Clemson’s offensive line is in the middle of a makeover, and Harris Sewell is the piece the Tigers are leaning on to steady it.
Sewell has moved into the starting center role after spending the last few seasons preparing for it in a quieter way. Even when he was lined up at guard, he was already thinking like the man next to the quarterback - reading fronts, sorting out assignments and running through adjustments before the ball was snapped.
“I’ve really enjoyed it,” Sewell said of the move to center. “The past couple years, before every snap playing guard, I would kind of go through the process as if I was center - just understanding the play and the defense and what’s going on.
“Mentally, I would say the only difference is communicating with the whole line. But mentally, I would say it’s pretty similar just because I’ve gone through that process the past couple years already.”
That background matters because Clemson is asking Sewell to do more than fill a vacancy. He’s the only returning starter from last season’s primary offensive line, with Collin Sadler the only other player on the unit who made as many as nine starts. The Tigers also have to replace center Ryan Linthicum, tackles Blake Miller and Tristan Leigh and guard Walker Parks.
At 6-foot-4 and 310 pounds, Sewell brings the kind of experience Clemson needs in the middle. The senior has played 1,650 career snaps over 35 games, with 17 starts, and he logged 643 snaps with nine starts at guard last season. Compared with the players fighting for the other spots, he’s the most seasoned voice in the room.
The center job is not new territory for him, either. Sewell played center as a senior at Odessa Permian High School in Texas, where Dave Campbell’s Texas Football ranked him as the state’s No. 1 center entering that season. Clemson’s official bio also lists high school experience at right tackle, right guard and center.
The leap to a full-time ACC center still comes with a different level of responsibility. The center has to identify fronts, help set protections and make sure the line is seeing the defense the same way. Under offensive coordinator Chad Morris, those decisions have to come fast.
Sewell also has a familiar helper nearby in Linthicum, who is back with the program as an offensive player development intern after starting 27 straight games at center over his final two seasons. Linthicum played 1,970 career snaps, more than any Clemson player over the 2024 and 2025 seasons, and he is listed on the football staff.
“It’s really good just because he’s done it,” Sewell said. “When they give us a front that’s funky, he can kind of give his opinion on what he would have done. So it’s been really good to have him - and just good to have him around.”
Clemson’s offensive line is also being pushed toward a more physical identity. Players on both sides of the ball have described camp as tougher, especially in inside-run and team periods, and Sewell said that tone is intentional.
“We’ve been really physical,” he said. “Doing inside or team, whatever it is, the whole O-line and D-line, we’re all really physical.
I think that’s kind of been the point of emphasis this year. It’s just being able to run the ball and bring physicality up front.”
Morris’ offense is built to play fast and stress a defense horizontally and vertically, but Sewell made clear that none of that matters without a run game that can hold up.
“We play with a lot of speed,” he said. “And, I mean, you’ve got to run the ball to win. So that’s definitely an emphasis this year.”
That tempo has changed the way Clemson’s linemen have had to prepare, too. There’s less time between snaps, less time to sort things out and less time to catch a breath. Sewell said the group has stayed after practice for extra conditioning as it adjusts.
“We’re doing a lot of tempo, so there’s a lot of getting in shape to do,” Sewell said. “We’re all staying after practice and running and stuff. So that’s been really good.
“There’s offseason shape, and then there’s football shape. So it’s just taking a little while. We’re getting into football shape.”
Behind Sewell, true freshman Grant Wise is working at center while also rotating at guard. The 6-foot-4, 300-pound Wise enrolled in January after making 45 consecutive starts at Pace High School in Florida. He also won a state championship in Olympic and traditional weightlifting, and Clemson’s bio notes that his father, Ty, was a starting center at Miami from 1996-99.
Sewell has already started handing down what he’s learned from Linthicum and Clemson’s other experienced linemen.
“He’s done really well,” Sewell said of Wise. “I think he’s really come a long way. I’ve been kind of trying to teach him what I know, what I’ve experienced over the past few years.
“He’s going to help us this year.”
That’s the shape of Clemson’s line right now: a veteran who has been mentally living at center for years, a young backup learning on the fly and a unit trying to find its footing as the offense pushes the pace. Sewell has spent enough time rehearsing the job. Now he’s the one making the calls.
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