Tight Ends are Taking Shape

The Clemson Tigers have struggled to find a suitable replacement at tight end. In fact, ever since the departure of Jordan Leggett, following the 2016 season, the Tigers have been less than effective at the position, but that may be changing.

CLEMSON — The Clemson Tigers have struggled to find a suitable replacement at tight end. In fact, ever since the departure of Jordan Leggett, following the 2016 season, the Tigers have been less than effective at the position. 

All of that may be changing, and all because of a true freshman — Davis Allen.

Allen entered the Tigers program in the summer and missed the majority of fall camp with an injury, but that did not stop him from getting "mental reps." Those reps now have paid off for Allen.

"He's gained my trust, I'll play him in any situation," head coach Dabo Swinney said. "Took a while to get him healthy and he missed all of camp basically, so mentally he had to kind of catch up. Physically, he's an incredibly trustworthy guy. He's got great ball skills, big, strong kid, fundamentally really sound, he's got good technique. He had a couple of key blocks this past week. Did a great job in our screens in space, covering guys up. He's just a really good football player. He's an athlete, he played offense obviously, he was pitcher, basketball player, his dad was a really good linebacker at Georgia, he's just got a lot of natural stuff that comes to the table."

The emergence of Allen has allowed the Tigers to entertain the possibility of redshirting fellow true freshman Jaelyn Lay, who has the size and athleticism, but the game has not slowed down for him as much as it has for Allen.

That, and the fact the Tigers will get Braden Galloway back from suspension after testing positive for Ostarine before the Cotton Bowl last season, means the Tigers are going to hold Lay for next season.

"And now that he has played and gotten more experience, he's just moving with more confidence in everything he does. That's allowed us to hit the pause button on Jaelyn (Lay) a little bit," Swinney said. "And Jaelyn has been great. He could easily play. We have played him in three games. We are kind of holding him. If Braden Galloway wasn't coming back, then it'd be a no-brainer — we'd have to play him. 

"That gap is kind of closing between when Braden gets out of jail to now, it's shrinking. So if we can get by, it'd be really beneficial to our team and Jaelyn going forward."

While Tiger fans are busy wondering when the next dynamic tight end will emerge, Swinney believes that the group they have right now is more than serviceable, especially when they end up finding diamonds in the rough like Luke Price.

"Really the guy that has changed the plan is Luke Price," Swinney said. "He does a lot of dirty work that may not show up on the stat sheet but he's a good football player. Tough, physical, incredibly strong, explosive power. We just moved him from linebacker in the spring and didn't know how he'd project and make the transition. But I tell you, Luke has been a blessing for us."