Clemson football: Opening line for 2021 Orange & White spring game with rosters set

The Clemson football team will have one final practice for the spring season this Saturday when they take the field in Death Valley in front of a live crowd and on television for the annual Orange & White Spring Game.

The rosters have been set and right around 19,000 Clemson football fans will be in attendance.

It’s always a fun day when we get to see the Tigers in action and it should be interesting to watch some of the specific positional units and how those competitions play out during the glorified scrimmage for Clemson.

Opening line for 2021 Clemson football spring now that rosters are set

You can view the entire roster for each team here, but we’ll give you a little breakdown of the major names for both.

Orange Team (high-pointed names who are expected to play):

• QB: DJ Uiagalelei, Hunter Helms
• RB: Will Shipley, Michel Dukes, Kobe Pace
• WR: Joseph Ngata, Beaux Collins, Will Swinney
• TE: Jaelyn Lay
• OL: Jordan McFadden, Mason Trotter,  Ryan Linthicum, Mitchell Mayes, John Williams
• DL: Myles Murphy, Greg Williams, Tyler Davis, DeMonte Capehart, Ruke Orhorhoro
• LB: Trenton Simpson, Keith Maguire, Kevin Swint (will play DL & LB), Jake Venables
• DBs: RJ Mickens, Joseph Charleston, Andrew Booth Jr., Nate Wiggins

White Team (high-pointed names who are expected to play):

• QB: Taisun Phommachanh, Hunter Helms
• RB: Lyn-J Dixon, Darien Rencher, Phil Mafah, Chez Mellusi
• WR: Ajou Ajou, EJ Williams, Dacari Collins
• TE: Jake Briningstool, Davis Allen
• OL: Walker Parks, Paul Tchio, Will Putnam, Hunter Rayburn, Marcus Tate
• DL: Xavier Thomas, Justin Mascoll, Bryan Bresee, Tre Williams, Darnell Jefferies, Cade Denhoff, Ragan Upshaw
• LB: Kane Patterson, Vonta Bentley, Sergio Allen
• DBs: Tyler Venables, Ray Thornton III, Jalyn Phillips, Fred Davis II, Sheridan Jones

If there are some names you’re not seeing that you think should be on this list, there’s a decent chance they won’t be able to participate on Saturday.

James Skalski, Frank Ladson Jr., Mario Goodrich, Etinosa Reuben, Lannden Zanders, Matt Bockhorst, Luke Price, Andrew Mukuba, Justly Ross, K.J. Henry, Brannon Spector, Baylon Spector, Malcolm Greene, Nolan Turner, Trent Howard and Braden Galloway are all out due to injury or are not expected to play for whatever reason.

As far as the opening line goes, you’ve got to look at the guys on the field.

D.J. Uiagalelei is by far the best quarterback, so you’ve got to give an advantage to the Orange Team in that respect. That being said, the white team has a much deeper defensive line and they should be able to get some pressure on him and force him to throw the ball before complex routes develop.

The White Team also has a deeper stable of running backs to make up for what they might lack in the quarterback game. The other thing you’ve got to take into account is the fact that we will likely only see Uiagalelei play a half. He is going to lead his team for the first half and then it wouldn’t be surprising at all if it was the Helms-Phommachanh show for the second half.

The overall verdict? We’re going to give The White Team a slight advantage.

We’ve got White -3.5 over the Orange.