There is no doubt Travis Blanks is having an outstanding camp.
Back in the mix after two ACL injuries kept him out of action last fall and in the spring, Blanks has been working with 12th-ranked Clemson’s first-team defense at the nickel / strongside linebacker position through the first eight days of training camp. All indications suggest the junior is back to the form that made him a Freshman All-American in 2012.
“Having Travis Blanks back means we have an experienced, knowledgeable football player,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said. “He is a guy who is always in the correct position and is a player who has the respect of his teammates. He has outstanding ball skills.”
He also has someone pushing him for the starting job. That someone is Dorian O’Daniel. The redshirt sophomore had five tackles and two tackles for loss in the Tigers’ situational scrimmage on Wednesday. He also caused a fumble and recovered one, too.
“That was pretty exciting,” O’Daniel said afterwards.
O’Daniel’s caused fumble came from just doing his job. The Maryland native saw running back Tyshon Dye was holding the ball incorrectly so he reached in and took it away from him.
“I saw he was kind of holding the ball a little loose. I saw an opportunity to cause a turnover so I stripped it, and I went from there,” he said.
O’Daniel then jumped on the loose football, getting the double whammy in the turnover department.
“It is just about making plays,” he said. “We know playing defense is what wins games. The more times we can cause turnovers, then that’s more opportunities for our offense to get the ball and put points on the board.
“We try to help them out as much as they try to help us out.”
O’Daniel enters 2015 following a so-so season a year ago. He had his moments, but there was a lot of disappoint as well. Though he played in 12 games, he started just one and that came due to an injury to B.J. Goodson.
But the one game he started, turned out to be the best game he played all year. O’Daniel totaled a team-high 10 tackles that afternoon in Atlanta and caused one fumble in a loss to Georgia Tech.
The Georgia Tech game proved there is an upside to O’Daniel’s ability, but he has to find a way to perform on a consistent basis. His 10 tackles in Atlanta represented a third of his total for the entire season.
It’s all about going out and putting together more performances like he had at Bobby Dodd Stadium last November, and like the one he had in Wednesday’s practice in Death Valley.
“It’s all about film study, correcting mistakes, and not making the same mistakes I made before,” he said. “That is the biggest thing. It’s about working on those mistakes and executing the game plan.”