The 2019 Clemson football season is through the first part of the year. Here are the Midseason Awards for the Tigers as we prepare for the second phase.
The 2019 Clemson football regular season is not technically halfway over until the Tigers play Florida State next Saturday in Death Valley.
Even so, the Tigers are at the midway point of the season with the built-in bye week that will occur this weekend.
Clemson has played five games so far and now has a bye before the Tigers prepare for six-straight games, followed by the second bye week of the season, and then one final game against in-state rival South Carolina to conclude the regular season.
Through the first part of the season, the Clemson football team is undefeated. The Tigers are currently ranked No. 2 in the nation and are in prime position as we approach October and November to get back to the CFB Playoff for the fifth-straight year.
During the bye week, Rubbing the Rock has looked back at the first five games of the season through many aspects. We’ve given you analysis of what has gone right, what has gone wrong and areas that Clemson football can improve upon as the team heads into the second phase of the season.
Today, we get to have a little fun.
As we do annually, let’s take a look back at the Tigers’ first half of the season and present several Midseason Awards. The awards include: Offensive MVP, Defensive MVP, Impact Freshman, Most Improved, Veteran Leader, Underappreciated Star, Top Performance of the season and Most Memorable Play.
Top Performance
We’ll kick our list off with the top individual performance of the season to this point. The award goes to none other than Amari Rodgers for his big-time outing against the Syracuse Orange earlier this season.
It’s not just what Rodgers did in the game, but it’s how he did it and the circumstances leading up to the match up.
Rodgers tore his ACL earlier this spring and was originally expected to miss the majority of the 2019 Clemson football season. He worked hard rehabbing his injury, though, and made his return during the second game of the season against Texas A&M, just six months after the injury.
The next week against Syracuse, Rodgers’ hard work paid off. He had four receptions for 121 yards and two touchdowns.
Rodgers’ second touchdown of the game was the exclamation mark needed for Clemson to take complete control of the contest.
Underappreciated Star
The Underappreciated Star Award goes to none other than Nolan Turner for the performances that he has turned in all season and the relative lack of exposure that he has gotten.
Though Clemson football fans mention the safety in passing, no one truly understands the impact that Turner has had at the position.
He has played starter-level reps and has been equally good in pass-coverage, as well as in run-support. Turner has made plays in the backfield and we’ve also seen him defend wide receivers in coverage.
He’s been one of the highest-graders every single week in that defensive backfield, but for some reason we don’t talk about him near as much as he deserves.
Impact Freshman
There’s really no other choice for the Impact Freshman Award than DT Tyler Davis.
Davis stepped into fall camp and immediately picked up right where he left off in the spring. He earned a co-starter spot on the depth chart with Jordan Williams, but he’s been the guy to march out with the team first to begin the game.
Davis has been a force to be reckoned with on the interior of that defensive line and has been one of the top performers of anyone when it comes to the defense.
He’s been tasked at times with anchoring inside in a 3-man front and playing outside, as well. So far, he’s been nothing short of elite.
Most Improved
For the Most Improved Award, we’ve decided to give one offensive and one defensive player. For the defense, DE KJ Henry earns the honors. Offensively, it’s TE JC Chalk.
KJ Henry elected to redshirt last season. He was underweight and wasn’t ready for the collegiate level. Henry was a bit quiet through the first couple of games of the 2019 season, but followed that up with really nice performances against Syracuse and Charlotte, as well as UNC.
Henry has earned equal snaps with the other four defensive ends and has proved that he deserves to be on the field.
JC Chalk hasn’t made a huge impact, but he has provided a bit of an underneath option for Trevor Lawrence in an offense that hasn’t had that to this point. Though Chalk isn’t the greatest receiving threat, he’s certainly improved from where he was a season or two ago.
He has made plays in the passing game and continues to be a solid option in run-blocking.
Veteran Leader
The Veteran Leadership Award is one that we give to two offensive players and two defensive players.
Since we try not to overlap and give players more than one award, we’ve narrowed down the veteran leaders to these four men: John Simpson, Tremayne Anchrum, Logan Rudolph and Jamie Skalski.
These four guys have done an excellent job, from all reports, of trying to keep the team focused and leading by example, as well as vocally.
Though they’re all still growing and have made mistakes, they are intricate parts of the Tigers’ success to this point and will continue to be big leaders as Clemson progresses throughout 2019.
Offensive MVP
It’s a bit difficult to select the Offensive MVP for the first half of the 2019 Clemson football season, but we decided to go with RB Travis Etienne.
Why?
Etienne had a huge performance against Georgia Tech, he has 462 yards (6.9 YPC) and five touchdowns on the ground and has made some plays in the passing game, as well.
The reason Etienne is the true MVP of the offense to this point lies outside of his stat line, though. Defenses are game planning around the running back’s skill. Defenses have taken notice of his explosiveness and are trying everything in their power to take it away.
When he’s that much of a headache to game plan for, you know that he’s a special play-maker.
Defensive MVP
The Defensive MVP at the midseason is pretty obvious. Isaiah Simmons leads the Tigers in tackles with 43, including three sacks.
Simmons has been all over the field through these first five games. The linebacker/nickel has played in several different roles, but continues to be a force for opposing offenses to reckon with.
Simmons has dropped back and played in a safety role, but he also has come up on the line of scrimmage. He’s been elite in run-support and providing pressure, while also giving the Tigers quality pass-coverage.
Simmons is currently expected to be a top-15 draft pick in next year’s NFL Draft and he has proven that he deserves all of the talk coming his way so far.
Most Memorable Play
There have been several memorable plays when it comes to the 2019 Clemson football season to this point.
From Frank Ladson’s nice TD grab against Syracuse to Amari Rodgers’ touchdown run in the same game to Travis Etienne’s 90-yard scamper against Georgia Tech, there have been some explosive plays.
You could pick any of those and make a solid argument, but we’re going to go with the most recent play and it happened on the defensive side of the ball.
If North Carolina converts that two-point conversion, the Tigers would’ve gotten the ball back with a little over a minute remaining, so we don’t know what would’ve happen. But, the two-point conversion stop preserved the win for the Tigers.
Because of Clemson’s perceived weak schedule, the Tigers have no room for error. Had they lost the game in Chapel Hill Saturday, they would’ve likely been out of CFB Playoff talks. The win- and specifically the defense’s stop- allowed them to keep all of the goals on the table and kept their hopes of getting back to the CFB Playoff and competing for another National Championship alive.