Brent Venables was the first to tell you. He needs linebackers.
It’s not quite ASAP-level status, but it’s pretty darn close. Or maybe it is.
Who isn’t still taken back by [autotag]Korie Rogers[/autotag]’ decision to walk away from football? It’s a little more surprising than his decision to attend [autotag]Clemson[/autotag]. The former high school All-American from Buford, Ga. was thought to be bound for UGA or maybe even somewhere else in the SEC.
Clemson got away with larceny, plucking a blue-chip talent out of one of the top high school football programs in the Peach State.
A white board posted above the desk in my office includes a position-by-position breakdown of the Clemson roster, to help keep tabs on potential scholarship numbers for the upcoming recruiting classes.
It’s a new thing — just started doing not long after signing day. The original (and very out-dated) linebacker list included 12 names across the four classes.
Seniors: B.J. Goodson, Kellen Jones
Junior: Ben Boulware, T.J. Burrell
Sophomore: Dorian O’Daniel
Freshmen: J.D. Davis, Judah Davis, Kendall Joseph, Chris Register, Korie Rogers, Chad Smith, Jalen Williams
Korrin Wiggins, who tore his ACL a few days ago, is listed at safety, even though he’s played nickel his entire career. Same deal with Travis Blanks, because of his nickel/safety background, so there is some grey area when it comes to distinguishing what a linebacker is at Clemson.
Even Jayron Kearse could be a “linebacker” with some of the alignments we see during the sub-package stuff on third-down and obvious passing situations. Freshmen Jeff Gibson and Tanner Muse are big-bodies safeties that could be confused as linebackers. So there are a few ways to mask the deficiencies, if it comes to that.
But true linebackers are needed.
Jones is spending his last season of eligibility at Wisconsin. Register has been working at defensive end for the last few months. The group is awfully thin right now with nine bodies.
Well, technically 10, since career reserve defensive end Martin Aiken just made the switch to weak-side linebacker.
Register could be considered for a move back behind the line, but he was projected as a future at defensive end before he left high school. Plus, Aiken’s move might indicate that ship has already sailed. That, however, isn’t a given.
There are other potential options for a position switch.
[autotag]Wayne Gallman[/autotag] was a really nice high school linebacker. Some folks thought it would be his best position coming out of high school, present company included. But he’s on track to be the starting running back, so that’s probably not going to happen, even though Clemson has plenty of bodies behind him.
Speaking of plenty of bodies at a position on offense, maybe [autotag]Shadell Bell[/autotag] could make the jump from wide receiver.
Like Gallman, Bell (6-3, 200) was a good linebacker in high school. There’s plenty of talent at wide receiver — present and future — and Bell certainly appears on track to redshirt as a freshman. That’s not to suggest he can’t catch passes at Clemson. He’s one the most natural pass catchers they’ve signed in the last few cycles.
For some non-speculation, here’s this thought: Venables will look back to the recruiting trail.
If he’s is open to suggestion, one of my first calls to a 2016 high school prospect not named [autotag]Rahshaun Smith[/autotag] would be [autotag]Brandon Hill[/autotag]. Not claiming to be the driver of the Hill bandwagon, but I don’t think anybody called shotgun before I did.
Clemson offered Hill a scholarship in December, which evolved into a potential greyshirt opportunity that Venables labeled as a “worst-case scenario.”
Hill jumped on the sure thing. Who could blame him? These days, there’s nothing wrong with playing football for David Cutcliffe at Duke.
With Duke, Hill felt comfortable with the coaches and players. Plus, he likes the academics. The Columbia-Heathwood Hall didn’t want to potentially miss out on a great education and a chance to play some football that used to be classified as pretty bad. But this ain’t the Duke you’ve all known come to know before Coach K rolls out the basketball in Cameron.
Brandon Streeter, who now recruits Columbia for Clemson, stopped by Heathwood Hall during the spring evaluation period to check in on Hill.
“When he stopped by, he just said if anything changes to make sure and let them know,” Hill told TCI on April 27.
The decision to commit to Duke, which was made a month earlier, was still firm, according to that exchange of text messages.
Time will tell if that’s still the case. Given the departures from Venables’ linebacking group, one would have to believe that Venables is still interested. Can’t imagine that he isn’t.