Matt Luke has only coached one game for Clemson Football. It was the Gator Bowl at the end of last season. Clemson won a close game, and the offensive line did their job.
We couldn’t really glean anything meaningful from that single game. Luke admitted that he didn’t know all the signals and vocabulary they used. He had to rely on others to help him. That is logical but many coaches probably wouldn’t have been comfortable being that honest that they didn’t have full control over every aspect of their group.
It’s easy to respect someone when you feel like they won’t BS you. Let’s be honest: Dabo Swinney is a great coach, a master motivator, and a heck of a salesperson for Clemson Football. He is also very capable of delivering a lot of BS when doing those jobs.
Swinney, as well as others on the staff, have been hyping the offensive line in both of the past two offseasons. Swinney has said he felt they could roll out 10 guys (give or take) that he felt comfortable putting on the field. He would provide glowing descriptions of the progress of individual players.
When the season rolled around, the starting five got the mass majority of the snaps, with one or two other guys getting a handful here and there. Several of those individuals who were making big progress in the spring and fall would finish the season with 20 snaps or fewer.
The only reason it seemed like this offensive line would ever approach ten players who saw significant snaps in the season was that injury knocked starters out.
It is hard to trust the hype these days, even when it comes from Swinney.
Luke was asked about his rotation as they approached fall camp, and we got a very different answer from him.
Clemson OL coach Matt Luke says he’s hoping to have 7-8 guys he can comfortably rotate in on the line any given game or moment. Jokes he’d obviously rather have 15 pic.twitter.com/QhwBLBtvUi
— Chapel Fowler (@chapelfowler) July 16, 2024
This is a very believable answer. He has four returning starters. A couple are recovering from injuries but I think he is including them in his top 7-8.
He mentioned Ryan Linthicum is the leader to replace Will Putnam at center, with Harris Sewell right behind him. Sewell is also expected to contribute at guard, so it seems logical both are part of the equation. That brings you to six.
Matt Luke talking now. Says Ryan Linthicum exited the spring as the starter at center. Anticipates Harris Sewell will continue to push there. pic.twitter.com/O2Os0HaG7H
— Jon Blau (@Jon_Blau) July 16, 2024
The next guys, based on what we saw last year, would be Colin Sadler and Trent Howard. That would be eight, and that makes sense.
In years past, we might have heard more flowery descriptions about this line that would get all of us excited that they were going to get a big push and Will Shipley and Phil Mafah would both run for over 100 yards a game.
I feel like Luke is being a straight shooter. This makes me more comfortable with accepting his claims about this line as fall camp progresses.
If Swinney tells us all about how a young guy is blossoming and ‘coming on’, that’s great. I’ll believe it when Luke confirms it.