artavis Scott and Mike Williams. Though I think Deshaun Watson is a better overall talent than Tajh Boyd, Boyd was not slouch at quarterback, either.
There is no doubt, from a talent standpoint, Wayne Gallman, Tyshon Dye and Zac Brooks are perhaps a little better than Roderick McDowell at running back, but none of them could replace the heart, passion and desire McDowell played with.
On defense, the 2013 team had Vic Beasley, Corey Crawford, Grady Jarrett, DeShawn Williams and Josh Watson as well as D.J. Reader. That’s just the defensive line. At linebacker Stephone Anthony and Spencer Shuey anchored things with Quandon Christian playing the strongside position. The 2015 secondary is no doubt better than the 2013 secondary overall, but remember 2013 is when Jayron Kearse introduced himself to Clemson fans.
The kicking game was absolutely better in 2013. Chandler Catanzaro was returning for his senior year at placekicker, while future draft pick Bradley Pinion was the Tigers’ punter. This year, the Tigers have a brand new punter and it appears the placekicking duties might be done by a first-year player as well.
Though I like the talent on the 2015 team, there are just too many questions at key positions. Coming into 2013, Clemson had very few questions and knew what kind of team it had at all positions. They also knew where they were going. I don’t think this team does.