If you know Clemson football, you know the linebackers are the soul of this defense. This spring, that tradition is alive and well. Clemson defensive coordinator Tom Allen is getting exactly what he wants from this group, and you can see it in the way Sammy Brown is flying around at MIKE and Kobe McCloud is locking things down at WILL. The gap between the starters and everyone else is finally starting to show, and that's exactly what Tiger fans have been waiting for.
“Linebacker kind of sticks out to me as really improved as a collective group and as a group that we know needed to really improve a lot,” Allen noted. He also gave a massive shout-out to a veteran playing with a renewed fire: “Jeremiah Alexander is playing his best football since he’s been here.”
But let’s not kid ourselves—the middle of this defense is more than just the headline names. With Fletcher Cothran and C.J. Kubah-Taylor making noise, and Vic Burley drawing big-time expectations at tackle, Clemson is finally building the kind of depth that wins championships. The talent is there, and now the depth chart is starting to look just as scary.
Regarding Burley, Allen is demanding the veteran take the next step: “He's one I'm counting on. And I want to see him put in a position of some leadership in this phase of what we're doing and want to see that grow and continue throughout the summer. I want to see him be able to continue to develop himself physically, be a guy that we can count on. We need for him to be a guy that we can count on. He was brought here for that reason and was brought here with a lot of high expectations. And so that's where you've got to step up and become that guy that we need you to be.”
Allen continued on Burley’s progress: “I thought he did a great job in the phase leading up to spring football. And so I expect the same thing from him in the next phase after spring football, in the weight room and just being able to shape his body and show that the twitch and the burst that they saw in him before he was brought here, and what I've seen on him since I've been here.”