With the struggles Clemson has experienced along its offensive line over the first two games, position coach Matt Luke has come under fire for the performances.
Now in his third season as the Tigers’ offensive line coach, Luke is dealing with youth and inexperience in his room. Brayden Jacobs, Elyjah Thurmon, Ronan O’Connell and Easton Ware were in the starting lineup for the opener in Baton Rouge, with four having combined to make just seven starts. That equates to a massive amount of inexperience. Even Harris Sewell, the fifth starter against LSU, was making his first start at center, despite having played a ton during his career.
In the 22-7 win over Georgia Southern in week two, veteran Collin Sadler was back, replacing Ware at right tackle. Sadler missed the opener due to an injury. However, his return did little for production, as the unit once again struggled to open holes for the running backs and protect the quarterbacks.
While Luke is taking a lot of heat from the fan base for the issues over the first two weeks, Dabo Swinney is standing firmly behind his veteran assistant.
“Matt Luke has been doing this a long time,” the head coach said. “He ain’t no rookie.”
“We’ve got some good players. I think Matt has done a good job of putting the room together, and we’ve just played two games.”
Two games in and Luke is still searching for answers. In Saturday’s victory, freshman Grant Wise and sophomore Gavin Blanchard both saw themselves entered into the game at the two guard spots, but the results were mostly the same. Blanchard actually logges 25 snaps, while Wise played just eight.
With the unit struggling to gel early on, Swinney admits there has been some talk of mixing things up and shuffling some guys around. While there is no guarantee that happens, it’s at least being looked at.
“We think about everything. All day, every day,” Swinney said. “We were here until 11:30 (Monday) night. We think about a lot. Believe it or not.”
As for Luke, he is one of the more respected offensive line coaches in the country. Before joining Swinney’s staff after the conclusion of the 2023 regular season, Luke spent two years on Kirby Smart’s staff at Georgia, where he produced three All-SEC linemen and four NFL Draft picks.
From 1999-2019, Luke was responsible for helping mentor 42 all-conference selections and 27 NFL Draft picks, including first-round selections Laremy Tunsil and Laken Tomlinson. Luke has even spent time as a head coach at his alma mater, Ole Miss.
Swinney readily admits the Tigers need much more than they’ve gotten from the offensive line to this point, but that pedigree is part of the reason the head coach is confident Luke will get his unit headed in the right direction.
“Everybody’s got to be better. Really, every position group,” Swinney said. “Just routine stuff, precision in what we do. Details. I know it seems like we are a mile away, but we are really not. We are a lot closer than you think. We are a lot closer than you think. And if we just clean up some of the details — that is just routine stuff, and a little more precision in what we are doing — you are going to be fine. In football, it punishes you for mistakes. But ir rewards you for precision. And the reward is coming if we will be a little more precise in what we are doing. At every single position. It is on us as coaches to get that done.”
Photo courtesy of Bart Boatwright/The Clemson Insider