The Tigers moved to 3-0 on the season with a 20-17 win at Louisville. The battles for the depth chart continue.
Each week TCI will look at the players moving up and those that are moving down in the Up Downs feature. Which players are elevating their game and their position on the depth chart?
Up
Jay Guillermo – When the Tigers host Notre Dame in Death Valley in two weeks Jay should be the starter even if Ryan Norton is healthy enough to start. He did a good job on snaps Thursday night and anchored an offensive line that dominated a very good Louisville defensive line as the Tiger rushed for 202 yards.
Deon Cain – The freshmen is gaining confidence each week as he gets more comfortable at receiver and with the Clemson offense. Cain had two critical catches for Clemson for 26 yards including one for 15 yards. Peake had a nice catch on the sideline, but that was his only catch of the night.
Thursday night Clemson only had three wide receivers with multiple catches, two of them were McCloud and Cain.
Expect Cain to be come a bigger part of the offense as the season moves along.
Wayne Gallman – Although he was already the starter Gallman made a move as his play dictated leaving the other running backs on the sidelines watching for most of the night. Wayne had 24 carries Thursday night. The No. 2 back C.J. Davidson only had four.
Gallman is quickly becoming a very talented, consistent running back for the Tigers.
Hunter Renfrow – The first Tiger to score Thursday night was former walk-on Hunter Renfrow. If you called that before the game we hope you played the lottery this week. Renfrow has played well the first three games when given his opportunities. Expect to see more of No. 13 as the season progresses.
Christian Wilkins – The freshmen had a good performance Thursday night causing issues up the middle for the Cardinals. Wilkins has shown that he should likely be the starter when Notre Dame visits Death Valley.
With an abundance of talent, Wilkins simply needed some experience and now he has some.
Downs
Ryan Norton – An injury during practice kept Norton out of the game against Louisville. In his absence Guillermo played well and showed that the should be the starter when Norton is ready to see the field again.
C.J. Davidson – Davidson only had four carries Thursday night but he only averaged 2.2 yards per carry. With Gallman set to get the bulk of the carries going forward, the battle will be for who will be the first guy off the bench to relieve Gallman. Don’t be surprised to see Zac Brooks or Tyshon Dye get a shot as the No. 2 back. Brooks if he is healthy is likely to get the next shot based on what we have heard from the coaches, but expect the competition to be fierce the next two weeks.