Clemson football: I hope I will owe Will Putnam an apology

As a Clemson football fan, I wish for the best for all of Clemson’s players. The better they play, the better the team is and the better their individual fortunes turn out.

Objectively, I feel like I can be hopeful for every player to reach their potential while also being blunt about their current & historical performance. In other words, just because I haven’t had many positive things to say about a player before doesn’t mean I’m not hoping that will change with the beginning of a new season.

There is one player in particular that I haven’t been all that impressed by that I sincerely hope gives me a reason to say “I was wrong” this year.

No, that player is not DJ Uiagalelei. That player is Will Putnam.

Putnam was just named to the watchlist for the Rimington Trophy, which is awarded annually to the top center in the nation. This is despite the fact that he has not taken a single snap in a regular season or postseason game in his entire college career.

Putnam was a 4-star recruit in the Class of 2019 in the 247 Composite. He was #101 overall and fifth best offensive guard in the nation.

In contrast, Hunter Rayburn and Mason Trotter were also part of the Class of 2019. Rayburn was a 3-star and Trotter was a 2-star. In the Class of 2018, Jackson Carman was a 5-star and Jordan McFadden was a 3-star.

Naturally, among the five guys from those two classes, I expected Carman and Putnam to excel. As usual with developmental guys, like McFadden and Rayburn, I hoped they would eventually be able to contribute.

Carman performed well when he replaced Mitch Hyatt at left tackle and is already in the NFL. McFadden has proven to be a very reliable player, routinely getting good grades and is expected to be one of the better tackles in college football in 2022.

Putnam saw the field immediately in 2019 as a guard and has been in the starting lineup the better part of the past two seasons when healthy, but for most of that time he hasn’t been grading out quite as well. Putnam was typically grading out in the 60’s, which is low compared to most linemen. Because I was seeing 80’s from McFadden and 70’s from good linemen around the nation, I was down on Putnam. I was disappointed because I expected better grades from a 4-star recruit.

Time has shown me that judgement was harsh. Jokingly, I blame Hyatt and Carman. Hyatt came in as a true freshman and started four seasons for the Tigers. My feeling is Carman probably could have started somewhere on the line as a freshman if Clemson needed that from him. When he was called on as left tackle as a sophomore, he was ready and usually graded well.

I’ve been a Clemson fan for a long-time, and for most of those years (decades), it seems the Tigers are usually developing 3-star and 2-star players on the line. When they did get higher-rated guys, they were put out there quickly and were considered among the best players. I was just under the impression that highly-rated offensive linemen should be ready to go out of the gate, especially ones that enter their freshman season at 6′-4″ and 290 lbs.

Since then, I’ve gleaned that it isn’t that simple. Clemson has plenty of offensive line recruits over the past few classes that are highly-rated but weren’t ready to play at a high level right away. Clemson’s top-rated prospect from 2021, Tristan Leigh, barely saw the field last season and needed to redshirt. Marcus Tate, a freshman that played well in the 2021 Spring Game, was needed on the field faster than expected because of injuries, and while he has a lot of promise, he struggled early as well.

Despite contending with injuries himself, Putnam was still the highest rated interior lineman for Clemson in 2021, coming in just ahead of Tate. When Rayburn retired due to medical reasons, the coaching staff needed to identify the best candidate to to take over at center, and the staff zeroed in on Putnam.

They clearly had the most confidence in Putnam, regardless of what grades he was given by PFF. Now the Rimington Trophy has put him on the watchlist for 2022, even though their only evidence was what they saw in the Spring Game.

The staff hasn’t been shy with their praise for how quickly Putnam has picked up the center position. I suppose the Rimington committee may be listening to that as well. It is possible they trust the opinions of Clemson’s staff.

In the end, I have decided the most likely explanation is that I just don’t understand what grades mean at all, because when I look at the website for the Rimington, it states:

"This year, the Trophy committee worked with Pro Football Focus (PFF) to narrow down its list to the top 40 centers."

There it is. PFF’s grading, which is the very basis for my lack of respect for Putnam, is one of the primary reasons Putnam is on the watchlist.

I’m just going to shut my mouth and pay attention now, and I sincerely hope by the time the Rimington Trophy is awarded that I am admitting how wrong I’ve been about Will Putnam.