Starting right guard Walker Parks out for Florida State game
CLEMSON -- Senior right guard Walker Parks is out for Saturday's game against Florida State, Tigerillustrated.com has learned.
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Parks has been dealing with an ankle-related injury recently. Through football spokesman Ross Taylor, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney will provide additional details on Parks' situation after the game.
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Parks has played in 39 career games with 28 starts, including the first two games this season. He sat out last week's win over Florida Atlantic.
Mitchell Mayes started in place of Parks last week and played 43 snaps. The 6-foot-3, 305-pound senior has played 103 snaps this season, and late last year he gained valuable experience after Marcus Tate suffered a season-ending injury.
Mayes started four of the team's final five games of 2022 after replacing Tate during the Tigers' win over Miami. He played 405 snaps last season, including 105 in the Orange Bowl against Tennessee.
Last year against N.C. State, Parks suffered a torn ligament in his left ankle. He elected to play the rest of the season and have surgery thereafter. He missed 2023 spring practice recovering from surgery.
"I'm just grateful to be out there," he said in August. "I've gained a lot of athleticism back. As far as 100-percent, I'm not sure. ... Still working in the training room, still doing rehab. I spent the entire summer working on it. Huge shout-out to our training staff for helping me a ton. I'm getting the flexibility back. I feel good. You watch the film on some plays, I look a little slow and you can tell. My biggest issue right now is I'd say backside counter, backside and inside zone, stepping under myself with the same left foot that I had reconstructed.
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"Definitely some issues, but nothing huge. But that's the biggest tweak I'm trying to fix right now."
Parks earned the starting right-tackle job entering his sophomore season in 2021 and started all 13 games that year.
Entering the 2022 season he moved inside to right guard after freshman Blake Miller established himself as a starter-quality right tackle.
Even after suffering the torn ligament in the fifth game last season, Parks finished the season with 916 offensive snaps -- the fifth-most in a season by any Clemson guard all-time.
Here's what the Tigers' interior depth looks like in terms of 2023 snaps to date:
Harris Sewell: 47
Trent Howard: 44
Ryan Linthicum: 37
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