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2018 Clemson Football Positional Grades: Offensive Line

By Andrew Boardwine

SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 07: Trevor Lawrence #16 of the Clemson Tigers celebrates with teammates against the Alabama Crimson Tide during the fourth quarter in the College Football Playoff National Championship at Levi's Stadium on January 07, 2019 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 07: Trevor Lawrence #16 of the Clemson Tigers celebrates with teammates against the Alabama Crimson Tide during the fourth quarter in the College Football Playoff National Championship at Levi's Stadium on January 07, 2019 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images) /
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The Clemson football team finished the 2018 season with a perfect 15-0 record. As we continue to look back at the season, here’s our grades for the offensive line.

The 2018 Clemson football season was the best in school history, in my opinion.

The Tigers finished with a perfect 15-0 record- which is the first team in the modern of era of College Football to do so- and won the National Championship in dominant fashion against the Alabama Crimson Tide.

In addition to the National Championship, Clemson won the Cotton Bowl in dominant fashion and picked up a fourth-straight ACC Championship.

Looking back at this magical season, we’re in the midst of grading each position for the course of the year. Today, let’s take a look at the offensive line.

Offensive Line Report Card:

Coming into this season, my one concern for the Tigers offensively was the consistency of the offensive line. In 2017, that group just never was able to gain the continuity to be an effective unit.

That showed up greatly when the Tigers lost to Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.

This group came back with a vengeance this year, though, and changed that narrative.

At times, the group wasn’t able to get open up a hole in the running game, but that had more to do with the fact that teams were stacking the box and forcing the Tigers to throw rather than playing them straight up.

Overall, I think this offensive line really became a solid unit over the course of the season.

Mitch Hyatt came back and proved why he is capable of being a successful NFL player. Justin Falcinelli did an excellent job leading. Guys like John Simpson and Tremayne Anchrum stepped up and played really well.

There were times where they were beaten, but they never got down. They continued to work.

Next. Isaiah Simmons the early 2019 Defensive MVP. dark

Overall, this group played really well this season, especially compared to last year, and I was very impressed with the play of the offensive line against teams later in the season like Notre Dame and Alabama.

Overall Grade: A-

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