Briningstool touts the offense, says tight end room has the chance to be elite

Briningstool says this offense has the chance to be the best since he's been on campus.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Wed Apr 03 07:00:02 GMT-04:00 2024

CLEMSON – Jake Briningstool says Clemson’s tight end room is elite, and he’s also looking for improvement from the rest of the offense.

Briningstool enters 2024 with high expectations. During his career, he has caught 78 passes for 850 yards and ten touchdowns in 1,269 offensive snaps over 35 career games (13 starts). However, it was last season when he made his biggest jump—his 50 receptions in his junior season in 2023 tied the Clemson single-season school record for a tight end.

He became the seventh tight end in Clemson history to record 10 career touchdown receptions, joining Jordan Leggett, John McMakin, Dwayne Allen, Brandon Ford, Davis Allen and Bennie Cunningham, and his 126 receiving yards in a record-setting night at Miami in 2023 were the most by a Clemson tight end in a single game in school history. His nine receptions in the 2023 Gator Bowl tied the Clemson single-game record for receptions by a tight end.

However, he won’t have to do it alone this season. Josh Sapp adds experience and Markus Dixon and Olsen Patt-Henry are talented youngsters who will push for playing time. Incoming freshman Christian Bentancur is also highly-regarded, and Briningstool likes what he sees out of the group.

“I would say elite. I think we've got the best tight end room in the country. We've got guys from top to bottom that can go out there and play and make a difference,” Briningstool said. “So, I would just say we're elite. I think my goal for this season is to have the best tight end room in the country, and I think just me being the oldest guy in there and having the most experience, I think my job, especially now during the spring, is just kind of sharing knowledge, sharing what I've learned and kind of just trying to better them.”

The Tigers lacked an explosive passing game last fall and Briningstool said he knows why.

“Last year, most of the time, we just couldn't get out of our own way,” he said. “A lot of it was a weird year for us, but we were 15th in the nation in getting first downs, so we had no problem moving the ball. But we were last in red zone scoring, I think sometimes we would just trip over ourselves and couldn’t get out our own way. So, that's the biggest focus for this spring has just been being able to finish drives and finish the job essentially and kind just move the ball at a high tempo and put it in the end zone.”

He was asked if this year’s offense has the potential to be the best since he first stepped on campus.

“A hundred percent. A hundred percent. The best is always yet to come,” Briningstool said. “So, if we do what we're capable of doing and everybody just buys in, stays committed, and keeps doing what they're doing, I think we got a shot to do it. We're just trying to take the next step. We're really focusing on this practice, this period, and kind of just trying to get better every day.

“We're starting to build a lot of chemistry with having other guys out there and everybody playing together, and the best part about being here is just the competition. It's been super competitive this spring. The defense coming off the year they had last year, I think that motivated us. We have to be better to help them out.”