College football coaches tell us all the time that winning starts up front. Clemson clearly buys into that philosophy, as the first players made available to the media following the Tigers opening practice on Thursday were offensive linemen. Marcus Tate, Walker Parks, Tristan Leigh, Ryan Linthicum, and Blake Miller all expressed a quiet confidence that their continuity is going to pay big dividends for the Tigers in the fall. Clemson returns four starters from last year, but Tate says the mentality is different coming off a 9-4 campaign.
“I think everybody saw after last year that we couldn’t keep doing the same thing,” Tate confessed. “It isn’t just because we are Clemson that good things will happen. We have to make it happen. This is the hungriest team I’ve ever been a part of, and I think that’s been the difference between this year’s team and year’s past.”
The senior from Sunrise, Florida, has started twenty-seven games while playing in thirty-two contests for the Tigers.