Clemson Football: Can Matt Luke Save The Current Offensive Line?

it's the million-dollar question maybe the difference between a 10- win season a potential ACC championship appearance and more can Matt Luke save the current offensive line that's what I'm going to talk about today on Clemson football live I'm glad you're here it's a beautiful Saturday Memorial Day weekend as we step back and think about all the sold men and women who gave their lives to defend this incredible country that we live in and uh so I'm not going to say happy Memorial Day because it's a very somber time it should be a time of reflection but uh I hope you do have a a good Memorial day and a time with your family and reflection really appreciate those sacrifices uh if you're new here I hope you sub subscribe to the channel if you like what I'm doing pass this along to anyone who enjoys Clemson football as well as college football because well I talk about other teams as well I had the guys from plant the spear on this week they're from Florida State we had a great conversation over an hourong video to where they talked about the lawsuit they talked about DJ we had some fun it was a it was a great time go check them out also I'm part of the college huddle it's just a group of YouTubers and podcasters who represent their schools so they ask me to represent Clemson and it's an honor so let's dive into this topic 98 days from right now now which is May the 25th it's a Saturday by this time in 98 days we'll know the outcome of the Clemson Georgia game and there is a lot of questions that we have and a lot of it revolves around drum roll plays the offense and we know it there's no question now the offensive line has been the subject of a lot of criticism and rightfully so but when I talk about the rankings of some of the players who were currently on the offense line when I talk about their starship when it's you know when you're considering three star four star five star coming out of high school some of your eyebrows are going to kind of well shoot to the back of your head in fact one of these guys was the top recruit in his recruiting cycle that just happened to be one of our best recruiting Cycles ever yet to watch him play you would never know that so what happened well coaching happened I've talked about this at nauseum coaching matters and if it doesn't matter why in the crap are these schools lining up to divvy out so much money to guys who you know if it's a game of luck sign me up I'll coach I don't have to know what I'm doing I know coaching's hard coaching is very very difficult but to see an artisan in coaching it's it's a St difference than to see someone who is either starting out or someone who's just not good at their job Matt Luke has such high respect in the CL in the Clemson Community right now and a lot of people are putting a lot on his shoulders why because he has great respect throughout college football I mean the guy is brilliant the guy knows what he's doing this is one of the best hires that daos Sweeny has ever made other than going to Brent venables and guys like him it's arguably one of the best hires that he's made but when you go to the offensive coaching room there's more changes I think that's probably going to need need to be made and in fact I believe well we're dealing with the results of not hiring Matt luk like coaches guys who have great experience who know what they're doing who's highly respected and by the way he was thrilled to receive a call from dbo Sweeny and he was he was fired up and ready to come to Clemson which shows again that at this point Clemson can call the top coaches position coaches in the country no matter what side of the ball that they coach on and they are more than thrilled to come to Clemson but to get to the point can he save the current offensive line why do I pose that question well you understand you have okay let me phrase this imagine waking up every day for the past two years and being forced to do a certain routine whether that routine is good or not whether it's brilliant or just absolutely well I'm trying to I'm trying to say this in a very nice way it's either productive or not but you do that routine for two straight years three straight years four straight years whatever we we'll go two or three and then one day someone comes in interrupts you takes you out of that routine no matter if it was good or bad and makes you be begin to implement a new routine we we are creatures of habit all of a sudden our head would begin to hurt your head would begin to hurt you wouldn't be as sure whether it was right or wrong you wouldn't be as for sure of yourself as you you were in the past just to kind of spit it out that's exactly what's happened to the players on the offensive line they were with Thomas Austin now you know me I try my very best not to just trash anyone I think that we need to get back to a big being more civil I think that Thomas Austin being a Clemson player should be uh treated as a Clemson Alam we should treat him with the respect and I can't blame Thomas Austin for taking the call from dbos Sweeny to come home and Coach the offensive line but it was too much too soon for Thomas Austin and unfortunately it ended with him being fired I'm not going to say that Thomas Austin will not end up being an incredible coach very well could be but at the time he was at Clemson he still had more to learn that's nothing against him and we don't