LSU Projected Starters
QB -Garrett Nussmeier
RB - Caden Durham
WR - Chris Hilton Jr
WR - Zavion Thomas
WR - Aaron Anderson
TE - Trey Green
Offensive Line
LT - Tyree Adams
LG - DJ Chester
RG- Jopsh Thompson
C - Braelin Moore
RT - Weston Davis
Defense
RDT - Bernard Gooden
LDE - Jach Pyburn
LDT - Dominic McKinley
RDE - Gabriel Reliford
MLB - Whit Weeks
WLB - West Weeks
STAR - Harold Perkins Jr
LCB - Ashton Stamps
SS - Jardin Gilbert
FS - Tamarcus Cooley
RCB - Mansoor Delane
Special Teams
PT - Grant Chadwick
PK - Damien Ramos
CLEMSON PROJECTED STARTERS
QB - Cade Klubnik
RB - Adam Randall
WR - TJ Moore
WR - Bryant Wesco Jr
WR - Antonio Williams Jr
Offensive Line
LT - Tristan Leigh
LG - Colin Sadler
C - Ryan Linthicum
RG - Walker Parks
RT - Blake Miller
TE - Olsen Patt-Henry
Defense
LDE - TJ Parker
LDT - Peter Woods
RDT - DeMonte Capehart
RDE - Will Heldt
WLB - Sammy Brown
MLB - Wade Woodaz
LCB - Aevion Terrell
SS - Kylon Griffin
FS - Khalil Barnes
RCB - Ashton Hampton
NB - Shelton Lewis
Special Teams
PT - Jack Smith
PK - Nolan Hauser
For the first time since 2021, the Clemson Tigers come into the season highly thought of. In some cases, they have been picked to win the national championship. As Chris Fowler would say, they have the ingredients. It is the only team in the country that is returning 80 percent of its roster from last season. The next closest school is in the 40 percent range. While I am optimistic, I am not ready to make that claim. The season is long, and there are a few games that aren't going to be as easy as some think.
Once again, the Tigers open up the season with a SEC school in LSU, and, of course, end the season with the Gamecocks. Unlike the past few seasons, the Tigers have their opener at home instead of a neutral-site game. You can bet that the Valley will be rocking for this anticipated matchup with LSU from the copy-cat Death Valley. Unlike the past few years, the Tigers open ACC play on the road at Georgia Tech, a much-improved football team under Brent Key. A trip to face Bill Belichick in Chapel Hill and a Friday night road trip to Louisville won't be easy games either.
As for the LSU game, freshman running back JT Lindsey has been suspended indefinitely for housing two murder suspects in his dorm room. I am not sure what his status was before the Clemson game, and I am not sure if it will hurt LSU, but he did win the Warrick Dunn Award last season. Garrett Nussmeier is dealing with a small chronic knee problem that may hinder him in the opener. It has reduced his number of reps in August camp.
The Clemson Tigers seem to be pretty healthy (knock on wood), and the key for this game is to stay healthy. If the Tigers can keep Klubnik upright and give him time in the pocket, he will have a big night. The one to watch will be running back Adam Randall. There isn't much film on him at the position, but what little we did see of him last year, especially against Texas, looks promising. This is a stacked offense, and we can only hope they live up to the hype and stay healthy at the same time. It's no secret that there have been times the last few years, that instead of suiting up to play football they should have came down The Hill and checked themselves into a triage unit for all the injuries they suffered.
As far as the so-called battle of the Death Valleys, it is going to be up to the crowd to make the Valley hostile. All we have heard in the off-season is "Death Valley, Jr," comments from Brian Kelly and that LSU is a better atmosphere. The atmosphere is going to have to be somewhere near the 1981 matchup versus Georgia, when the Tigers' defense forced 9 turnovers and the crowd was hostile not only in the parking lot, but in the stands as well. I know that many of you weren't alive back then, but ask anyone who went to that game, and let them give you a sense of what it was like. We have had games like the 2015 Notre Dame hurricane game and the 2016 Louisville game, where the crowd was loud and electric, but I can sit here and tell you the Valley has never been as hostile as it was back in 1981 when Georgia came to town.
WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN
This game against LSU doesn't worry me as much as the ACC opener on the road at Georgia Tech does or the Friday night game at Louisville. The narrative on Clemson the last several years has been that the Dabo dynasty is dead. The Tigers lost all 3 games against the SEC last year (albeit they were all ranked teams, and two of them were UGA and Texas). There is no shame in any of those losses, but Dabo spent years dominating even the very best of the SEC. Well this year, it has come full-circle, and LSU is in for a rude awakening on all fronts this coming Saturday night in the true Death Valley. It's going to be loud and, it will be electric. Clemson will be at home, under the lights. The Tigers haven't lost in that setting since the game against eventual national champion FSU in 2013. One of the reasons Clemson has the best player retention in America is that the players live for playing in these big games in Death Valley at night. Last but not least, the national media (and many in the Clemson media) will finally realize that they don't know how to run the program better than Dabo. They will all owe him a big apology for the criticism over doing things his way and not the quick and easy, transfer portal way!
FINAL SCORE
Clemson 34
LSU 23
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