In 2011, Dwayne Allen caught a single-season record for passes, yards and touchdowns on his way to winning the John Mackey Award as the nation’s best tight end. The following season, his replacement Brandon Ford was as nearly productive, hauling in 40 passes for 480 yards, while tying Allen’s record for touchdowns in a season by a tight end with eight.

It seemed at the time, the tight end position was one of the pieces that helped the Tigers’ face-paced offense click. But the last two seasons have seen a significant drop off in production.

In 2013, Stanton Seckinger and Jordan Leggett combined for just 33 catches for 420 yards and six touchdowns. They were okay numbers, but not what the offense wants from the tight end position.

Last year, it was even worse. Leggett (11-161 yards, TD) and Seckinger (9-122, TD) spent much of the season injured as did fellow tight end Sam Copper. Jay Jay McCullough (7-96, TD) showed some promise as a pass catcher, as well as a blocker, but a four-game suspension to close the season hampered his growth.

“I feel like we are better where we are at tight end than where we were at the last two years,” co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott said.

The 2015 season did not get off to such a good start, though. McCullough’s suspension carried over into the first week of spring drills, while Seckinger missed the entire spring while recovering from knee surgery. Leggett was in and out with nagging injuries, while redshirt freshman Milan Richard missed the last half of the spring with a severely sprained foot.  That left fellow redshirt freshman Cannon Smith as the only tight end that practiced the entire spring.

But Scott isn’t too worried. Why? Competition will do that.

Richard and Smith were highly regarded tight ends coming out of high school that display good athleticism and fundamentals. Freshmen tight end Garrett Williams caught the coaches’ eyes in fall camp, and will play this fall, while McCullough had his best camp since arriving at Clemson.

“There is nothing like competition,” Scott said. “So hopefully, everyone will get out there and those first three or four guys will get some experience and then we will go from there each week. The guy who is playing the best will get the opportunity to go out there and play.”

So far, that guy appears to be Jordan Leggett.

“Jordan Leggett is the guy that has really made a lot of strides from where he has come. Being the starter, that’s one of the things we expected from him,” Scott said.

Scott says Leggett is poised to have a breakout season after spending the first two years overcoming himself and injuries.

“I do feel like we are in a better spot than we have been. A lot of that is those young guys are kind of maturing and growing up,” he said. “Jordan is a big part of that. He is a guy that had a good spring and a good fall camp that maybe a lot of people are not talking about. In the past, he was getting noticed for all the poor things and the poor habits he had on the field, but he really has not been a distraction or anything thing like that so we are hoping this could be a big year for him.”

And the year of the tight end.