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CLEMSON –- Competitive depth has been the main story for the defense this offseason, in part because there are more players who are capable of supplying that depth.

But Jadar Johnson’s 2015 experience might also be one of the reasons that Dabo Swinney has tried to hammer home the importance of competition on that side of the ball.

Because, well, it’s probably not a stretch to say Johnson was good enough to play more last season when the starting safeties were struggling.

“Just me having the competitive nature that I have, I was seeing plays out there that I felt like I could have made that weren’t made,” Johnson said recently.

Johnson’s year-by-year snap totals look a little strange at the end. After going from 98 as a freshman to 242 snaps and a start in 2014, he dropped down to 231 snaps and zero starts last season.