Each College Football season only one to two defenses are able to reach the 50 sacks mark as a team. Clemson has been on the doorstep the past two years, can they kick the door down in 2017?
It is rare air to reach the 50 sacks mark, since 2008 just eight teams have been able to record 50+ sacks in a single season. Only the elite of the elite have been able to do so in the past. Luckily, the Clemson football program has been sharpening it’s iron for the past five seasons. 2017 may be the year that Brent Venables and his group get the job done.
Venables took over as defensive coordinator in Death Valley back going into the 2012 season. The Tigers ranked 20th in sacks that year with 34 on the season. Every year since, Clemson has increased their sack total, 38 in 2013; 45 in 2014; 48 in 2015; and 49 in 2016.
Not only has Clemson been improving their sack total each year, but, they have been accumulating more and more talent over the same span of time. The Tigers front seven is loaded entering the 2017 season.
Clemson Football 2017
It all starts upfront for Clemson this season. The Tigers return an experienced front four of, Clelin Ferrell, Austin Bryant, Christian Wilkins and Dexter Lawrence. With Wilkins and Lawrence – two future top 10 NFL draft selections – manning the interior of Clemson’s defense, pressure from the A and B gap will be constant.
Ferrell and Bryant will help force quarterback’s up in the pocket with their explosiveness off of the edge. The four of them combined for 18.5 sacks in 2016, which is impressive given the fact that Bryant missed half of the season with an injury, Wilkins was playing out of position; and Lawrence and Ferrell were just freshman. That production will almost certainly increase this season.
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The Tigers fire power doesn’t stop there as Clemson has viable rotational defensive lineman in Albert Huggins, Nyles Pinckney and Jabril Robinson. The Tigers linebacking core should help get after the quarterback as well. WILL linebacker, Kendall Joseph is devastating coming off of the blitz as is Dorian O’Daniel.
One of the most underrated ways to cause sacks is through tight coverage on the back end. With the talent that Clemson has in the secondary, coverage sacks should occur early and often. Defensive coordinator, Brent Venables orchestrates an attacking defense primarily ran out of base 4-3 and 4-2-5 nickel sets.
The Tigers have the length and athleticism to play press-man coverage all day long. Guys like Trayvon Mullen, Mark Fields and K’Von Wallace will make it hard for opposing quarterbacks to find anybody down the field.
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Given all of these factors and Brent Venables defensive genius, I believe 50+ sacks is an attainable goal for the Clemson football program in 2017.