CLEMSON – With several veteran offensive linemen leaving Clemson’s program after last season, multiple younger tackles, guards, and centers will have opportunities to break into larger roles in 2026.

One of these players, redshirt freshman Easton Ware, has impressed head coach Dabo Swinney through five spring practices.

“He’s smart, he’s big, strong, he’s athletic, he can really move,” Swinney said of Ware, an offensive tackle. “He understands the game. Kid really cares. It’s very important to him. We saw that last year. I mean he’s a true tackle. I mean he can athletically do everything we need him to do.” 

Swinney, offensive line coach Matt Luke, and the rest of Clemson’s staff got their first look at Ware in last year’s spring practice, during which Swinney believed the true freshman would make an immediate impact for the Tigers in the 2025 season. In fall camp however, just ahead of the season-opener against LSU, Ware suffered a shoulder injury and was sidelined for the entirety of the season after undergoing surgery. 

After a full six months of time away, Ware’s progression remained uncertain headed into practice this February. It did not take long, however, for the 6-foot-5, 19-year-old to show off his potential and fully-recovered shoulder in his first days back with the team.

“The question mark was ‘Where’s (Ware) going to be?’” Swinney said. “We’ve answered that question mark already after five practices. I think we really felt like he would have played last year. But, where’s he going to pick back up? And then being out there with these young guys, where they are, it’s been encouraging.”

Ware was able to fit back in right away due to his approach in attacking recovery. Instead of being content to do minimal physical therapy and take a semester off from football, the Lynchburg, Va., native took advantage of his time away from action.

“He didn’t waste the fall,” Swinney said. “Sometimes guys don’t play and they don’t take advantage of the opportunity to still improve, but he did. I mean, mentally, he’s in a really good place. Physically, he’s in a very good place. So, he’s put a lot of work in to get back out there and compete for that spot.”

Before joining the Tigers team in January of 2025, Ware was labeled a four-star recruit and a consensus top-10 player in the state of Virginia. The three-time all-state player also played tight end in four varsity seasons at Liberty Christian High School.

Ware was also teammates with Clemson running back and Gideon Davidson, blocking for the All-American as Liberty recorded a school-record 4,191 rushing yards in 2023. Davidson and Ware’s commitments to Clemson mark the sixth time in an eight-year span that the Tigers signed at least one pair of high school teammates in the same recruiting class.

With Adam Randall, Clemson’s starting running back last season, headed to the NFL Draft, it is very possible that Ware and Davidson will soon be reunited for more playing time at Memorial Stadium. 

Regardless of who he blocks for, Swinney believes Ware will contribute to the Tigers’ offensive line quickly, especially given his health five months before Clemson will take the field for the first time.

 “He’s a redshirt freshman, and he’s going to help us,” Swinney said. “I’ve been encouraged.”

Ware will join a cast of 14 other offensive linemen with at least two more years of eligibility left after the 2026 season. With Tiger mainstays like Blake Miller, Ryan Linthicum, and Tristan Leigh moving on, it will be a new-look group for Luke, Swinney, and Clemson’s offense.

Despite a lack of game snaps, Swinney is pleased with the unit so far. In fact, he credited his belief in the younger core as a factor behind not taking any offensive linemen in the transfer portal this winter.

 “All those guys got a-ways to be great football players at this level, but they’re on their way, and they got the attributes, and they’re doing the work,” he said. “And if they’ll just keep doing the work, they have what we thought they had in the recruiting process and eventually that’ll shine through.”

The young linemen have several more weeks of spring practice to develop before playing in Memorial Stadium for the first time on March 28, in the Tigers’ annual Orange and White Spring Game.