2018 Clemson Football Positional Grades: Linebackers
Today we continue our series grading each Clemson football position in the 2018 season by taking a look at the Tiger linebackers.
The 2018 Clemson football season was the best in school history, as far as record is concerned.
The Tigers finished with a perfect 15-0 record and dominated the Alabama Crimson Tide 44-16 in the National Championship.
In addition to the third National Title in school history, Clemson also appeared in the CFB Playoff for a fourth-straight year and won the ACC Championship for a fourth-straight year.
Before we turn our attention completely to 2019, let’s take time to look back on the season that was. To do that, we’ve been giving you our grades for each position throughout the week.
Today, we continue that series with a look at the linebackers.
Linebackers Report Cards:
The linebackers were very good this season, in my opinion.
I liked the work that Tre Lamar, Kendall Joseph and Isaiah Simmons were able to put in. Overall, as a unit, I found that the group was very good at stopping the run.
They helped fill holes and finish off run plays before they ever got going.
The linebackers were also very good at creating pressure and you have to credit Brent Venables for giving opposing offenses different looks to confuse them.
The main area of complaint for the linebackers has to be the performance in zone coverage at times.
Teams had the middle of the field wide open in a lot of cases this season. It was especially prevalent in the South Carolina game. Now, some of that had to with safeties being out of position, but the linebackers- other than Isaiah Simmons for the most part- seemed to struggle at times in pass coverage.
Early Projected 2019 Defensive Depth Chart. dark. Next
Overall, I think the linebackers took great steps forward this season. I liked the aggressive play and, although they weren’t the best in pass-coverage, they made up for that with pass-rush and run-stopping ability.
Linebackers Grade: B+