Clemson played 11 different offensive linemen in the blowout win over North Carolina, allowing some of the younger players on the roster to get some live game reps.

However, one of the true freshmen who did not see the field was Gavin Blanchard, and on Tuesday, Dabo Swinney revealed that it was by design.

“The only guy we held was Gavin, and that was intentional,” the head coach said. “Really high on him, but saving his four games as long as we can. Don’t want to put him in there in a situation like that.”

Blanchard was a late addition to the Tigers’ 2025 recruiting class. While he was long on the Tigers’ radar, and visited multiple times during the process, Clemson was slow to offer. In the meantime, Blanchard would end up committing to UCF.

However, once the Tigers decided to pull the trigger and offer Blanchard last November, he would quickly decommit and jump on board with Clemson.

While the plan is to still redshirt Blanchard, he’s quickly earned a lot of trust from the coaching staff, and if the need were to ever arise, Swinney wouldn’t hesitate to run the freshman out there in critical situations.

“We would play Gavin in the first quarter if we had to, he is a guy we trust,” Swinney said. “If something happened — that is why we are trying to save his games as long as we can. Because he is a guy for sure that can help us.”

Photo by Dawson Powers