CLEMSON — There is no getting around it. Clemson’s offensive line was absolutely out of its element in the blowout loss to LSU on Saturday night.
The Bayou Bengals took full advantage, with defenders setting up camp in the Tigers’ backfield, en route to a 51-10 season-opening win in Baton Rouge.
After watching Matt Luke’s group not only get whipped but also look downright lost at times, maybe Dabo Swinney’s first instinct after last season was the right one.
With Tristan Leigh, Walker Parks, Blake Miller and Ryan Linthicum all departing, the choices were either getting some help from the portal or going with a group of offensive linemen in 2026 who had little to no experience. Swinney ultimately chose the latter, and this team paid the price on Saturday.
However, Swinney did initially explore some transfer options. Multiple portal linemen even visited Clemson, including tackle Johnnie Brown. Another tackle, Emmanuel Poku, was scheduled to visit, but committed to South Carolina before making it to town. Poku made 26 starts at East Carolina. Brown, who earned All-Sunbelt honors at Georgia Southern last season, went on to commit to Louisville. Those are just two examples.
After one game, the decision to ride with what they have might have been misguided. Two of Clemson’s five starters are underclassmen. A third, who is a junior, had very little experience coming into the season.
Brayden Jacobs was likely always going to be at left tackle this season, no matter what the staff did in the portal. Jacobs logged well over 300 snaps as a freshman in 2025.
Junior Elyjah Thurmon was at right guard. The former four-star dealt with multiple injuries over his first two years and was limited to just 275 snaps over those two seasons.
Senior Harris Sewell has played plenty of snaps over his three-year career, but Saturday was his first time playing center.
Ronan O’Connell started at right guard. The junior had seen the field for just 130 snaps in his first three seasons, with 66 of those coming in the loss to Penn State in the Pinstripe Bowl. O’Connell beat out Tucker Kattus in camp. Kattus played just two snaps last season while redshirting.
Sophomore Easton Ware got the nod at right tackle. Saturday night was his first action since arriving at Clemson. Ware redshirted as a freshman last season due to a shoulder injury. Running an underclassman out for his first career snaps against that LSU defense in Tiger Stadium was certainly a big ask. The fact that he had to start shows how bad the decision was not to use the portal for experienced offensive linemen.
Collin Sadler was the projected starter at right tackle, but an injury kept him out of the opener. Sadler has had some bad luck with injuries in the past, and banking on him to make it through the season was a risk the staff decided to take.
Knowing how much experience was leaving after the 2025 campaign, adding one or two veteran linemen from the portal might have been the best path. It could have helped bridge the gap to some of those more inexperienced players.
In today’s era of college football, older sure seems better. Look at Indiana’s national title team from last year. The Hoosiers were loaded with fourth, fifth, and sixth-year guys along the lines of scrimmage.
However, Clemson decided to go with a youth movement, and that experiment failed miserably in its first test of the season.