know if his hands were tied because we found out that Garrett Riley's hands were tied for some reason hired the best supposed offensive coordinator in the country but we need to teach him Clemson system you know the Clemson system that hasn't worked in a while so Thomas atin has had this group for two years and he has ran them through specific drills for a very long time then you add in injuries Walker parks for for uh instance this guy was an incredible get in the 2020 class got him out of Kentucky he had offers from Notre Dame he had offers from alurn in Tennessee and we got him now this year he got injured in in uh what second game of the year against Charleston Southern so he was done for the year it was season ending but we had players who's graduated we've had players who's had to fill in because of injury in this scenario but there's been a lack of continuity among the group so you take the poor instruction and the poor drills that they've ran consistently for a long time then you put together the continuity issue having to move around to different positions and you really can't get a chemistry because offensive line is all about chemistry like the the game itself is but the off the trenches are you kidding me all the while everybody's going but we hired Matt Luke it takes a while to turn a big ship around you can't turn around a big ship in a canal why it'll get stuck genius sometimes you can't turn the ship around you have to keep it going down into until you finally reach big water to where you can spin it around and that's what I think with this current offensive line can he save the current offensive line who has been running these drills for at least two years now can he rep program program them because for you for those of you who's played at any level you know that the game is reaction you don't have time to think and if you think you get your block knocked off especially in the trenches so let's talk about some of these players now I'm probably going to leave some players out and I know that you in the harshest words you Poss possibly can find will remind me of it in fact I expect it I mentioned one of them Walker Parks 2020 uh class uh he was number two in the state of Kentucky he was number the number eight offensive tackle overall in that class Walker Parks is a dude he's the old man of the group he had the injury this year hoping that he can get back in the saddle and be okay and not experience any issues in 2024 we need Walker parks at 100% but that he was a big recruit he was number over 83 overall in the country this is according to 247 Sports the one that has well I'm G to save him until just a moment Colin Saddler from Clemson South from Greenville South Carolina excuse me he's number 150 third player overall number five player overall in the state of South Carolina had offers offers from Georgia Bama and Tennessee class of 2022 he's seen action due to injury of other players and and a lack of consistency in the 2021 class remember the 2021 class was the class that had Barrett Carter Jeremiah Trotter uh got a little guy named will Shipley Nate Wiggins from what I can remember that was like the number five recruiting class in the country it was unbelievable this guy was part of that class Ron Ron lcom he's from Damascus Maryland had offers from Fu Michigan Ohio State he rank number 240 overall I want to say he red shirted his first season could be wrong but if my memory serves me correct he did we really haven't heard anything out of him now we will I think he's going to be the starting center correct me if I'm wrong Marcus Tate a fourstar out of the class of 2021 Blake Miller from uh the state of Ohio he's between according to to different rankings between a three and four star player class of 2022 Harris Su from Texas fourstar player class of 20203 we have a development issue at Clemson those stats I just named out tells you that but no more than this player in 2021 yes that class I just named out just a second ago that was unb un believable had Barrett Carter in it and I just named all those players not going to do that again I'm not I'm not going to repeat it like I have Dementia or something who was the top rated player in that unbelievable class it wasn't will Shipley it wasn't Jeremiah troter it wasn't Nate Wiggins he was kind of tied but he kind with with Barrett Carter but Barrett I think that this person was actually above him just a touch go look it up 247 Sports Tristan Lee Tristan Lee was the number 16 overall player in the country overall quarterbacks running backs wide receivers defensive ends linebackers everything offensive lineman out of the state of Virginia this year he got knocked on his butt by Charleston Southern and you could say well Brian you're picking and choosing here one play but we've seen this unbelievable get out of high school not really produce anything that would make you go oh wow that guy was the top man in the in the recruiting cycle that's why I'm trying to get across to you I'm not knocking Tristan Lee I'm knock in the development now you pause there again and you go but Brian Matt Luke has not your right Matt Luke just got here back in December but the question is can he save some of these players now I'm not going to call players and say I don't believe that this person can be saved or not but I have I have a bad feeling that a few of these players are Beyond repair why because they have been running the same drill for