Clemson Football: 5 instant impact early signees
1. Offensive Guard, William Putnam
The battle in the trenches is one that Clemson often wins on one side of the ball all the time and most of the time on the other side. Clemson’s offensive line isn’t on a level similar to Oklahoma or Alabama, but they are amongst the best in their conference and rank top-15 nationally in standard downs line yards per carry according to Football Outsiders.
This season the Tigers lose two big pieces to this offensive line in left tackle Mitch Hyatt and center Justin Falcinelli. Hyatt’s replacement Jackson Carman is already on campus and so is Justin Falcinelli’s replacement Gace Cervenka. The issue with this is that Cervenka starts at right guard and that leaves Clemson without a right guard and back up center. Enter William Putnam.
Putnam signed on the second day of the early signing period which came as a surprise to many. The 247Sport Crystal Ball heavily favored Florida State but after a slow day from the Noles on opening day, the crystal ball swung heavily in favor of Clemson. Putnam hails from Tampa, Florida, so stealing an in-state kid on signing day was just as big for Clemson as it was crushing for Florida State.
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Putnam is 6-foot-4 and 280 pounds and is a phenomenal blocker. He has great foot-work which os a result of his state champion caliber wrestling abilities. On top of being an incredible offensive lineman, Putnam also played defense at Plant High School and recorded 63 tackles with eight tackles for loss in 2018. Clemson needed a guard and went out and won over one heck of a lineman in the Tampa product.