Clemson’s starting defensive lineman, on average, are 6-feet, 4.5-inches tall and 291.25 pounds. That is 2 inches taller and 12 pounds heavier than the average Syracuse starting D-line. That’s also not to mention that the Tigers’ front has produced 12 more sacks than SU’s in the same number of games.

“I think most people considered it to be the best defensive line in the country,” said ESPN college football writer David Hale.

The defending national champion and No. 2 Tigers’ (6-0, 4-0 Atlantic Coast) defensive line is led by sophomore Dexter Lawrence and junior Christian Wilkins, first- and second-team AP preseason All-Americans, respectively. The two ends, redshirt sophomore Clelin Ferrell and junior Austin Bryant, bring relentless pressure from the edges. Against Syracuse (3-3, 1-1) Friday night in the Carrier Dome, the D-line that dominated the likes of Auburn, Virginia Tech and Louisville will be gunning for quarterback Eric Dungey as it tries to mow through SU’s struggling offensive line.

When the two teams met last season, Clemson shut out Syracuse, 54-0, and ended Dungey’s season in the first quarter. The Tigers had only two sacks for 12 yards on the day, mostly because Syracuse could never get the offense going, finishing with more punt yardage (308) than total offensive yards (277).

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Coming into this season, the Orange would love to reverse those numbers. But Ferrell and Clemson knows how dominant they can be.

“We didn’t know how good we were going to be,” Ferrell said, “but we knew how good we could be.”

Bryant is “country strong,” Ferrell said, and Wilkins uses excellent technique, both with hands and getting leverage by playing with a low pad level, to complement his strength and power. Lawrence, Ferrell said, “just wants to whoop you and beat up on you on the field.”

Coming out of high school, all four starters were ranked four stars or higher by ESPN. But beyond star and composite rankings, the top-tier athleticism from all four starters that impressed Hale.

“It’s just hard to find guys that are 260, 280, 300 that move the way that they can,” Hale said. “There’s not many out there, and Clemson’s got four of them.”

On Sept. 30 against Virginia Tech, the Hokies lined up a receiver outside the hashes. The 6-foot-5, 265 pound Bryant split out wide in coverage. When VT snapped the ball and ran a screen to the wideout, Bryant flew in and blew up the play for a loss.

On top of two All-Americans and Ferrell, the emergence of Bryant as a top pass rusher has further bolstered the already deep group. Coming into the season, Bryant appeared to be the lone weak spot on the line, Hale said. Through six games, he leads the team with five sacks.

“One of the funniest things is, I think,” Hale said, “their best lineman, or most productive one so far has been Austin Bryant, and he was sort of looked at as ‘the other guy’ on the line.”

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Ferrell, Bryant, Lawrence and redshirt freshman Nyles Pinckney live together, and in the offseason, the D-line will make occasional trips to places like Atlanta. They’ll often go see a movie as a group or play pickup basketball at CU’s recreation center. Ferrell described it as a “brotherhood.”

Plus, they have Madden, a video game, to vent any frustration. A favorite activity, in season or out, Madden often brings out otherwise-dormant trash talk.

“That’s really where we kill each other with that,” Ferrell said. “Madden, yeah, let ’em know, ‘You trash.’”

Ferrell likes to play with the Arizona Cardinals (“that secondary is crazy, man.”) but Wilkins doesn’t care who he plays with.

“It doesn’t matter who I am,” Wilkins said. “I’ll beat anybody.”

Two men on the sideline, defensive coordinator Brent Venables and defensive line coach Todd Bates, orchestrate the quarterback onslaught. Venables, an intense, energetic character, is arguably the best defensive coordinator in college football, Hale said. Venables style has been translated to his players.

Bates is a newcomer to the Tigers, after co-defensive line coaches Marion Hobby and Dan Brooks departed in the offseason. CU head coach Dabo Swinney had always wanted Bates on his staff, Hale said, and now Bates is filling into his new role. All told, the defensive line including rotation players have generated 14.5 of Clemson’s 22 sacks.

With a yet-unblemished record, and a potential run at defending a national title, the Tigers should hope it stays that way.

“(We have) guys who wanna be great,” Wilkins said. “It’s one thing to talk about it, it’s another thing to go out there and do it and be it.”

Published on October 12, 2017 at 7:56 pm

Contact Andrew: aegraham@syr.edu | @A_E_Graham