While the Clemson Tigers had a rough day offensively against the No. 1 team in College Football, the defense was able to keep the contest competitive up until around the third quarter; holding Georgia to just six points in the first-half.
With that being said, here are the grades for each defensive position room.
Safeties: C
There’s not too much to say for this group as we expectedly saw a lot of good instincts out of fifth-year veteran R.J. Mickens this past Saturday, whether it was in pass coverage or coming down on run plays; recording five tackles and two pass-deflections.
Red-shirt sophomore, Kylon Griffin, got his first start of his career and played well, but didn’t make a huge impact. He recorded one tackle in the game, with it coming from a 20+ yard pass play that could’ve been broken free for a touchdown. However, his inexperience showed as he was outplayed on a wide receiver bubble screen that got Georgia’s offense to the goal-line in the third quarter.
Cornerbacks: B-
For what was thrown at these young corners, I feel that they performed up to expectations considering the offense that they were facing.
The most notable performance from the cornerback position room was Jeadyn Lukus, who hasn’t played since October of 2023. He performed amazing in his first game back as he was all over the field on run plays making tackles in the flats and looked like one of the most gritty, hustling guys on the field. The only bleak play I noticed by him was when he allowed a touchdown on a back-shoulder fade to the right-side pylon in the third quarter. He finished with six tackles in the game.
Aveion Terrell led as the CB1 heading into this game and played the role well for a young, true-sophomore. According to PFF, he was targeted ten times and allowed six catches for 81 yards. However, most of the catches that he allowed were played well technique and coverage wise by Terrell, Carson Beck just happens to be one of the best Quarterbacks in College Football and is able to put the bread right in the basket for the receivers.
Khalil Barnes also made some plays at the nickel back position, recording two tackles and one pass-deflection. But, the biggest problem with the cornerback position isn’t the play, it’s the availability and depth within the position room. Projected starting cornerback heading into the season, Shelton Lewis, suffered an injury in fall camp and played zero snaps this past weekend. Lukus and Terrell dominated snaps; with Lukus playing all 62 snaps and Terrell playing 60, with true-freshman Ashton Hampton replacing Terrell on the other two snaps. It will be interesting to see how this room pans out.
Linebackers: C-
I had high expectations for Clemson’s linebackers coming into this game, and while they were seen all over the place, they seemed just a little bit off. But, I also think position depth and the choices to not play guys played a strong role in this outcome.
Wade Woodaz led the team in tackles on the day with eight tackles, with one being for a loss of yards. However, he took a lot of the wrong angles for tackles and gave up a lot of yards in coverage to Georgia’s speedy running backs out of the back-field.
One of the biggest leaders of this Clemson Tigers team, Barrett Carter, surprisingly went under the radar in this game. While he played 61 out of the 62 defensive snaps, he tallied up only three tackles. He seemed to have a similar problem to Woodaz, just simply missing tackles and not getting the right angles on skill position players to take them down.
Sophomore linebacker Kobe McCloud played in two defensive snaps throughout the game but didn’t perform well, letting up big chunk yardage. Playing the young backers was not in the game-plan for the Tigers as Jamal Anderson, Dee Crayton, and true freshman/former 5-star recruit Sammy Brown played special teams but got zero defensive snaps. However, head coach Dabo Swinney is staying loyal to Woodaz, Carter, and McCloud heading into their upcoming contest against App State.
Defensive Line: A-
Clemson’s defensive line looked like a force to be reckoned with this season based on their performance against Georgia.
It seemed Georgia’s offense had to switch up their run scheme as the front seven for the Tigers were all over the trenches, holding it down on the inside. So, Georgia decided to go for more outside and stretch run plays. The Bulldogs were able to rush for 169 total yards in this game, the elusive true-freshman Nate Frazier led the charge with 83 yards and one touchdown, with half of these yards coming from a 40-yard chunk play that was caused by extremely poor tackling.
Peter Woods shined in this season opener for Clemson, recording six tackles, 2.5 tackles for a loss, and one sack; which he got while playing at his new position, edge rusher.
Another guy that stuck out to me was DeMonte Capehart, who had his best season last year and looks to get even better going into his final season at Clemson. Capehart was every where on the field just like Peter Woods, making open-field tackles and showcasing his instincts in stopping the run. Look out for both of these guys to have a great season this year.
