The second week of camp is in the books. Each week TCI will look at the players moving up and those that are moving down in the Up Downs feature. Which players are elevating their game and their position on the depth chart?
Up
Garrett Williams – Garrett Williams has made a significant move the first two weeks of camp. When asked who the best blocker was at TE coach Elliott said Williams has shown to be so far.
Williams also received praise this week from head coach Dabo Swinney.
Williams had originally planned to enroll in January, but decided to enjoy his final semester of high school because he planned to redshirt. Those plans could be changing.
Ray Ray McCloud – Ray Ray received praise this week for the coaching staff, the likes not heard at Clemson since the freshmen year of Sammy Watkins. The depth chart if much different now than when Sammy arrived at Clemson, but Ray Ray is going to have a significant impact this season.
Coach Swinney talked about how the game was slowed down for Ray Ray, which is not the case for most freshmen.
Justin Falcinelli – The redshirt freshman had a great spring, running second team center, but it now making an impact at guard as well. Coach Swinney bragged this week about his ability to move down field at guard.
Look for Justin to provide some nice depth this season at guard and center as needed.
Kendall Joseph – An injury sidelined Joseph early in camp, but he is back in action. Coach Venables said Joseph is ready to “help us win now”.
Joseph’s development is crucial to provide some much needed depth at linebacker. Expect the redshirt freshman to see a lot of playing time early for the Tigers to get him as much experience as possible.
Jalen Williams – There will be no redshirt for Jalen Williams. Both coach Swinney and coach Venables praised Williams this week.
Williams will need to play this season to provide some depth at linebacker due to the departures of Rogers and Jones.
Andy Teasdall – The punting competition appears to be over. Coach Swinney said this week that Teasdall is the guy. Coach Swinney said that while the kickers have struggled that the punting has been solid in camp.
Downs
Korrin Wiggins – A knee injury will cause Wiggins to miss the 2015 season. This is a big loss for the Tigers as Wiggins really came on strong last season.
Korie Rogers– One of the biggest surprises this week was the announcement that Korie Rogers was giving up football. The redshirt freshman came arrived at Clemson as one of the top linebacker in the nation and would have been a significant contributor over the next three to four years.
His departure and the departure of Kellen Jones leaves the Tigers very thin at linebacker on the depth chart.
Tyshon Dye – Tyshon continues to work near the bottom of the depth chart at running back. After having a full, healthy offseason many thought Tyshon would be near the top of the depth chart coming out of camp. That is not the case yet so far.
Dye will continue to get the opportunities to move up the depth chart, but it looks like heading into the season he still has some work to do.