Clemson's Falcinelli staying under radar at center

Dabo Swinney spent much of August talking about players who caught his eye.

One Clemson Tiger who hasn’t is Justin Falcinelli.

“I haven’t even noticed him,” Swinney said. “It’s beautiful.”

That’s actually a compliment. If the head coach has to pay attention to a new center, then he's probably yelling at him.

“I’ve stayed off the radar,” Falcinelli said. “I’m good.”

That’s about all Clemson can ask out of the replacement of Jay Guillermo, a two-year starter who helped lead the Tigers to a pair of national championship games and one title. After all, Guillermo had over 1,000 snaps a year ago.

Falcinelli, a 6-foot-4, 305-pound Middletown, Md., native, hasn't seen 300 snaps in his entire career, but he's been waiting his turn. Now that it’s here, he appears to be flourishing.

“He’s a veteran guy,” Swinney said. “It’s fun to see guys step into that role and see the change in their demeanor. Guillermo’s gone and you just know it’s your time to lead. He’s taken advantage of it. Proud of him.”

A center is judged first and foremost by his snaps, something that’s gone smoothly leading up to No. 5 Clemson’s season opener against Kent State on Saturday. However, it’s didn’t come natural to Falcinelli, who started as a guard.

“I've got all the confidence in the world in Justin Falcinelli,” Clemson offensive line coach Robbie Caldwell said. “You know, Justin had never snapped a ball. He agreed, reluctantly, but he went over and tried it and it was really difficult to do, when you've never snapped a ball, but he has adjusted to it well.”

Falcinelli admits it was tough to get the shotgun snaps down, but once he figured it out, it became second nature.

Becoming the vocal leader that Guillermo was has proved more difficult. Guillermo was the personality of the offense last year.

“I don’t know if anyone can replace Jay,” Falcinelli said. “(Left tackle) Mitch (Hyatt) can get after you. I’m not very vocal, but I’m trying to work on it.”

He’ll also be in charge of making many pre-snap reads and calling out certain blocking schemes based on what he sees.

That part of his game shouldn’t be as difficult. Falcinelli has already earned his degree in management and begun working toward his MBA.

Caldwell says his center can even put together a computer with nothing but spare parts.

“This is a little bit easier than that,” Caldwell said about snapping. “You just point and we go that direction.”

This story was originally published August 31, 2017 at 4:15 PM with the headline "Clemson's Falcinelli staying under radar at center."