I'll offer a quick scouting report and my apologies for the previous poster.
Offense:
With Watson at the reigns, I have a lot of confidence in the offense to move the ball. His presence and awareness are incredible for someone who has played like 10/11 full games in college. He can make all the throws. They will pick and choose spots to run him and he will run if things break down, but I wouldn't expect a ton of running from him. He's very good on the run/moving the pocket.
The loss of WIlliams is big. There's no way around that. He's one of the best receivers in the nation. He's huge. He catches everything and he was a big play waiting to happen. There is plenty of talent at receiver, but Williams was DW's safety blanket. Those two have great chemistry and he was the primary target in clutch situations. This is probably the deepest position on the roster though. I would think this week, you will probably see Peake (great athlete, big dude) slide over to his old position - the Z spot. You will likely see Cain (5 star true freshman) man the X spot. The X, out of the receivers, is the guy who drives our passing attack. It has been Deandre Hopkins, Sammy Watkins, and Mike Williams in the past. Cain has flashed good hands and explosiveness, and though the staff is starting to trust him more, he's a freshman. This will be his first big test. The Y spot will be Artavis Scott. Scott is incredibly dangerous with the ball in his hands. Great athlete, strong, small guy. You will see Ray Ray McCloud (5 star true freshman) bounced around to try to exploit match ups in space. So far, teams have played pretty far off the receivers in an effort to limit the downfield stuff. I think we probably see more of the same this weekend, but I also expect Elliot to try to stress your D more by going vertically more frequently.
At RB, nothing flashy, but Gallman is the man there. Really good workman type RB. He isn't going to fill up a highlight reel, but he ran for 140 against a stout UL front seven with about 100 yards coming after contact. Very tough runner. He's going to need to be this weekend. It will be the toughest test our guys have had to date - probably the best front seven we see all year. Depending on what is successful, I think you'll probably see more zone read out of the Clemson O than we've shown thus far. I also think you'll see the perimeter tested more than it has been so far. I expect to see a lot more of the jet sweep, read option stuff. I'll be interested to see how Jaylon Smith is used and what we do to counter that.
TE - skilled pass catchers. Leggett can be a match up problem, but he's incredibly frustrating to watch sometimes. Very naturally gifted guy, but his motivation doesn't always match the gifts. I would expect to see some 12 personnel and true freshman Garrett Williams to bolster the run game. He has been our best TE at the point of attack, and he's a really good athlete for a young guy.
Defense:
The DL is stout. The interior guys will rotate frequently and they have been awesome so far this season. They are very athletic and will get penetration. WDE is Shaq Lawson. Different mold than we normally see at that spot. We've been used to pass rush specialists like Beasley there. Lawson is a very good pass rusher, but because of his size will hold up a lot better against the run. SDE is Kevin Dodd - veteran guy who has been really solid and productive on that side. At the DE spots, unlike the interior, depth is thinner and younger. I worry some about their legs down the stretch if this is the slug fest many expect it to be. Regardless, this will again be a monumental test for our DL. Not really going out on a limb here, but the ND OL vs. our DL will go a long ways to determining who comes out on top.
LB play has been very good. Boulware and Goodson are big guys. Venables uses them a lot to generate pressure. It will be interesting to see if they have the room to operate that they are accustomed to having. They excel in run defense. When forced to stretch out and cover, they are not as good as their predecessors. Blanks will man the Nickel spot and he has been really good since coming back from injury. You will likely see Kearse line up there and at LB some as well. Depth is a concern again. Because of attrition we are pretty thin at LB and a long physical game could take its toll on Boulware and Goodson.
The DBs are one of the stronger units on the team. The match up between Mack Alexander and Will Fuller will be fantastic to watch. That might be worth the price of admission by itself. Alexander is one of the best cover guys I've seen in orange in a long time, and he won't be giving up much size to Fuller. Should be fun. We usually play boundary and field corners, but I would expect to see Alexander follow Fuller. I could be wrong there. The opposite spot is Tankersley. Bigger corner. Fast, physical guy. First year starter. He held up really well against some of the huge UL receivers. The safety tandem is one of the more imposing groups in college football with Kearse at 6'5" 225 and Green at 6'3" 210. Normally, Kearse is moved all over the place. It will be interesting to see how or if they try to help Alexander with a safety over the top. Thus far, we've kept them up pretty tight for the most part. They have a lot of range, but I'm sure this week there is some concern about the passing attack. My guess is you see more cover 2, cover 3 this week than you have so far. They do have a lot of range and will be brought down into the box frequently. Venables will bring pressure from all over and has no problems leaving the corners on an island to generate that pressure. That should be an interesting part of this chess match.
ST:
Place kicking has been solid, but the kicker is a freshman. Kickoffs and punts have been an adventure so far. Really hope we can avoid any costly errors there.
Those of you coming down for the game, I hope you have a blast. I hope it's a great, injury free game. Go Tigers. Sorry about the novel. I felt compelled to provide some substance after the flame above though.
