Clemson took a big hit when it lost starting tight end Sam Cooper with a knee injury in the spring game, most especially from an experience standpoint.
Without him, the Tigers are pretty green at the position.
On the post-spring depth chart released Wednesday, the Tigers had sophomore Stanton Seckinger listed with the first team. He is the only tight end on the depth chart with any game experience, having played in eight contests last season as a freshman. Jordan Leggett, who had an outstanding spring game with seven catches for 97 yards and a score, just enrolled in January. Jay Jay McCullough is a redshirt freshman.
Neither one can match Cooper's size, either. Leggett is the biggest one, at 6-foot-6, 235 pounds. Seckinger is listed at 210 pounds.
"The biggest loss with Coop is just that veteran leadership, that savviness that comes with playing," coach Dabo Swinney said on the ACC coaches call Thursday. "And then also, he’s a 250-something pound thumper at the point of attack. So we’ve got to develop those guys in a hurry. We’ve got to ramp their development up. We were bringing them along because we had the luxury of doing that with a guy like Coop, but now their development is going to have to speed up and we’ve got to force feed them a little more than we would have. Athletically, they’re talented and capable of making plays, but we’re going to have to challenge them and grow them up in the run game."
Here are a few other quick notes from the post-spring depth chart:
The competition continues at left guard between Kalon Davis and David Beasley, the returning starter from last season. Coaches have been eager for Davis to live up to his potential.
Corey Crawford and Tavaris Barnes are still competing for a starting defensive end job.
And the starting cornerback spots are both open, as the Tigers list Garry Peters or Bashaud Breeland and Darius Robinson or Martin Jenkins atop the depth chart.
