Here's how Clemson football tight ends became so important in better offense
CLEMSON – Besides the improvement of quarterback DJ Uiagalelei, nothing has been more important to Clemson football’s resurgent offense than the tight ends.
The fifth-ranked Tigers (5-0, 3-0 ACC) play Saturday (7:30 p.m., ABC) at Boston College (2-3, 1-2) and are averaging 41 points per game. Last season, Clemson averaged 16.2 points in regulation through the first five league games. In the past two weeks combined, senior tight end Davis Allen and sophomore tight end Jake Briningstool have combined for 18 catches, 183 yards and four touchdowns.
“We’re making an impact,” Briningstool said. “We’re starting to see our numbers rise in the past couple weeks and really getting involved more to create mismatch problems. We’re capitalizing on our opportunities. It’s definitely been fun.”
Briningstool had 10 catches for 126 yards and two touchdowns in a pair of victories against ranked teams Wake Forest and N.C. State. Allen scored two TDs at Wake Forest. For the season, Briningstool has 14 grabs for 156 yards and three TDs. Allen has 13 catches for 141 yards and two TDs. Sixty-two percent of their yardage and four of their five touchdowns have come in the past two weeks.
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“It’s a great thing,” Uiagalelei said. “We have a lot more plays for them. That’s one thing. We’ve done a really good job of utilizing the tight ends. We have what (offensive coordinator) Brandon Streeter has done with that and how he is making different play calls for them, especially in the red zone. They’re big bodies (Allen 6-foot-6 and 250 pounds, Briningstool 6-6 and 230). They go up and grab the ball. It’s hard to go one-on-one with those guys. They block people out like it’s basketball.”
Allen and Briningstool are equally valuable as blockers in the run game.
“(Allen) might be the best blocking right end we’ve ever had here,” Streeter said. “That’s how good of a blocker Davis Allen is.”
“A lot of people get fooled with Brinny and think he’s just a pass-catching tight end,” position coach Kyle Richardson said. “They kind of look at his body and his route-running and he looks more like a receiver. But he is super-physical. When he uses his technique and is consistent in his technique, he’s one of the best blocking tight ends in the ACC.”
Davis became a prime target for Uiagalelei last season with so many wide receivers injured and finished with 28 catches after 21 in his first two years combined. During a five-game midseason stretch in 2020, he had four TDs.
Briningstool came into this season with three career catches, but one was for a touchdown. He caught one in the spring game to serve notice that he was coming on strong.
“Jake is special. He is a really special player,” Allen said. “... Jake is a really, really talented route-runner. I’m learning something new from him every day from that standpoint. I feel like I can help him in the run game a little bit, not that he needs help.”
Their versatility enhances play-calling and gets them both on the field at the same time.
“You can take both of those dudes and put them inside, put them outside, put them in the run game, put them in the pass game and we’re just calling our plays,” Richardson said. “You can put them in the box and convince (the defense) that it's a run. Then it’s a pass because they can make that happen. There’s no limitation to what they bring to the table.
“... I love it that they’ve got the catches and the touchdowns and that’s all good. I like it when they get rewarded with some of the shinier plays. But I turn on the film and I get fired-up when I see them pancake somebody.”
Todd Shanesy covers Clemson athletics for the USA TODAY Network.
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Here's how Clemson football tight ends became so important to offense
