Luke's Impact Helping O-Line Develop Before Our Eyes

CLEMSON — Clemson has been playing historically well recently, drawing national attention and soaring up the rankings.

In their efforts to reach the high they are at now in the 2024 season, the 17th-ranked Tigers have grown. The loss against No. 2 Georgia, as tricky as it is, is what the they needed to boost them to where they need to be.

An aspect Clemson needed to improve in was on the offensive line. Last year was a struggle for the offense, as the Tigers struggled with enough time to make the throws they needed or find consistency in the run game. A solution to their problem came in the hiring of new offensive line coach Matt Luke, who has turned their unit into a completely different machine.

“[Luke] stressed to everyone the importance of the details,” right tackle Blake Miller said. “That’s been a big thing with him. Everything, even if you don’t get beat on a play doing something, against a good-enough player, you will get beat. You can get away with it sometimes, but he stresses that everything is important, even if you can get away with it.”

The details in the blocking game are so important at the offensive line, and Miller has taken personal steps to improve himself, along with Luke’s instruction.

“Me personally, just been working on shooting my hands,” he said. “That was the main thing I wanted to work on, going into the season, is being more confident with my hands and pass protection.”

Miller’s work has definitely shown in his recent play, along with the combined efforts of the offensive unit, and they will look to grow more and more in their skills.

In three games this season, the offensive line has yet to have been charged with a sack, while the running game is flourshing. The Tigers are averaging 6.3 yards per carry, which ranks third in the ACC.

Last week, they averaged 8.2 yards per carry against NC State.

“I think everyone’s very dialed in week to week on what we need to work on, what we need to expect,” Miller said.

Clemson will try to keep it going on Saturday (7 p.m., ESPN) when it hosts Stanford for the first time at Memorial Stadium.