Clemson Football: Mike Jones Jr. doesn’t have to be Isaiah Simmons
Clemson football will miss Isaiah Simmons, but the Tigers don’t have to replace him
The Clemson football program saw a historically-great linebacker finish off his career in epic fashion when Isaiah Simmons absolutely exploded during the 2019 season.
Simmons proved over the course of his career that he could be a versatile athlete and nothing could be a better example of that than what he was able to do for the 2019 Clemson football team. Simmons lined up as an edge-rusher, as a linebacker, as a safety and as a slot cornerback over the course of the season and he excelled in every single way.
Brent Venables built the defense around him and did an excellent job playing to Simmons’ strength and allowing the talented defender to make plays.
As we head into the 2020 Clemson football season, Simmons is gone and a hole is open. Though the Tigers will undoubtedly miss the production that Simmons brought, they don’t have to replace him.
Clemson football will never see another Isaiah Simmons
The amount of pure versatility, freakish athleticism and physicality led to Simmons being taken as a top-10 selection in the past spring’s NFL Draft. Though the Tigers will miss Simmons, the truth about filling the position is two-fold: Clemson will never have another Isaiah Simmons and the Tigers don’t have to replace him.
Now, when I say that Clemson doesn’t have to replace Simmons, it’s not to say that they won’t miss his production. It’s the simple fact that there’s never going to be another Isaiah Simmons and the linebacker who steps into that spot shouldn’t try replicate what Simmons did. Instead, they should be themselves.
In steps Mike Jones Jr.
As we look at the defense heading into the 2020 season, the strength is with the defensive line. This gives Jones Jr. an opportunity to be himself and rely on his defensive line to be the major play-makers this season.
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It’s not about Jones Jr. becoming Isaiah Simmons. It’s about him finding a way to be effective and playing the position with his own brand, allowing the defense to excel by playing to its strengths, just as Brent Venables has always found a way to do.