The regular season is almost here. With the Clemson Tigers having concluded fall camp, all eyes are now on their huge Week 1 road date at the LSU Tigers. Clemson is coming off its worst season in well over a decade. While they could get the best of the Bayou Bengals during Lane Kiffin's first season at the helm of LSU, Dabo Swinney's Clemson team did not finish fall camp on the best of circumstances.
Swinney called the penultimate practice of the season the worst one of the summer. Despite not being ranked to start out this season, Clemson is still a contender to come out of the ACC this year. Frankly, it may require another ACC Championship for the Tigers to reach the College Football Playoff again. Thankfully, the Tigers have the conference schedule to potentially make that dream a reality.
Now that fall camp has ended, let's take a look at Clemson's three biggest winners and losers from it.
Andy Burburija could make a name for himself right away at Clemson
While defensive line play stuck out like a sore thumb throughout fall camp, Andy Burburija was arguably the biggest winner from Clemson's worst position group. The junior college transfer out of Iowa Western was seen blowing up offensive linemen left and right during practice. Although it may be a big jump up for him to go from the JUCO level to the ACC, the Tigers are counting on him to do it.
Adding to the importance of Burburija's amazing fall camp was the atrocious summer Vic Burley put forth. Not only was the inconsistent and constantly injured defensive tackle sidelined once again, but he was arrested for disorderly conduct right after fall camp ended. It resulted in him being suspended from the program. Barring something unforeseen, Burburija moves into a starting role for Clemson.
We can only hope Burburija's competitiveness and firepower helps get Clemson out of this bad spot.
Vic Burley's Clemson run has come to an end after being suspended
As stated above, Vic Burley had a no good, very bad fall camp for Clemson. Not only did the veteran defensive tackle fail to rise to the occasion as a leader for this middling unit, but he got hurt again and was later suspended by the team. For as good of a training camp as Matt Luke's offensive line had, Burley's departure from the team best encapsulates how poorly things went for the defensive line.
Burley's arrest was the cherry on top for a training camp that somehow went awry for the Tigers. This was a team thought to be highly motivated to overcome last year's disappointment. In a way, Burley unfortunately personifies those rampant failures. Now that he is no longer part of the team, Clemson will be left with no choice but to move forward. If there is any good news, it happened before Week 1.
If Andy Burburija was a big winner of Clemson fall camp, then Burley will go down as its biggest loser.
Christopher Vizzina looks like Clemson's starting quarterback for Week 1
It may have always been trending in that direction, but it seems as though veteran Christopher Vizzina will likely be named the Tigers' starting quarterback. He battled all training camp with Tait Reynolds for the starting job. Even though the true freshman may have the higher upside, Vizzina appears to be the mature adult this position group needs under center, at least for the time being...
Even if he did not play all that great in Clemson's second of two intra-squad scrimmages, the quarterback room's pecking order seems to be well-established. Vizzina will surely get the first crack at being the starter, before potentially giving way to Reynolds at some point later on during the season. Although he has not officially been named the starter yet, it is certainly trending that way.
In an offseason of great turbulence, Vizzina provided some level of relative familiarity for the Tigers.
Chris Denson is no longer a quarterback for Clemson, but a wide receiver
Not to say he is the biggest loser from fall camp by any means, but Chris Denson no longer plays quarterback for the Tigers. It was toward the latter stages of camp that the offensive staff moved him out of the quarterback race and into the wide receiver room. Denson was thought to be in the mix for the starting job with Christopher Vizzina and Tait Reynolds, but they separated themselves from him.
After being somewhere around third on the Clemson quarterbacking depth chart, Denson now finds himself fifth on the depth chart at the Z wide receiver position headline by Bryant Wesco Jr. Clemson typically has a loaded wide receiver room. While this could help Denson get the most out of his emerging talent, this position change does come across as a move to help keep him on the roster.
It might be more about Vizzina and Reynolds, but Denson is well on his way toward being forgotten.
Ashton Hampton is ready to be the leader this defensive backfield needs
It was only a matter of time before Ashton Hampton emerged as the star playmaker Clemson's secondary has been in need of. Apparently, he played out of his mind during fall camp. While this not much of a surprise, it does help Clemson fans feel better about their defensive backfield after what transpired last fall. Even with Avieon Terrell off to the NFL, that position group left a lot to be desired.
Although it may not be in his nature to be a prototypical leader, Hampton can lead by example. By letting his play speak for itself, that could go a long way toward Clemson rounding into form across the defense. Frankly, Tom Allen needs a player out on the perimeter he can rely on. Hampton was asked to step his game up during training camp. He more than did so, passing it with flying colors.
Sammy Brown is this team's best defender, but Hampton might be a closer second than expected.
Polo Anderson's freshman season came to an end before it even began
No way around it, this just stinks. Polo Anderson came into fall camp with a ton of promise, hoping to be an impactful player right away as a true freshman. While he was buried on the depth chart a bit, Anderson was a fast mover up it ever since he arrived on campus. Unfortunately, Anderson suffered a torn ACL midway through fall camp. He will miss the entirety of his freshman season because of this.
While this is not the end of the world for him at Clemson, it does slow him down a bit. Not only does he miss all of this season's practices to gain experience and get better, but he will be spending part of next offseason rehabbing his injured knee. Simply put, the game is not going to slow down for him as quickly as we would have hoped. He has to be healthy first. Sadly, that is not happening this season.
Anderson was taking advantage of his situation like Ashton Hampton, but only one is playing now.
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