Clemson football: Questions, Surprises & Standouts through first fall camp weekend

The Clemson football team hit the ground running this past weekend as the Tigers began preparing for the upcoming 2021 season with two practices in which the media was granted full access.

The loudspeakers blared Thin Lizzy’s ‘The Boys Are Back In Town’ prior to the start of Friday afternoon’s first practice and, as it always does, that signaled the beginning of Clemson football preseason camp.

As we take a look back on the weekend, here’s a look at questions, surprises and standouts for Clemson in the first couple of practices.

Surprises for Clemson football through first fall camp weekend

• Justin Mascoll working with the starters at DE
• Kobe Pace was the first running back out
• We might have a freshman in the starting offensive line
• Will Taylor has a stronger arm than we expected & Taisun Phommachanh doesn’t look hurt

Two of the biggest surprises of the weekend had to do with the rotation at running back and defensive end.

Justin Mascoll, who many Clemson football fans figured to be fifth in terms of the defensive end pecking order, was the first to run out with the starters. Perhaps this is a motivation ploy by Dabo Swinney directed at Xavier Thomas, KJ Henry and/or Justin Foster, but it still shows that Mascoll must have made some improvements.

Kobe Pace and Lyn-J Dixon are the two veterans figured to get the most playing time at running back, but the overall expectation is that Dixon would be first. It was actually Pace who led the running backs, though.

There might be a true-freshman starter on the offensive line and it’s OG Marcus Tate, who saw a ton of reps with the ones and seems to be factoring into the lineup in a big way. Finally, freshman Will Taylor certainly looked like a capable quarterback from all accounts and Taisun Phommachanh reportedly moved in a way that if you didn’t know he had been injured, you never would’ve known it this past weekend.

Standouts for Clemson football through first fall camp weekend

• The usual suspects are more than ready
• Will Shipley continues to draw attention
• Marcus Tate and Tristan Leigh on the offensive line
• Ajou Ajou showed his freakish athleticism
• Barrett Carter, Trenton Simpson combo is going to be lethal
• Troy Stellato is proving his star-rating

The usual suspects– D.J. Uiagalelei, Bryan Bresee, Myles Murphy– are all ready to make an impact, but there were some other names who drew attention as well.

Will Shipley continues to draw rave reviews and he was taking snaps with the first-team along with Pace and Lyn-J Dixon.

Ajou Ajou made some freaky plays and freshman Troy Stellato is one of the faster wide receivers on the team.

Defensively, Trenton Simpson and Barrett Carter are just two monsters. Carter didn’t come to sit on the sideline and he’s going to factor into the defense in a major way beginning this year as a freshman.

Questions for Clemson football through first fall camp weekend

• Can the cornerbacks develop?
• How does the offensive line rotation shape up?

Our two biggest question marks have to do with the cornerbacks and the offensive line.

The cornerbacks, really outside of Andrew Booth Jr., were beaten soundly by the wide receivers on many occasions and it’s clear they’ve got to get better. Dabo Swinney was tired of seeing the group holding, so he made them wear boxing gloves.

On the offensive line, it’s going to be interesting to see what the rotation looks like. At this point, we believe that Walker Parks and Jordan McFadden are firmly entrenched as starters at offensive tackle, but the interior of that offensive line is still being worked out.

We really like the potential of Marcus Tate and it would be intriguing to see what an offensive line would look like with him at guard, Will Putnam at guard and then Matt Bockhorst anchoring the center.

Only time will tell if that becomes a reality, though.