Clemson has only been practicing for five days, but guys like Van Smith, Mark Fields, Jalen Williams, Chad Smith, Christian Wilkins, Albert Huggins, Austin Bryant, Sterling Johnson and Clelin Ferrell have all made some sort of impact in one way or another in the first week of camp.

What do all of those guys have in common besides playing on the defensive side of the football? They’re all true freshmen.

“I think we hit it,” Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables said earlier in the week. “You obviously don’t always feel that way, but we really feel like we hit it with all of those guys. Sometimes you think it is just coach speak, but they all like to work and they’re all coachable.”

And they give the Clemson defense quality depth. The 12th-ranked Tigers lost eight starters to graduation last year, and six defensive linemen overall. Depth is the only concern that keeps anyone from believing the Tigers can repeat last year’s performance in which it led the nation in 11 different defensive categories.

If the start of fall camp is any indication, the defense it going to be just fine. The defense owned the first week of practices. Granted, Clemson still has plenty of talent from its veteran players, and Shaq Lawson, D.J. Reader, Carlos Watkins, Ben Boulware, Mackensie Alexander and Jayron Kearse were all making plays. But Bryant, Wilkins, Huggins, Ferrell and Mark Fields were all making plays, too.

“The young guys are stepping up, and we need them to step up,” Lawson said. “Austin Bryant and Clelin are looking good. They actually picked up things fast and look better than what we did when we first came in.

“Those young guys are going to help us a lot.”

Lawson said he worked with the freshmen defensive ends in the summer, as they worked on basic techniques and fundamentals as well as watching a lot of film.

“They came out that first day knowing it well,” he said.

The freshmen’s conditioning and knowledge of the playbook gained from summer workouts has been noticeable.

“You can tell when guys have put in some work before they ever get to the meeting room or the football field and they all have,” Venables said. “I think they have good chemistry, and it shows. I think they have respect for the game and how you get ready to play and how you get ready to compete.”

The thing that has been the most pleasing to Venables is how the veteran players have taken the younger players under their wings, teaching them as much as they can about their positions, what the coaches expect and the standard they set at Clemson on the defensive side of the football.

“Our older guys have done an incredible job of pouring into the younger guys, I mean really, really well,” Venables said. “It is very pleasing to see that, and as a result there is a real mutual respect from the young guys to the old guys and the old guys to the new guys as opposed to a disconnect and that has to develop over time.”

It also doesn’t hurt that these young group of freshmen were already physically developed when they reported to camp.

“I think physically, it is a mature group of guys,” Venables said. “Of course Van was here in the spring, but Mark Fields comes in and he is physically mature. Van is a good football player and is always in pretty good position. You can tell his dad is a coach that has been in the game a long time because he doesn’t get overwhelmed with the speed or the variety of schemes that you are in.

“All of the (linebackers) were all here in the spring, but Jalen Williams has done some real nice things. He is very instinctual, good quickness, likes to play and plays hard. Then all of those D-Linemen, there will be a few of them that will probably redshirt, which would be good for them, but they are all physically mature. They are all physical guys.”