Clemson’s thrilling come-from-behind win over North Carolina on Saturday gives the team a lot of positive momentum heading into its trip out west to Cal.

However, before we start diving into the Golden Bears, let’s take another look back at the 28-20 win over the Heels as we dive into the snap counts and the PFF grades.

Quarterback

• Tait Reynolds: 72 (72.7)

In his first career start, the freshman quarterback improved his grade by almost 20 points from last week’s win over Georgia Southern. Reynolds is showing a lot of growth in a short amount of time.

Running Back

• Gideon Davidson: 62 (68.6)
• Jarvis Green: 7 (59.5)
• Chris Johnson Jr.: 3 (57.5)

Davidson had his strongest showing yet, going over 100 rushing yards for the first time in his career, as well as scoring his first touchdown.

Wide Receiver

• T.J. Moore: 63 (62.9)
• Bryant Wesco: 63 (58.2)
• Tyler Brown: 44 (59.3)
• JuJu Preston: 13 (57.7)
• Gordon Sellers: 10 (54.9)
• Tristan Smith: 5 (56.4)
• Chris Denson: 2 (55.5)

Moore extended his streak of consecutive games with a reception to 30. He became the 12th player in school history to record a 30-game reception streak.

Tight End

• Olsen Patt-Henry: 54 (63.8)
• Christian Bentancur: 34 (67.9)

Bentancur had a really good game, catching his first touchdown of the season.

Offensive Line

• Brayden Jacobs: 72 (64.7)
• Harris Sewell: 72 (67.4)
• Elyjah Thurmon: 72 (54.6)
• Collin Sadler: 49 (62.8)
• Ronan O’Connell: 38 (57.0)
• Grant Wise: 34 (56.6)
• Easton Ware: 23 (55.9)

The freshman Wise saw by far his most extensive playing time of the year. After another slow start, the unit as a whole seemed to improve as the game went along.

Defensive End

• Will Heldt: 51 (77.2)
• Jahiem Lawson: 47 (73.4)
• London Merrit: 33 (66.5)
• Darien Mayo: 27 (67.2)
• Caden Story: 2 (67.5)

The ends have now played well in two straight. Merritt continues to show a lot of growth.

Defensive Tackle

• Andy Burburija: 34 (59.4)
• Amare Adams: 32 (58.9)
• Champ Thompson: 32 (53.8)
• Devarrick Woods: 20 (58.0)
• Vic Burley: 9 (67.9)
• Dietrick Pennington: 1 (60.0)

After returning from his suspension, Burley was the highest-graded player on the interior.

Linebacker

• Sammy Brown: 61 (49.6)
• Jeremiah Alexander: 41 (57.5)
• Fletcher Cothran: 15 (74.9)
• Kobe McCloud: 7 (66.2)
• CJ Kubah-Taylor: 6 (52.0)

Outside of getting bulled over by TE Jelani Thurmon on one play, Cothrann had another solid outing, including a forced fumble.

Corner/Nickel

• Ashton Hampton: 67 (72.5)
• Eliott Washington: 51 (76.5)
• Branden Strozier: 22 (72.3)
• Tink Kelley: 11 (63.4)
• Corian Gipson: 2 (61.3)

The corners were once again extremely effective in pass coverage. One thing worth noting here. Gipson’s snaps decreased substantially this week at nickel. He played 43 last week.

Safety

• Jerome Carter: 68 (61.5)
• Corey Myrick: 67 (65.0)
• Ronan Hanafin: 60 (59.3)
• Kylon Griffin: 4 (63.5)

Explanation of Grades

– Anything 85 and over is considered NFL caliber

– 84-79 is “very good”

– 78-68 is “above average”

– 60 is “average” and is where each grade begins, then goes up or down

– 59-50 is “below average”

– Below 50 is “poor”

Photo courtesy of Bart Boatwright/The Clemson Insider