Clemson football: Two very important camp battles to watch

Clemson football is the favorite to win their third national title under Dabo Swinney in 2020.

Because we try to stay positive, we are going to assume that Clemson football is going to play 11 regular-season games in 2020 and everyone stays healthy. Those 11 games are going to be very important as this team tries to make their sixth straight trip to the College Football Playoff – something no other program has accomplished.

While there is a lot to be said about the talent coming back in 2020, there are still some question marks that have to be answered when fall camps officially start here in the next couple of days.

The question marks on defense are the biggest ones – who starts strong side linebacker spot that Isaiah Simmons just vacated and who starts opposite of Derion Kendrick at the other corner spot?

While defensive coordinator Brent Venables ran a lot of three-man fronts in 2019, he did so because the back seven was the strength of the defensive while the defensive line was a work in progress. We won’t see too many three-man fronts in 2020, because of how deep and how talented the defensive line is.

While the DL may not be as individually talented as the “Power Rangers” were in 2016, 2017, and 2018 they are deeper and collectively a better group and will be the strength of the Tigers defense in 2020.