Swinney's Confident in Clemson's Middle Linebackers

Clemson is looking at more of a committee approach at filling the shoes left behind by James Skalski.

A week into spring practice, Dabo Swinney doesn't know who the replacement for James Skalski is at middle linebacker. 

And the Clemson head coach is perfectly fine with that. 

"We've got a lot of competition there," Swinney said. "I think if we played today, you'd see a lot of 50-50 in reps, which is good because we've got guys that can play. We've got guys that can cross-train."

The competition for that middle linebacker spot, according to Swinney, has been between three players: juniors LaVonta Bentley and Keith Maguire and sophomore Jeremiah Trotter Jr. All three can also play the "Will" linebacker spot, creating even more competition. 

"No matter who runs out there first this year, we've got a really good group," Swinney said. "Probably more than any other year you're going to see a lot of playing time at that linebacker group."

Skalski spent six seasons with the Tigers and dominated snaps. He's a hard player to replace, so Clemson is likely to go with more of a committee approach early in the 2022 season. 

Bentley has seen the most action, producing 30 tackles in 2021. Maguire has played in 28 career games. Trotter is one of the most athletically-gifted defenders on the entire team. 

Swinney and defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Wes Goodwin has plenty of time to figure narrow down the playing time at middle linebacker, but it's not something the head coach is losing sleep over right now.

"It's very similar to our D-end situation. You've got some dudes," Swinney said. "It's going to be fun to see that competition and then see the performance on gameday and then you go from there. I'm confident in any of those guys. To say, 'Hey, this guy is the best guy right now,' I'm not ready to say that."

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