Category: Griffin Jones

Bryant Wesco Jr. breakdown

By: Griffin Jones

Bryant Wesco Jr. is a sophomore wide receiver for the Clemson Tigers. Coming off an incredible high school career with 109 catches, 1,903 yards, and 29 touchdowns, he followed it up with a great freshman season with the Tigers. Recording 41 catches, 708 yards, and 5 touchdowns. 

Coming into his sophomore year, he was seen as a superstar by many people around the country, seen as a major part of the three headed monster of the elite Clemson receiving room. Surrounded by a top 5 roster along with two other preseason All-ACC receivers, he was expected to thrive. 

In the first game of the season, Clemson faced number nine ranked LSU, Wesco tracked in 4 receptions for 66 yards almost getting in the endzone in the second quarter and making a miraculous catch in the third quarter in a Clemson loss.

Coming off a disappointing loss Clemson faced a weak Troy team, with seven minutes left in the second quarter, Clemson was trailing 16-0 and Wesco hadn’t recorded a catch. In the final three quarters Bryant hauled in seven catches for 118 yards and 2 touchdowns in a comeback victory for the Tigers.

The following week versus the Yellow Jackets, Wesco had 7 catches for 126 yards and a touchdown within this was a huge 73 yard slant to the house to keep Clemson in the game in an eventual 21-24. The next week home vs Syracuse was not much of a game as the Tigers lost 34-21, although they took a L Wesco still had 6 catches for 79 yards hauling in 2 touchdowns.

The following week, the Tigers faced a horrible UNC team in which they destroyed, due to this Wesco was taken out of the game early only getting 2 catches for 42 yards. In a game versus Boston College, he bounced back with 5 catches for 106 yards and a touchdown including an incredible touchdown catch in a 41-10 win. However, in the most recent game versus SMU Bryant Wesco was returning punts as he has all year and was hit low, flipping him on his neck and tragically ending his great start to the season early. His final stats being 31 receptions for 537 yards for 6 touchdowns.

Why the Atlanta Falcons will make the playoffs

By: Griffin Jones

The Atlanta Falcons will make the playoffs this season. Following a disappointing 2024-2025 season, finishing 8-9, the Falcons went into the offseason with a few holes around the team. The defense struggled the few seasons prior, specifically the defensive line, finishing with 31 sacks the second lowest in the league. 

After a great 6-3 start and a lead in their division they began to decline. Kirk Cousins, the star quarterback the Falcons signed in the offseason, showed to be too old and fragile to perform throughout the season. Despite signing a quarterback, the Falcons drafted a Quarterback 8th overall, Michael Penix, out of Washington.

Coming into the 25 season, the Falcons filled many of their holes. Although they lost some talent on defense, they had an amazing draft. Selecting two first round defenders at linebacker and edge along with two safeties later in the draft that proved to be impactful. As in the game on Sunday night vs the Vikings last week the defense recorded 2 interceptions along with 6 sacks, only allowing 6 total points. 

The offense this season looks to be extremely promising this season, led by second year QB Michael Penix, along with a superstar running back Bijan Robinson and his second half at RB, Tyler Allegier. Robinson, has proved to be a top 5 back in the NFL and looks to have his best season yet not only running but catching the ball as well. For other receiving options the Falcons return two fringe 1000 yard receivers. One being star wide out, Drake London, London is a 6 ‘4 WR entering his 4th season. Finishing last year 4th in the league in receiving yards,recording 1,271 and 9 touchdowns, he is expected to take an even bigger leap this year into a true superstar. At the other WR Darnell Mooney ended his first season in Atlanta last year just shy of a one thousand yard season. The final weapon of the Atlanta offense is TE Kyle Pitts, Pitts is a monster on the field, nicknamed the Unicorn, he stands out just based off his pure size. He began his career with an outstanding rookie year in 2021 with the Falcons. However, since then it has become underwhelming to say the least. Despite that, with a new and improved QB situation, Pitts looks good and ready to produce. All this along with an extremely young core only means the future is bright.

After two games this season the Falcons stand 1-1 with a tough slate ahead including the Bills, Commanders, and 49ers. However, with a weak division and a much improved team, I believe the Falcons will finally break through and finish 10-7. Not enough to win the division but good enough for a wildcard spot.

Clemson vs LSU Postgame Breakdown

By: Griffin Jones

On Saturday August 30th, 2025 the number 8 ranked LSU Tigers traveled to Memorial Stadium to take on the number 4 ranked Clemson Tigers in a highly anticipated matchup. There was an unbelievable amount of hype coming into this game as this was the first time the 2 teams faced off since January 13th, 2019 where LSU topped Clemson 42-25 in the National Championship. While the two teams have played formerly, LSU leading 4-1, this was the first game inside of either team’s stadium which are both labeled as “Death Valley”. The high rankings along with the possible revenge lead fans to call this game the battle to be the “Real Death Valley”. 

Coming into the game the spread was Clemson favored by -4.5 as they returned 81% of their offensive talent and 75% of their defensive talent, this combined with a great offseason and a home field advantage led many to believe this was Clemson’s game to win. LSU however returned 65% of offensive production and 59% of defensive production losing much of their offensive line and receiving core. However, using the transfer portal LSU was able to instantly replace their positions of need with equal or similar talent.

Despite both teams returning diverse numbers of talent, they each came into the season labeled to have a top five skilled rosters in the country. All of this skill along with a Heisman hopeful quarterback on each team excited some to the point where they were saying this would be the “Game of the Year”. 

Entering the game LSU players were greeted by 80,000+ Clemson fans who were starving for a big win. A 7:30 kickoff time only fed into the excitement of the roaring fans. Clemson won the coin toss and decided to defer and the game was under way.

The first play from scrimmage LSU’s star sophomore running back Caden Durham shook off a tackle and ran for a gain of  24 yards leaving them just shy of Clemson territory. The Tigers gained 1 more first down getting to the Clemson 40 but after that stalled, leaving out at a 3 & 11. As this was the biggest play of the game at this point the fans were deafening during a huge third down on the first drive. This caused Quarterback Garrett Nussmeier to call a timeout due to the screams. The rest of the first half was filled with many unsuccessful with LSU’s offense looking superior throughout. Despite this, Clemson’s lead in the turnover battle along with a strong drive in the second quarter helped them head into the half with a 10-3 lead over LSU.

However, this lead would be short lived as LSU’s dominance of time of possession, Clemson’s inability to establish the run game, and an interception thrown in the second half turned things LSU’s way. As they tied the game 10-10 with a Caden Durham touchdown and took the lead with a 1on1 endzone ball to 6 ‘7 receiver Trey’dez Green. Once LSU claimed the lead they never let it go, despite Clemson’s best effort on their final drive they came up just short of forcing overtime. As Klubnik was pressured into a poor throw on 4th down from LSU’s 15 with just under a minute left. 

I believe that these are two playoff teams who have a lot of potential this year if they reach their full ability. Although Clemson lost, I think Troy will help them get some confidence and hopefully bounce back in the future and figure things out in what seems like a strong ACC this year.