Clemson football: Brent Venables’ biggest test comes this offseason

Clemson football Defensive Coordinator Brent Venables’ biggest test is coming this offseason

Clemson football Defensive Coordinator Brent Venables will have the biggest test of his career this coming 2021 offseason.

In the last two CFB Playoff games that the Tigers have been a part of, Clemson has given up a combined 91 points and 1,267 yards of total offense. That was against two prolific offenses- Ohio State led by Justin Fields and LSU led by Joe Burrow– but it doesn’t change the fact that you simply aren’t going to win a lot of games when you’re giving up more than 600 yards of offense in a game and are on the field defensively for more than 34 minutes of the game (which happened in both contests).

Now, some want to point to Venables or the Clemson football defense as the problem. There’s certainly plenty of blame to go around.

The Tigers were out of position in many circumstances during those two games. The defensive backfields were completely torn up on both occasions (the two QBs combined for 848 yards passing).

But it’s not just the secondary, either. The Tigers didn’t do a great job in either matchup of consistently getting to the quarterback and coming away with tackles for loss that set their opponent up behind the lines of scrimmage.

Clemson did sack Burrow five times, but outside of those sacks, the Tigers had just three tackles for loss on the night. Against Ohio State, Clemson got to Justin Fields just twice and had six tackles for loss total.

In both games, Clemson lost the turnover battle.

The biggest challenge for the Clemson football Defensive Coordinator is finding ways to shut down this new-era of offense

We can talk about how the defensive backfield was terrible against Ohio State and how they were beaten soundly at other times during the year, as well. We can talk about how the Tigers’ edge-rushers never consistently beat their men and didn’t get pressure on the quarterback as they should have.

Yes, there are personnel developments, fixes and changes that need to happen.

But the challenge that Venables is faced with this offseason is concocting a game plan that gives his defense a favorable chance against these high-powered offenses that are running the RPO (run-pass option) game to perfection.

Every rule in the game favors the offense. Offensive linemen can now be down the field (at least a certain amount of yards) and not be called for an ‘illegal man downfield’ penalty because of the RPO game.

It’s a universal problem that no Defensive Coordinator has found a clear-cut way to defend.

These quarterbacks are able to read defenders and they have so many options that it’s become nearly impossible to defend.

Of course, the RPO game isn’t the only reason that Clemson lost to LSU or Ohio State, by any means. But, it’s certainly part of the scheme that has been so difficult for the Tigers (and every defense across the nation) to figure out how to stop.

So, what can Venables do?

• Continue to use multiple sets and develop the personnel to gain as much athleticism on the backend as possible.
• Put athletes all across the field. Even if that means moving an OLB to the DE spot or bringing in another DB or two to put more speed on the field.
• Develop a defensive line that creates massive pressure from the inside-out and doesn’t allow consistent rushing attacks

There’s a ton of work to be done this offseason- from personnel development to schemes being reworked to plugging the holes in the secondary to getting the defensive line to be more physical to raising up more athletic linebackers to finding ways to put more athletes on the field- but the biggest will be putting his guys in position to make stops and succeed against these high-powered offenses we are seeing take over the College Football world.

If anyone in all of College Football can figure out a way to stop it, it’s Brent Venables and that’s why Clemson football is extremely fortunate to have him.