Clemson Football is now ranked No. 10 in the AP Polls after a 4-1 start and a recent 29-13 ACC win over the Florida State Seminoles. The defense looked very good but there were some noticeable errors to be improved upon heading into their next conference matchup at Wake Forest. With that being said, here are my defensive position grades after watching this past weekend:
Safeties: A-
Senior R.J. Mickens continued to impress in his fifth appearance of the year, but in a different way than last week. He was stacked in the box to slow down the run-heavy offense of Stanford in Week 5 but this past week he clocked in 40 snaps at FS and 19 in the box. The 210-pound safety racked up five tackles and two pass deflections, allowing just one reception for eight yards.
Khalil Barnes looked heavily improved in coverage as he allowed one reception on two targets for zero yards. He played fast, aggressive, and poised; totaling six tackles in his impressive performance.
Cornerbacks: C+
Avieon Terrell still had a great showcasing in Tallahassee this past weekend but still allowed some key plays defensively throughout the night. He was great in the run game, recording six tackles and 1.5 tackles for a loss; including an impressive play where he read the run play like a book and was assisted in bringing down Florida State RB Lawrance Toafili. His performance in coverage wasn’t poor but wasn’t the best as he allowed three receptions (season-high) for 28 yards, including a 13-yard touchdown. However, he still proved that his ball hawk skills are elite by picking off FSU QB Brock Glenn on a horribly under thrown ball late in the first quarter.
True-freshman Ashton Hampton got the most snaps of his career (35) against Florida State and showed a good bit of potential in the time played. He finished the game with three tackles and one pass deflection but still allowed 30 yards on two receptions. Nevertheless, he was targeted frequently unsurprisingly and still held his ground.
South Carolina native Jeadyn Lukus didn’t look too great on the turf, allowing three receptions on four targets for 44 yards. However, he was still able to get a pass deflection. This poor showing could possibly be due to him getting put at RCB rather than LCB, which he’s played the entire year up until this point.
Shelton Lewis had a similar game to Lukus, allowing four receptions for 24 yards; including a 13-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter that put the Seminoles back in the game momentarily.
Linebackers: A
The profound Clemson duo of Wade Woodaz and Barrett Carter struck again versus the Seminoles as the two veteran backers combined for 20 tackles, one sack, one pass deflection, two tackles for a loss and a forced fumble. Woodaz and Carter played a lot of coverage snaps at their respective positions; Carter performed very well in that area but Woodaz, uncharacteristically, allowed multiple catches that went in the Seminoles’ favor. Regardless, both had great performances and seem to be truly emerging as the leaders of this Clemson defense.
Defensive Line: A+
Peter Woods made his first appearance back from injury, only playing 22 snaps but still finished with two hurries. T.J. Parker continues to execute flawlessly on the field in absence of a healthy Peter Woods, recording his fourth sack in the past three games along with five tackles. He also contributed three QB hits and two hurries.
Red-shirt sophomore Jahiem Lawson continues to improve as the season goes on, tallying 40 or more snaps in each of the past two games. He showed why he deserves the increase in his snap count even more in the sunshine state, recording two tackles, one tackle for a loss, one pass deflection, two QB hits and two hurries.
Defensive tackles Tre Williams and DeMonte Capehart looked excellent as well, getting versatile in the trenches. The two registered three tackles, three pass deflections and two hurries. The senior duo looks to be gaining more chemistry game by game.
Overall, the defensive line played tremendous as they held the Seminoles to just 22 yards on 23 carries in Tallahassee.
