Walker Parks Makes Promise to Clemson Fans: Offensive Line ‘Not Going to Be a Problem’

If the Clemson Tigers are going to seriously contend for the national title in 2021, offensive line play must improve.

The Tigers were hurt last season by inexperience and a lack of quality depth. With those younger guys on the roster now one year more experienced, rising sophomore Walker Parks made a promise to the Clemson fan base that the coming season will be different.

“One thing I have to say to the fan base, because that’s a big question the offensive line, is we’re out here every day,” Parks said. “If you guys saw how hard we work, I promise you one thing: We are trying… we aren’t trying, we are GOING TO develop and we’re going to be a lot better. The mindset has definitely changed. We are working hard as a unit. Like I said earlier, we are still developing and learning how to communicate, but I promise you one thing, that’s not going to be a problem this year.” 

Parks acknowledged that last season was disappointing and that some of the criticism directed towards the offensive line was warranted.

“It’s definitely very frustrating, but part of it is deserving,” Parks said. “We didn’t execute in many games. In some games that we didn’t execute (in the running game), I don’t think we deserved all the beatings that we took from people, but at the same time we did deserve a lot of the beatings we took because of our performance.”

Parks said that the players along the offensive line know they underperformed at times last season. That it’s something that’s been discussed quite often among the group over the offseason and something they are committed to changing.

“We didn’t really give our teammates a fair opportunity because of our performance. As you guys saw, we weren’t that dominant. That’s definitely something we’ve been talking about and working on. It pisses me off and it pisses the guys off too.”