The Clemson offense needs a reset in Desth Valley. Point blank, period. After laying an egg in Durham against the Duke Blue Devils, it’s time to put some numbers on the scoreboard.
As head coach Dabo Swinney said repeatedly this week, the stats don’t look bad for the offense. That is until they reached the red zone. Playing an FCS school in Charleston Southern in front of a home crowd, there’s no better opportunity for the Tigers to find themselves. That said, here’s three players that need to prove themselves against the Buccaneers.
QB Cade Klubnik
This one goes without saying. From his first throw of the night in Durham, he looked anxious and it stayed that way until the clock hit 0:00. Some of his best throws of the night ended up being incompletions or even an interception.
Clemson has a lot of faith in Klubnik to lead this offense into the promised land under Garrett Riley. 4.9 yards per attempt can’t be the norm with this offense and it starts with him, regardless of receiver play. He has to elevate this group.
WR Adam Randall
All off-season, coaches were raving about Randall and what he is going to bring to this offense in 2023. In the first game of the season, he had one catch for eight yards.
The boundary receivers are a big concern after the first game, even if Beaux Collins found some success late. The Tigers weren’t threatening against the Blue Devils, who were willing to man up and dare Clemson’s receivers to beat them. They couldn’t and that has to change immediately. Randall is one of, if not the biggest case of that need for improvement.
TE Jake Briningstool
Similar to Randall, Briningstool had a lot of hype coming into this season and rightfully so. He was building momentum under Davis Allen and his 6-foot-6 frame gives him an elite catch radius.
Klubnik targeted him early, but the miscommunication between the two led to an ugly incompletion and he was rarely targeted from then on. With the wide receiver concerns, Briningstool can be the easy target in this offense and he has to be that Saturday.
K Robert Gunn III
Two blocked kicks. Yes, they were blocked but that doesn’t mean they were going in otherwise. The biggest tell of that is head coach Dabo Swinney putting pressure and trying out his other kickers in competition during the week.
The yips are a scary thing for kickers and it’ll be key to see if they go away for Gunn Saturday. He should have a lot of extra points to kick if all goes right, and it’ll be like a basketball player shooting free throws to see the ball go in. Should be all touchdowns this week if the offense goes to plan but it’ll be key for Gunn to be reliable if a field goal opportunity arises.