Clemson football: 3 steps to fixing the Tiger offense heading into the rest of 2021

The Clemson football team did not get the 2021 season off to the start that many had hoped.

The Tigers fell short 10-3 against the Georgia Bulldogs and had one of the poorest offensive showings we’ve seen around the program in quite some time.

Now, as we head into the rest of 2021, there are plenty of questions and concerns as to what Clemson can do to fix the offense.

Three steps to fixing the Clemson football offense heading into the rest of 2021

Step 1: It all starts with the offensive line

We all understand that the Clemson offensive line was soundly beaten on Saturday night. Georgia was able to get in the backfield basically all night long and the line did little to stop anything in terms of pressure that the Bulldogs were applying.

So, how does that group get better?

• Continuity
• Confidence
• Scheme changes

The first thing Clemson has to do is it needs to identify the starting five and their roles. They also need to identify who those next 3-4 guys are and who they can trust to step into the game and make an impact when needed.

When everyone knows their role and what is expected of them, continuity and chemistry can begin to take hold. It’s great in theory to cross-train guys for multiple positions, but you’ve got to have an understanding of what your role is and right now, unfortunately, that offensive line was a cluster of players who were uncomfortable and anything but confident.

Jordan McFadden and Matt Bockhorst, though they were starters last season, are playing new positions. Marcus Tate is a freshman. Will Putnam struggled even though he was playing his same position. Walker Parks played some last year, but is just now stepping into his role as a full-time starter.

The Tigers need to identify who their ‘best five’ is and those five need to play with one another. They need to get snaps together and it needs to happen early and often. That may result in depth not being developed quite as fast, but it doesn’t matter.

Once you’ve got continuity, you’ve got confidence. If you can get to the confident and trusting level, you can scheme around some of those deficiencies to make this unit as good as it can possibly be.