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We’ve periodically joked that the true makings of a Clemson safety take is that recruiting analysts designate him a future outside linebacker.

The Tigers aren’t afraid of rolling the dice on bigger safeties, with a lineage featuring a handful of players – Jayron Kearse, Travis Blanks, Isaiah Simmons and Tanner Muse – whom the industry pegged as too big to play deep.

A couple of those have manifested as linebackers, although Simmons – Clemson’s rising star at SAM linebacker – is a ‘tweener who could arguably still get by as a safety.

We sustain the belief that the heir apparent to this mold is freshman Ray Thornton.

Thornton enrolled in January but is getting his first taste of true action during this opening week of Clemson camp. He was recovering from shoulder surgery during the spring and only participated in a couple of non-contact activities late in the spring.