With Clemson’s spring football season in the books, The Clemson Insider is taking a look at where things stand at each position heading into the summer.
After assessing the quarterback, running back, tight end and receiver positions, offensive tackle is next up.
Note: This is where things stand with Clemson’s personnel for the 2023 season coming out of the spring. With the transfer portal in full effect, things are always subject to change, though the two-week spring window for undergraduate players to enter the portal closed Sunday. This story will be updated as needed to reflect any future modifications at the position.
Who’s staying?
Blake Miller, Tristan Leigh, Collin Sadler (tackle or guard) Mitchell Mayes (tackle or guard), Marcus Tate (tackle or guard), John Williams (tackle or guard), Ian Reed
Who’s leaving?
None
Who’s joining?
None
Analysis
Clemson got its first taste of the post-Jordan McFadden life this spring when Leigh spent most of it getting first-team reps on the left side. Leigh, a former five-star signee, is the presumed favorite to take over for the departed McFadden at the position, making for a young yet not exactly inexperienced tackle tandem heading into the fall.
Miller enters his sophomore season with 14 starts under his belt after manning the right-tackle spot last season. If Lee and Miller hold onto their spots at the top of the depth chart throughout fall camp, the question then becomes who is the Tigers’ third tackle should one of them get injured?
Mayes and Sadler may be leading the pack in that regard. Clemson has a handful of linemen that it’s cross-trained inside and out, but Mayes, who filled in for an injured Tate at guard late last season, is a fourth-year veteran that’s also gotten his share of reps at tackle. Sadler, coming off a redshirt season, started at tackle for the second-team offense in the spring game.
Tate could play tackle in a pinch as could Williams. And Reed, the lone incoming freshman among the group, showed enough promise during his first spring in the program that he got some second-team reps at right tackle.