Closer Look: Playing time breakdown and notable grades from Clemson-FSU

Troy Stellato's emergence is one of the bright spots for the young season.

by Brandon Rink - Staff Writer - Wed Sep 27 08:17:53 GMT-04:00 2023

Taking a look at the playing time and notable Pro Football Focus grades position by position from the 31-24 overtime loss to Florida State:

Offense

(The number by a player's name initially is the game's snap count. The snaps are all offensive and defensive snaps and do not count special teams. Snap totals for scholarship players and depth chart members are listed in the feature. A full list of snaps by game is attached below.)

(PFF grades tend to run lower than school grades, so high 80 grades are on the high end and it's a harsher grade below 60 or so).

PFF unit performance grades: Offense - 66.6; Passing - 61.7; Pass blocking - 57.3; Receiving - 70.6; Running - 73.8; Run blocking - 50.2.

QB: Cade Klubnik 82, Hunter Helms NS, Paul Tyson NS, Christopher Vizzina NS. Notes: Klubnik was under pressure for 46.7% of his dropbacks, with a 40% completion rate and 4.3 yards per attempt there. When “kept clean,” Klubnik hit 18-of-23 passes for 201 yards with one touchdown. Facing that constant pressure, the deep shots were likely limited, with only two of 20+ yards and one completion for 28 yards. According to PFF, Klubnik has faced 11% more pressured dropbacks this season than former Tigers starting QB DJ Uiagalelei met last year (25.7 to 36.3%).

RB: Will Shipley 57, Phil Mafah 28, Domonique Thomas ST, Keith Adams Jr. NS, Jarvis Green NS, Jay Haynes* NS. Notes: Mafah was tagged with his best PFF grade of the season (77.6), but I imagine there’d be some dispute from the Clemson coaching staff over the pass blocking mark (76.1), as head coach Dabo Swinney said Mafah was responsible for FSU’s Kalen Deloach coming through free on Klubnik to force the fumble he returned for a touchdown late in the third quarter.

WR: Adam Randall 68, Beaux Collins 68, Tyler Brown 65, Troy Stellato 14, Brannon Spector 8, Hamp Greene 8, Hampton Earle ST, Clay Swinney ST, Ronan Hanafin ST, Misun Kelley NS, Noble Johnson NS. Notes: Stellato caught all four targets his way for 41 yards, with three gaining first downs, for an offense-best 82.6 grade. Brown’s career day also had him in the Top 3 offensive grades with five catches in six targets for 84 yards and 40 yards coming after receptions.

TE: Jake Briningstool 66, Sage Ennis 21, Josh Sapp ST, Markus Dixon NS, Olsen Patt-Henry NS. Notes: PFF isn’t Briningstool’s biggest fan when it comes to run blocking, a scenario where he played a season-high 29 snaps in and graded a season-worst (52.1). However, his passing game grade was the best of the campaign (69).

OL: Will Putnam 82, Blake Miller 82, Mitchell Mayes 82, Marcus Tate 82, Tristan Leigh 51, Collin Sadler 31, Harris Sewell NS, Trent Howard NS, John Williams NS, Ryan Linthicum NS, Dietrick Pennington NS, Bryn Tucker NS, Zack Owens NS, Ian Reed NS. Notes: Clemson played four linemen on all 82 snaps and rotated at left tackle with Leigh and Sadler for the remaining plays. Leigh’s grade (56.2) compared to Sadler's (47.7) shows why the snaps were the way they were, while Mayes was heavily downgraded in pass blocking (14.5; possibly because PFF is putting the sack/fumble TD return on him instead of Mafah?).

Defense

PFF unit performance grades: Defense - 72.3; Run defense - 86.4; Tackling - 58.1; Pass rush - 61.3, Coverage - 68.8.

ED: Xavier Thomas 46, Justin Mascoll 40, TJ Parker 36, Cade Denhoff 2, AJ Hoffler NS, Zaire Patterson NS, Jahiem Lawson NS, David Ojiegbe NS. Notes: Thomas had four times the pressures from the previous two games with a sack, two QB hits and a hurry on FSU last Saturday (a team-best). The freshman Parker got in on three pressures in playing about the same snaps as the senior Mascoll.

DL: Tyler Davis 36, Ruke Orhorhoro 36, Peter Woods 24, Payton Page 12, DeMonte Capehart 6, Caden Story NS, Stephiylan Green NS, Tré Williams* NS. Notes: Page led the unit with a 70.7 grade in his 12 snaps, but Davis wasn’t far behind (70.4). Capehart’s snap count went down game-to-game significantly, and he graded at 50.9 in his six plays.

LB: Jeremiah Trotter Jr. 62, Barrett Carter 61, Wade Woodaz 12, Kobe McCloud ST, Jamal Anderson ST, Dee Crayton NS. Notes: Trotter had one of the more memorable plays from Saturday’s action with a sack, but PFF tabs him with three missed tackles and 51 yards after catch on his targets for a defensive starter-worst 55.2 grade. Carter led the LB unit grades-wise (71.9) with an 81.8 mark in run defense.

DB: RJ Mickens 62, Nate Wiggins* 60, Jalyn Phillips 57, Andrew Mukuba 50, Sheridan Jones 41, Jeadyn Lukus 25, Khalil Barnes 13, Toriano Pride ST, Shelton Lewis ST, Avieon Terrell ST, Sherrod Covil ST, Branden Strozier NS, Rob Billings NS, Kylen Webb NS, Kylon Griffin NS, Myles Oliver NS, Tyler Venables* NS. Notes: Facing his biggest challenge yet, Wiggins posted a solid coverage grade (71.9) with no catches allowed in four targets with one pass breakup. FSU QB Jordan Travis only completed one pass on a Clemson starting cornerback, versus Sheridan Jones for only one yard, while PFF shows four completions each on Lukus and Mickens, three on Phillips and two on Mukuba.