Earlier this week, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney still wasn’t ready to say whether freshman linebacker Shaq Smith will play this season or redshirt instead.

When Swinney and his staff look at Smith on the field, they see a 6-foot-2, 240-pound specimen who stands out physically and possesses all of the skills to become a difference-maker in the middle for Clemson.

Smith has vast potential, and Clemson has seen flashes of it during fall practice. But Clemson is looking to see more consistency from Smith, and whether — or how quickly — that happens this year will factor in to whether Smith plays or redshirts.

“Shaq has got every tool that you could possibly want in a backer, but right now it’s just not showing up like it needs to for him to compete with the guys he’s competing with,” Swinney said after Clemson’s practice on Monday. “So, we’re not sure he’s going to play right now. We don’t want to play a guy just to play a guy.”

Defensive coordinator Brent Venables said Clemson is looking at the big picture with Smith.

As the staff decides what to do with Smith, they are considering more than just his performance in practice. They’re taking into account the improved depth at linebacker, as well as trying to determine if it would be better for Smith’s development and his future at Clemson to sit out a year.

“Really, it’s the big picture,” Venables said of Smith this week. “Do you feel like you have to use his year? Do you need him right now? Is he ready to play confidently and aggressively? If there’s a little bit of inconsistency there and you don’t need him, that’s kind of what we’re weighing.”

Smith and fellow freshman linebacker Tre Lamar both came to Clemson as highly touted, five-star prospects. But while Lamar has impressed to the point that he is pushing Clemson’s starters at linebacker, and is a lock to contribute this season, Smith has developed at a slower pace.

Venables said part of the reason Smith is behind Lamar in his development is that he played defensive end for much of his career and has only been a linebacker for two years. Venables also pointed out that Smith attended two different high schools — St. Frances Academy in Maryland and IMG Academy in Florida — which meant different coaches and different ways of learning the linebacker position.

“If you compare him to a guy like Tre Lamar, he’s been in the same little league system and the same farm system, so to speak, through middle school and all through high school,” Venables said. “He’s been coached with the same types of techniques and systematically. He’s grown up with trainers and a really consistent weight program.”

Venables has been pleased with Smith, but wants him to play with more assuredness.

“He works incredibly hard, he’s a tough guy, he cares and is very competitive,” Venables said, “but in some places he does well, and in some others he’s not quite as sure of himself as you’d like him to be.”

Swinney is sure that Smith will progress over time and eventually become the standout player Clemson envisions.

He just isn’t sure when it will happen, and so he is taking a wait-and-see approach with Smith.

“It all will work out if he continues to work and grind and do the things that he needs to do to get better,” Swinney said. “I don’t have any doubt he will do that.”