Clemson football: 10 things that will define Tigers’ 2021 season

The 2021 Clemson football season will be defined by these things

2. The offensive line

If you want to determine the success of Clemson offensively this season, you can look at the offensive line and get a pretty good picture.

The offensive line was a clear weakness during the 2020 season and the Tigers have got to find a way to strengthen that group up-front heading into this year.

Clemson feels good about its two starting offensive tackles in Jordan McFadden and Walker Parks, but the interior of the line is still in question.

Matt Bockhorst, Hunter Rayburn and Mason Trotter have all seen time at center and there have reportedly been issues with the snap at times.

Freshman Marcus Tate has played left guard for much of camp when Bockhorst was at center and it’s our expectation that he will be a starter before the end of the season, if he hasn’t already earned the spot.

The Tigers want to get the best five on the field and we believe those five are McFadden, Parks, Will Putnam, Bockhorst at center and then Tate. If Clemson can develop depth at the position, there’s a good chance that this group will be stronger than the previous group.