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Dalton Freeman to start against Wake, and whatit means

Preliminary reports indicate that redshirt Freshman Dalton Freeman will start over Mason Cloy at the center position against Wake. This is encouraging news from this offensive line and overall depth for this unit. Along with depth, the move allows Clemson to try to shore up the tackle spot by moving David Smith from guard to tackle and possibly getting Cloy some snaps at the guard spot.

Freeman, a Pelion native, is said to have great footwork and pass protection skills. Going into fall camp, those in the know expected Freeman to push for a starting role all fall. He has received significant playing time to this point in the season. Greenville News has been following this all week, and has a pretty good outline of Brad's opinion on things here and Anderson Independent here.

Let's be clear what this actually means. Freeman currently sees significant playing time on a weekly basis, so the coaches have confidence in him. The important aspect here is trying to fix the glaring eyesore that is the right tackle position. Cloy has enough size to immediately take effective reps at the guard position, freeing up David Smith to add depth to the Cory Lambert Landon Walker revolving door, especially after losing Chris Hairston for a couple games earlier this season.

This issue has been discussed almost daily here, with most agreeing that we are in this situation because of good ole' Heinz ketchup-man himself. If you missed the problems up front, Dr. B gives you a pretty good idea of our overall problems here and here, so it is something that we all have been aware of for some time now.

In other news, the CU AD has slated the Halloween day contest against Coastal will begin at 1:30 and available only on ESPN360.