CLEMSON – No one can say Clemson does not have first-round offensive linemen anymore.
Blake Miller changed that on Thursday when he was selected No. 17 overall by the Detroit Lions in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft. The former Clemson right tackle is the first Clemson offensive lineman selected in first round in the Common Draft era, which was instituted jointly by the AFL and NFL in 1967.
Miller is the first Clemson offensive lineman selected in the first round in any NFL Draft since 1960, when the New York Giants selected Lou Cordileone with the No. 12 overall selection in the first round.
“It would be a tremendous honor to have that for our university and all of our coaches and staff that had poured into me over the years,” Miller said prior to the draft. “It is a testament to them as well.”
The highest offensive line selection from Clemson in the Common Draft era came in 1971. That year, guard Dave Thompson joined the Lions with the No. 30 overall selection, a slot that would be a first-round pick in the present-day NFL Draft, but it represented the fourth pick of the second round during the 26-team era.
Since Thompson, Jackson Carman’s No. 46 overall pick by the Cincinnati Bengals in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft is the highest selection for a Clemson offensive lineman.
Miller, primarily a right tackle, started in all 54 games during his college career, finishing with a program-high 3,778 offensive snaps. He earned All-ACC honors three times along the way.
Since 2013, Miller is the 18th Tiger taken in the first round of an NFL Draft and the 19th overall under head coach Dabo Swinney. The 19 first-round selections rank second to Georgia’s Kirby Smart by a current head coach.
