PFF grades and playing time for Clemson's win at South Carolina

Clemson captured its eighth win in the last nine versus South Carolina.

by Brandon Rink - Staff Writer - Mon Nov 27 16:34:41 GMT-04:00 2023

The playing time and notable Pro Football Focus grades position by position from the 16-7 win at South Carolina:

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, and they are provided by PFF in this edition. Snap totals for scholarship players and depth chart members are listed in the feature.)

(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 - 60.8; Passing - 64; Pass blocking - 60.2; Receiving - 49.7; Running - 79.7; Run blocking - 53.9.

QB: Cade Klubnik 74, Hunter Helms NS, Christopher Vizzina NS, Paul Tyson NS. Notes: While not his best game as a passer, Klubnik did post his best PFF grade as a runner (72.2), which ranked second only to Phil Mafah (77.9), and his overall grade (as of Monday afternoon) is currently his best of the season (72.5; PFF QB assessments can tend to get some second looks and alterations, however).

Klubnik connected on one pass of over 10 yards, getting credited with a “big-time throw” on the 39-yarder to Tyler Brown. That was one of three attempts of over 20 yards on the night, and he went 0-for-4 with one drop in the medium-length passes (10-19 yards). Klubnik was under pressure on 31.3% of his dropbacks with one interception and three completions for 13 yards in the situation. With a clean pocket, there were just 4.4 yards per attempt and a 60% completion rate (12/20 for 87 yards).

RB: Phil Mafah 42, Will Shipley 41, Domonique Thomas ST, Keith Adams Jr. NS, Jarvis Green NS, Jay Haynes NS. Notes: Mafah’s overall PFF grade (77.4) ranks third-best for him on the season. He totaled 76 of his 89 yards after contact, which was his third-highest percentage of yards coming that way this season, tying a season-best with seven forced missed tackles.

WR: Troy Stellato 62, Tyler Brown 60, Adam Randall 60, Ronan Hanafin 5, Hampton Earle 3, Noble Johnson ST, Hamp Greene NS, Clay Swinney ST, Brannon Spector* NS (did not make travel roster), Beaux Collins* NS (did not make travel roster), Antonio Williams* NS (did not make travel roster). Notes: Brown brought in the longest catch of the night (39 yards) and led the receiver group in grades (62.5), seeing his grade affected by a drop. Stellato dropped a critical pass in one of his two targets and suffered grades-wise (44.7; 16.4 for drop grade).

TE: Jake Briningstool 68, Olsen Patt-Henry 12, Josh Sapp 11, Banks Pope 6, Will Blackston 1, Markus Dixon NS. Notes: Nothing remarkable on the high side of the metrics, and PFF’s dissatisfaction with Briningstool’s run blocking continued (46.6), rendering him a second sub-50 grade overall on the year (47.9; also 40.9 versus Syracuse). He had one catch for three yards in his targets Saturday.

OL: Blake Miller 74, Tristan Leigh 74, Will Putnam 74, Collin Sadler 65, Harris Sewell 57, Trent Howard 26, Mitchell Mayes NS, Bryn Tucker NS, Dietrick Pennington ST, Zack Owens NS, Ryan Linthicum NS, Ian Reed* NS (did not make travel roster). Notes: The O-line rotation pared down more versus South Carolina with Mayes not in the rotation and a group of six going out total, with Howard coming off the bench for 26 plays at guard. Miller (67.6) and Putnam (66) paced the group in PFF grade, with Putnam excelling against the pass rush (78.7) and Miller in the run game (69.6). The overall run-blocking grade for the offense was the third-lowest this season (53.9).

Defense

PFF unit performance grades: Defense - 83.8; Run defense - 81.1; Tackling - 41.4; Pass rush - 69.1; Coverage - 85.8.

ED: Xavier Thomas 40, TJ Parker 32, Justin Mascoll 32, Cade Denhoff 7, Jahiem Lawson NS, AJ Hoffler ST, David Ojiegbe NS, Zaire Patterson NS (did not make travel roster). Notes: Parker led the defense in pressures (7) with four hurries and three QB hits, pacing the edge defenders with a 69.4 grade. That grade saw some knocks with two missed tackles on his night.

DL: Tyler Davis 34, Ruke Orhorhoro 30, Peter Woods 21, Payton Page 19, DeMonte Capehart 8, Tré Williams 5, Caden Story ST, Stephiylan Green NS. Notes: Page earned a bigger share of the snaps here this week with four pressures in 19 plays for a unit-leading 89.4 grade. Orhorhoro (82.4; 86.1 v. run), Davis (78.7; 83 v. run), Williams (77.4) and Woods (72.6; 76.1 v. run) all graded well also.

LB: Jeremiah Trotter Jr. 58, Barrett Carter 46, Wade Woodaz 25, Jamal Anderson ST, Kobe McCloud ST, Dee Crayton NS,. Notes: It was not the finest night for the linebacker group from a missed tackle standpoint, with Carter credited with five and Trotter with three. While Trotter brought up his grade elsewhere (71.3), Carter suffered a defense-low 47.4 mark (46.7 versus run; 57 pass rush; 51.3 in coverage; 25 on tackling) despite getting in for a sack and a QB hurry.

DB: Nate Wiggins 58, Andrew Mukuba 58, Khalil Barnes 58, Avieon Terrell 58, RJ Mickens 41, Kylon Griffin 5, Sheridan Jones NS, Shelton Lewis ST, Toriano Pride ST, Rob Billings NS, Tyler Venables NS, Myles Oliver NS, Kylen Webb NS, Jalyn Phillips* (did not make travel roster), Jeadyn Lukus* (did not make travel roster), Branden Strozier NS (did not make travel roster). Notes: Barnes led all of college football’s safeties this week with a 91.7 grade after notching a 42-yard fumble return TD and an interception in back-to-back defensive plays to start things out in Columbia. Terrell continued to shine as well (72.8 overall grade) with the second-best coverage grade (72.6) with only two catches for 12 yards allowed his way with one pass breakup.

Players listed as out for the season: TE Sage Ennis, S Sherrod Covil Jr., DL Vic Burley, WR Cole Turner, OG Walker Parks, WR Misun Kelley, OL John Williams, TE Sage Ennis.

ST - Special teams-only

NS - No snaps listed

* Been noted as injured by Clemson coach Dabo Swinney.