RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesLooking Back and then Forward on the Defensive Second Level
Clemson welcomed Tom Allen as its new defensive coordinator ahead of the 2025 season. Allen also brought along his son Thomas Allen, Jr. and Dabo Swinney elevated Ben Boulware to lead the position group. A drop-off after losing Brent Venables to Oklahoma was probably inevitable, but while successor Wes Goodwin brought all the X&O know how from the Venables system, he failed to bring the leadership and in game feel his mentor so remarkably possessed. Coach V left the LB room well-stocked upon his departure, with future NFL draft picks Trenton Simpson, Jeremiah Trotter, Jr., and Barrett Carter all in the fold just to name a few. Unfortunately, the LB position experienced a decline since, especially in 2024 when the Clemson defense got routinely gashed in the run game due to bad run fits and tackling.
2025 wasn’t a season anyone supporting Clemson wanted to see. It is hard to find a more disappointing year from preseason expectation to what transpired. 2008 comes to mind, and that obviously was when the change from Coach Bowden to Coach Swinney took place. I will say that linebacker play was better and certainly was an area that showed improvement as the season progressed under the Allens and Coach Boulware. The LSU game began with a missed tackle by Wade Woodaz that turned a potential TFL into a first down gain, but by the South Carolina game, we saw Woodaz make a huge tackle in space against the ever dangerous LaNorris Sellers to prevent an explosive run. Woodaz was playing by far the best football of his career down the stretch and unfortunately was not available for the bowl game.
Sammy Brown took a big step in his first season as a full time starter. This was refreshing after we saw guys like Trenton Simpson and Barrett Carter not show much development after big first years in the program. Brown put together an All-ACC season and should be poised for even more in 2026 as the unquestioned alpha of the defense. I noted this about Brown in my position preview back in the fall: My hope for Brown is he can become an even more athletic version of Jeremiah Trotter, Jr. Trotter had outstanding instincts and football IQ, and those two things matched with Brown’s superior measurables would be scary for any opposing offense .
Trotter Jr.’s first full year starting: 678 snaps, 74 solo tackles, 13.5 TFLs, 6.5 sacks, 6 PBUs
Brown’s first full year starting: 734 snaps, 68 solo tackles, 13.5 TFLs, 5 sacks, 7 PBUs
As you can see above, Brown was almost identical in production across the board with Trotter. Hopefully Brown can be even better in 2026 just as Trotter was even better in his final season of 2023 before leaving early for the NFL draft.
Perhaps the biggest story of the spring for the linebacker corps is less who is there and more about who isn’t, namely notorious Luke Ferrelli who was supposed to be the guy to take Wade Woodaz’s place before Ole Miss bought him. Now Kobe McCloud becomes an essential piece as he brings the most experience and production next to Brown.
Jeremiah Alexander was one of the three transfers brought in ahead of 2025 and provided 220 snaps largely as a run stop specialist. Alexander was not nearly as effective as a coverage option and his ability to improve in those areas are going to be a vital thing to how much he can increase his role. The pressure on that to happen grew with the loss of Ferrelli, whereas it would have been more of a luxury item otherwise. Alexander has drawn heavy praise for his work ethic so there is certainly hope he can make those gains. He also was a five-star coming out of high school and that speaks to possessing legit physical ability, albeit he has moved around position wise in his career to date.
Backups Dee Crayton and Jamal Anderson, Jr. transferred out, so after McCloud and Alexander there are precious few snaps played among the other returning backups. In fact, Fletcher Cothran , Drew Woodaz , and C.J. Kubah-Taylor combined for 39 total non-special teams snaps last season. Most of that was from Cothran in the bowl game when Clemson was missing three players to injury and/or transfer.
The good news about McCloud is he consistently grades well and is productive. The bad news is he can’t help that he lacks elite measurables that would probably lead to more splash plays. That is where Ferrelli was supposed to provide a boost. Alexander projects more as an option for 4-3 “Over” fronts defensively that would feature a bigger SAM, but those are not used nearly as much against the 11 personnel group that is so often seen in modern college football.
I expected Sammy Brown to have a very light load in the spring considering his value and that he is a proven commodity. However it appeared he got regular work and we saw him in the spring game (and heard Dabo chew him out for penalty over the PA system to boot). The group was healthy enough to get much needed work for all the others fighting for that open starting position and increased responsibilities behind Brown. Clemson signed Brayden Reilly but he is not among the early enrollees who will participate in spring practice.
Coach Boulware gave me some hope in that he can get improvement and production out of his position group, but now he has to show what he can do with largely unproven players beyond star Sammy Brown. His former position coach Brent Venables was a master at getting strong play out of less than household names like Spencer Shuey, J.D. Davis, Kendall Joseph, and James Skalski. Now, Boulware has that challenge. It would also be a huge help if the other position groups can make improvements to support this second level because that increases the margin of error.
The offense is probably going to garner the most spotlight considering the system change with Chad Morris’s return, but I’ll be closely watching how the linebacker position battle plays out and certainly will be keeping my fingers crossed for goo...
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