Cemetery Hill

So in the end, the most relevant piece of information to be gleaned from Clemson’s initial depth chart is something Dabo Swinney revealed about a week ago.

Sure does look like redshirt freshman walk-on Chandler Catanzaro has beaten out the Tigers’ two scholarship guys to emerge as the starter for the Sept. 4 opener.

Catanzaro isn’t even sharing the depth chart pole position with either incumbent Richard Jackson (third) or kickoff specialist Spencer Benton (second).

“He knocked them out,“ Swinney said. “Hey, Buster Douglas knocked Mike Tyson out and came home with the belt. I don’t know if he had as high of odds … I don’t know anybody who believed he could win it but Buster Douglas. That was the only one that mattered.

“I told ‘Cat-Man’ coming into this one, if it’s close, I’m going to give it to someone else. They’re the ones who have the experience, so if you’re going to win it, you’ve got to knock them out. And he did. I mean, KOed. My hats off to him.”

Jackson missed practice Tuesday to be with his father, David, who was to undergo massive open-heart surgery after a sudden heart attack Sunday.

“As I told Richard Jackson, he’s a senior, and you love to see seniors be your guys,” Swinney said. “But we’re going to play the best guy. It’s a game of performance. But we’re not counting him out. I guarantee we’ll need that sucker at some point, and he’ll be there.

“Spencer’s had some good moments, and Richard is like a good golfer who has kind of gotten in a little bit of a slump and not had a very good camp. Spencer is very talented, but he hasn’t been as consistent as we want. ‘Cat-Man’ may not have the overall leg strength of Benton, but he’s just been consistent.”