the past two consecutive years part of an offense that had no identity part of an offense who was riddled with injury whether it be a wide receiver whether it be it offensive line you go why would you bring up wide receiver BR because all parts of the team function in parallel to one another see if the offensive line can't block long enough quarterback doesn't have time to go through his progression see if the offensive line doesn't block long enough wide receivers can't go through their progression but it's also the same thing if the wide receivers can't get open the offensive line has to attempt to hold a block longer and protect longer which increases what ineligible man downfield holding Etc nothing good comes from if the quarterback holds on to the ball too long and doesn't see a wide receiver get open offensive line pays for it the wide receiver court right wide receiving Court it pays for it and he is sometimes C the quarterback courtesy of a sack definitely pays for it see it all works together the offensive line to me is what needs to be saved this year because I believe with all of my heart that if Matt Luke can just save three of the five players get them revamped and I know you're sitting there going Brian you've got to have a whole line I agree with you I agree with you I'm just I'm I'm just I'm just trying to give Matt Luke a benefit of the doubt because I mean this is a big task you just you're not going to fix this overnight calm down that's why I'm telling y'all this 2024 season may not be pretty and it's because we're dealing with the residual effects of poor coaching hires you're not going to you could revamp the entire coaching staff and would you see see in improvements I'm talking about on the offensive side of the ball the defense defense is fine in fact the defense is the the hiring credentials and metrics for the defense requirements that's what I meant to say say the hiring requirements for the defense is totally different than the offense you actually have to know what you're doing to be on on the defense on the offense it doesn't matter did you play at Clemson before yep you're in that's what it was I think snny has learned from the error of his ways I'd like for Coach swinny to speed up a little bit and learn a little faster because firing a coach once every year it's just not working but it's his team he can do what he wants to with it but my point in all of this is this going to take some time to fix this and if Matt Luke can get the offensive line to block just solid Clemson could have a shot at a 9 or 10 win season let's just say that you count Georgia and Florida State as a loss boom you go ahead and say it it's it's a loss you don't want to I don't want to I don't want to lose to anybody especially Georgia but let's just say that you look at the schedule and and and you're just kind of being honest with yourself which a lot of you won't do not all of you some of you are very honest but you look at the schedule and you say okay let's go ahead and say that Georgia and Florida state is a lost what's the next game that could be a problem for us NC State but where is it at it's in Death Valley when it was the last time NC State beat Clemson 2002 in Clemson I should have said that better when was the last time NC State beat Clemson in Clemson 2002 Philip Rivers was a quarterback McLendon was playing running back that was the last time now can things change of course of course but if Clemson's offensive line can play well for the rest of the can play Just solid they don't even have to be game changers solid those are two losses you can get 10 wins you one of those are in onc conference games you could possibly get to the ACC Championship but the question is can Matt Luke save this current offensive line not because Matt Luke is not good enough it's because the past training was not good enough leave your comments below will the maturation or the retraining or the reprogramming however you want to put it will it be good enough to give Clemson's offense a fighting chance to possibly get 10 wins this year I want to know with the comments in the comment uh box below if you haven't subscribed hope you'll subscribe uh it's free it's the easiest way to support the channel I'm going to hop in here and say hello to a few people got Rob Allen in here Droid 132 F Andrew Krill got um Ruby Ridge got my old buddy in here uh Parker Henderson Parker is a supporter you said that Circle right there beside his name it means he's been supporting the channel or he is a member of uh Clemson football live he's been supporting the channel for a while thank you so much Parker for for supporting the channel howdy to you my friend if you want to support folks look remember I'm just a dude in his bonus room uh doing this game so or doing this game doing this whole thing it's kind of a game uh $3 $5 per month I do appreciate it thanks Parker it's good to see you pal I got Jay Melvin in here J jamus uh Payne let me see Colorado fan 27 uh let me see Jay it's good to see all of you in here folks I hope you have a great weekend stay safe and do remember why we have this weekend and uh you know treat everyone well I look forward to it remember 98 days from today is the Georgia Clemson game in Atlanta until then we'll talk college football until then I'm going to keep having guests on to talk college football we're just going to have a great time take care of yourself and as always go Tigers