2024 Season Preview: Clemson Roster Depth Charts - Offense

[Spoof]

The 2024 season approaches, and with it, Clemson has said farewell to its Seniors and welcomes it new class of Freshman into the programme. With it, comes a new look at our depth charts, as well as listening to Coach Spoof's game plans for the team. Todays report focuses purely on the offensive side of the ball. Defense will come sometime later.

 

Lets start by looking at the Quarterback Depth Chart for Week 1 for 2024:

 

QUARTER BACK

1. Whitney Kelly - SR - 2 Star - 6' 2''/223lbs - Scrambler / B OVR
2. Tyrone Brown - (SR) - 2 Star - 6' 1''/225lbs - Scrambler / B- OVR
3. Isaiah Fitts - (SO) - 2 Star - 6' 0''/232lbs - Scrambler / B- OVR
4. Jamiyus Yanda - (JR) - 3 Star - 6' 4''/202lbs - Field General / B OVR

Also at the school: Raymond Park - Freshman (Redshirt This Season), Henrik Gallagher - Freshman (Redshirt This Season), Chong Geromino - (Freshman), Roy Dugger - (Freshman).

 

The depth chart in the interface only allows for 3 QB's to be named, but there are 4 contenders for this role. Due to a plan to move Clemson away from Air Raid and into the Spread Option Offence, Yanda drops from 2 last season to 4 purely based on scheme fits for the three that lead him this season. Whitney Kelly has been chosen to pick up the starting role from Palardy after he declared for the NFL Draft (and has gone undrafted and as of now is still a Free Agent). Kelly played 0 snaps last season, but a shift in scheme has meant the Scramblers will now be the focal point of the offense, and Kelly has won out of Brown so far by nothing more than arm power. They are almost identical in every way, along with Sophomore, Isaiah Fitts, as well - and the three of them are basically "Power Cubes" in size too, so they offer some raw horsepower at the Scramble. The trio can be expected to rotate unless one of them clearly shows the signs of earning the starting job outright. Yanda will provide an additional option in the pass game should this trio not pan out, but overall, Clemson will aggressively be recruiting new Quarterbacks this season to take the longer term job...

 

 

RUNNING BACK
 

1. Ronald Beato - (JR) - 3 Star - Power/B OVR
2. Alex Stanek - (SR) - 2 Star - Power/B- OVR
3. Luke Jackson - SR - 2 Star - Speed/C+ OVR

Also at the school: Josh Hollis-Jefferson - Junior, Kerwynn Parker - Junior, Antonio Luna - Sophomore, Denny Baker - Freshman, Scott Ryan - Sophomore, Steven Dickson - Freshman (Redshirt this Season), Armando Palomares - Freshman (Redshirt this season).

 

Running Back is a key position in Spread Offense football, and like QB, Clemson is weak at it. That said, there are some signs that Beato could have had a bigger impact last season had it been a Spread offence instead of Air Raid, and so he wins out the starting job. It is possible that Freshman Denny Baker is given a chance to jump in should result not look solid early on, just for experience purposes, but that won't be happening for a least the first few weeks of the season so a baseline can be established with the more experienced players. He will get his chance in the Spring Games though...

 

 

FULL BACK
 

1. Josh Hollis-Jefferson - JR - Receiving/B- OVR
2. Denny Baker - FR - Receiving/C OVR

 

There are no natural Full Backs on the Clemson Roster, which allows the next in line at Running Back a shot at some field time, especially the ones that are a close scheme fit. This is where Hollis-Jefferson and Baker will be given their chances at some snaps this season.

 

 

TIGHT END

1. Jake Marlowe - SR - Vertical Threat/C+ OVR
2. Denny Baker - FR - Receiving Running Back/C OVR
3. Francis Mantulac - SO - Vertical Threat/D OVR

 

Honestly if Mantulac ever sees the field then something has done very wrong. In reality we will see more of the Running Backs and Wide Recievers that aren't the top of their own depth charts given more opportunities to get snaps here, which is why Baker is penciled in at TE2 already. Without a doubt, the weakest skill position at Clemson....and I literally have zero natural Full Backs as I say that. Marlowe will also be very, very lucky to keep that spot if after this the Spring Games unearth a WR or RB that can cover that slot well enough.

 

WIDE RECEIVER

 

1. Robbie del Rosario - SR- 3 Star - Red Zone Threat/A- OVR
2. Garrett McGee - JR - 4 Star - Red Zone Threat/B+ OVR
3. Adonis Powell - JR - 3 Star - Speed/B OVR
4. Garrett Sims - JR - 3 Star - Route Runner/B- OVR
5. Bryce Dennick - SR - 2 Star - Route Runner/B- OVR

 

Literally no one after Dennick is worth talking about for WR. Those will be the guys who might get a shot at TE if they show some moxy in the Spring Games. This WR Core rounds off a pretty terrible offense in the skill positions, as they are either not the right fit for the scheme, or those that fit the scheme are straight ass. Combined with a room full of Noodle Arm QB's, and its obvious that the Clemson pass game will be short and precise, and we won't be seeing many bombs down range this season.

 

OLINE

1. LT: Alex Figueroa LG: Matt Serafini (Moved from OT) C: Ralph Cooper RG: Carson Haase RT: Jason Hernandez
2. LT: Jordan Dickson LG: Richard Flores C: Todd Wagner RG: Tracey Chancellor (Moved from OT) RT: Malik Kidsey

 

The depth at O Line is actually really good, especially at OT. So much so that two of the OTs will now be moved to Guard so as to improve the overall quality in this position over the next couple of years. Center might be a little weak overall, but its not a major concern. If anything, the strength in depth here might be what carries the Spread Offense for us.

 

 

KICKERS

1. Trevor Morales - SR - Balanced/B-
2. Kareem Roberts - SR - Balanced (Punter)/B+

 

Roberts is the main Punter and backup kicker. Morales is the only actual natural kicker on roster after missing out on recruitment coin flips on 5 kickers...

 

 

Overall, this Offense isn't great. The line is what will hold it and some serious gameplanning will be needed to get any more than 4 wins out of this slapped together offensive unit.