Clemson Football: How Bryan Bresee earns a starting spot as a freshman
Could freshman Bryan Bresee earn a starting spot during his first season with Clemson football? It certainly is a possibility.
The Clemson football program saw its spring practice sessions cut short due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak.
The Tigers were able to get just nine practice sessions in, missing their final six. Though the spring was short, the Clemson football team still took several major steps toward reaching its full potential.
As we head into the summer, one of the most intriguing positions to watch is the defensive line.
Perhaps no team in the nation has the amount of depth along the defensive line compared to Clemson football. The Tigers are returning basically everyone in their two and three deep from last year- minus Logan Rudolph (retirement) and Xavier Kelly (transfer)- and they’re also adding into the mix a few highly-touted freshmen.
Perhaps no freshman has been more highly-touted, though, than Bryan Bresee.
Bresee, who has been compared to J.J. Watt because of his versatility, size, strength and athleticism, was ‘better than advertised’ during the first portion of spring camp, according to the Clemson football coaching staff.
Though there’s plenty of depth along the defensive line, the freshman could potentially end up stealing a starting spot before it’s all said and done.
Why? Because his skill set is just too good to keep off the field.
Though there’s a chance we see Bresee play along the exterior of the defensive line at times, he’s going to line up at defensive tackle for the majority of his snaps. That means he’ll be battling with Tyler Davis, Nyles Pinckney and Jordan Williams– all of which have started games- for reps.
You’d think that would pretty much leave him as the odd man out, but not so fast.
With Davis and Williams manning one spot, Bresee will compete head-on with veteran Nyles Pinckney. While Pinckney has advantages in strength and experience in the system, Bresee has better versatility and athleticism.
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Those two are going to battle throughout fall camp and there’s a solid reason to believe that they could even be named co-starters before it’s all said and done. It has nothing to do with anything on Pinckney’s part, but everything to do with the talent and ability of Bresee.