CLEMSON – With week two of Fall Camp in full swing, the Clemson Tigers are gearing up for their first of two scrimmages before the Sept. 4 season opener against the Duke Blue Devils.

–Junior offensive lineman Marcus Tate sat down with the media after Tuesday’s practice to discuss coming back from injury and more. Below is what we learned during his post-practice interview:

–Tate opened up his presser addressing his MCL injury that took him out of the last part of the season. He said it taught him many things, but most importantly “don’t take the opportunity for granted, I worked really hard and now that I have the opportunity to play again it can’t be taken for anything.” He has worked really hard and “attacked it every day” to get back into physical shape and is hungrier than ever.

–On the possibility of playing left tackle this season, Tate was quick to respond by saying, “I’m just focused on playing where they put me at right now, I worked out both this offseason… if it is left tackle, I am going to be the best left tackle I can be, I am prepared to do both.” This is affirming to hear for Clemson’s offensive line, especially with the Tigers having Cade Klubnik in his first full season as the starting quarterback.

–Tate addressed the offense and what has been missing from the past couple of seasons. He reassured media that the tempo Clemson was used to playing with under former offensive coordinator Chad Morris is back in full swing. “It is way more creative, we are getting our playmakers the ball in space more often, so it takes a lot of pressure off the OL… the tempo is faster, and we are able to play more aggressive and freely in this offense.” With Will Putnam manning the center position for Clemson again this season, Tate said it was a very important step for him mentally this offseason and “he took that very seriously and him having the control of that now… helps the whole offense as a whole.”

–The depth of this offensive line is in large part a credit to some guys going down early in the spring. Tate said it was a “blessing to the young guys too, because when I was out in spring, Harris Sewell was getting first-team reps, Mitchell Mayes was getting more reps… our starting five played 110 reps against Tennessee and I don’t really think we are trying to do that this year, so it really gave those guys some more opportunity… that was the blessing.”

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