Last season was a lost year for Justin Parker. The highly touted four-star recruit out of Beaufort High School played just 57 snaps all season, burning his redshirt in a year Clemson was thin on linebackers.
Parker was lost again in the February fanfare of Clemson signing a pair of five-star linebackers in Tony Steward and Stephone Anthony. But after a productive offseason and impressive spring practice, Parker is hoping to play a significant role in helping turn the linebacker corps from a weakness to a strength at Clemson.
"I got into the film room and studied my butt off this offseason, and it's showing more out there,"
Parker said. "I'm a lot more confident now."
After lamenting that he barely had enough linebackers to create a two-deep depth chart last season, Tigers defensive coordinator Kevin Steele suddenly has a wealth of young talent at the position.
Steele was impressed with Quandon Christian's play as a redshirt freshman last fall and believes Tig Willard would have had a breakout season had he not been slowed by an elbow injury. Corico Hawkins will be a junior this fall. And in the summer, perhaps the two most talented linebackers to enter Clemson in recent memory, Steward and Anthony, will arrive.
Like five-stars Steward and Anthony, some see the 6-3, 230-pound Parker as a potential impact player with a blend of size, speed and instincts Clemson has lacked at the position in recent seasons.
"He flipped a switch between now and the (end of the season),"
Steele said. "We knew he was a good player, a tough player who could run and had instincts. He just didn't know what to do last year. The switch comes on at different times for players."
Clemson played the majority of its defensive snaps with five defensive backs and four defensive linemen on the field the last two seasons. But with defensive-line depth lessened with the departures of end Da'Quan Bowers and tackle Jarvis Jenkins, Clemson might find a way to get more linebackers on the field and even show some more 3-4 (three defensive linemen, four linebackers) defensive fronts.
After all, Steele has extensive experience with the 3-4 defense, having coached at Alabama and as a linebackers coach with the Carolina Panthers.
Steele said fans could see some different formations and personnel groupings this season.
"The key is getting the best players on the field,"
Steele said. "We have studied a lot of different things. We've got some outside help from the NFL, where they've done a good job of having cross-over packages where you can go one way or the other way with your calls ... because of having those linebackers. You can be in a nickel look or a base look without having to substitute."
Parker has played at strong-side linebacker in base packages this spring and at middle linebacker in nickel packages. Steele is trying to create versatility at linebacker in anticipation of the arrival of Stewart and Anthony, both of whom Steele says could contend for immediate playing time.
"We can move (veterans) around easier than we can freshmen,"
Steele said. "We are practicing half the time as if they are not coming half the time as if 'OK we'll plug this guy in and this guy in."
Linebacker depth? Mixing and matching talented young players? It is a welcomed problem for Steele and Clemson.
