There’s a reason expectations are so high for the Clemson football team, both within the fan base and from a national perspective.

The Tigers are loaded with top-notch stars, guys that would likely start for most programs in the country this side of USC – and I’m not talking about the one in Columbia.

Cullen Harper, James Davis, C.J. Spiller, Aaron Kelly, Jacoby Ford, Thomas Austin, Ricky Sapp, Dorell Scott, Michael Hamlin, Chris Clemons – these are all guys that will probably get a shot in the NFL sooner or later.

But while it’s these 10 guys – give or take a couple – that make Clemson a top-10 caliber team heading into the season, I would argue that it’s the next level of players that will determine whether or not the Tigers will be a championship team, ACC or otherwise, when it’s all said and done. After all, there’s no sport that is so purely a team game – 11 guys at a time pulling together for one common goal – than football.

And because the sport of football is basically an injury waiting to happen, plus the fact that you never know just who’s ready to have a breakout season, it’s quite possible that some of this next group of players could move into that aforementioned group of standouts.

Here, we’ll take a look at the next 10 guys on the Tigers’ roster, all of them certainly much more than role players, but also all of whom Clemson will need major contributions from if it is to capture its first conference title since 1991.

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Chris Chancellor, RS junior, CB. Chancellor tied for the team-lead last season with four interceptions and tied Banks McFadden’s Tiger bowl record for passes broken up with four against Auburn in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. While Chancellor is somewhat undersized at a generous 5-foot-10 and 170 pounds, he may be the best pure cover corner at Clemson since former first-round pick Tye Hill. And despite his lack of size, Chancellor has a 7.2 power index (basically a measure of a player’s pound-for-pound strength), which ranks him sixth on the team. If the Tigers are able to produce the kind of pass rush that many “experts” think they will, Chancellor’s cover skills give the Tigers’ the lockdown corner they need to be one of the nation’s elite defenses against the pass.

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Crezdon Butler, junior, CB. If Chancellor is this year’s Tye Hill, then Butler would be more comparable to Hill’s counterpart in those days, Justin Miller. While Miller was more physical than Butler has shown thus far, Butler also has the ability to come up and put a hit on somebody. The problem is when Butler does so, he tends to hit with his body and not so much wrap up the tackle with his arms – certainly a correctable problem, but problematic nonetheless. Still, Butler had 61 tackles in 2007, which ranked him seventh on the team. While you don’t necessarily want to see your corners racking up the tackles, Vic Koenning’s style of defense contributes to that. Bigger than Chancellor, Butler is also quite powerful pound-for-pound – his 7.3 power index ranks one spot ahead of his compadre at cornerback. Butler may also see some time returning kicks this season, and he certainly has electric ability with the ball in his hands – at Asheville High School, he was a dual-threat quarterback that broke Charlie ‘Choo-Choo’ Justice’s 63-year-old career rushing record.

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Tyler Grisham, senior, WR. A guy that perhaps deserved a spot in the list of the team’s top stars – though I gave the edge to Ford because of his nearly unparalleled big-play ability – Grisham has quietly become one of the ACC’s best receivers and ranks among the top eight in the conference in career receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. Even at 5-foot-11, 180 pounds, Grisham is flat-out willing to lay his body on the line to make the play, as he proved on numerous occasions last season. A guy that has flown under the radar at times, Grisham is the perfect complement to big-play guys like Kelly and Ford, and will likely finish as one of the better receivers in the school’s history.

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Chris Hairston, RS sophomore, OT. Hairston is a player that was almost completely overlooked by the major schools coming out of high school – though not by Clemson offensive line coach Brad Scott – as he chose the Tigers over offers from Hampton and South Carolina State. However, Chris Capote’s suspension prior to the Chick-fil-A Bowl forced Hairston into starting action at right tackle last season, and by nearly all accounts he performed quite capably against a very talented Auburn D-line in that game. This season and for the foreseeable future, Hairston will likely start at left tackle for the Tigers, protecting Cullen Harper’s blind side – a huge key, as perhaps Harper’s only deficiency has been holding onto the ball a bit too long at times.

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Jamie Cumbie, junior, DT. Cumbie’s importance to this team increased greatly when Rashaad Jackson was lost for at least half the season with a torn quad tendon. And while the Tigers coaching staff seems confident in Cumbie’s abilities, there’s no doubt he brings a much different skill set to the position than Jackson did. While Jackson has a lower center of gravity and is more of a run-stuffer, Cumbie is more of rangy-type defensive tackle at 6-foot-7, 270 pounds. He’ll bring a lot to the Tigers’ front four from a pass-rushing standpoint but will be tested against the run. Look for sophomore Jarvis Jenkins to get into the mix as well to help fill in for the loss of Jackson, especially on running downs.

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Jamie Harper, freshman, RB. Despite the fact that there are only so many balls to go around, particularly with Tigers’ ‘Thunder and Lightning’ backfield tandem, Harper has apparently already proven in about two weeks of practice that he’s too good not to be on the field. As much hype as there was surrounding Harper coming in, it appears he’s everything and more that Tiger fans hoped. At 230-plus pounds, Harper not only has the size to break tackles, but also the power to flat drag tacklers down the field. With the probable loss of both Davis and Spiller after this season, Harper is almost certain to be one of the faces of the team in the near future… along with this next guy.

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Da’Quan Bowers, freshman, DE. The highest-ranked recruit ever to come to Clemson, Bowers was considered either the No. 1 or No. 2 overall player in the nation by nearly every recruiting service coming out of high school. And ‘The Beast from Bamberg’ hasn’t disappointed up to this point, recording seven tackles and two sacks in the Orange and White game and three more sacks in a recent scrimmage. While Kevin Alexander may ultimately start the season as the first-team strongside end, there is little doubt that Bowers will eventually earn the role. While some reports have suggested that Bowers came into fall camp somewhat out of shape, it’s a near certainty that he’ll be bringing the pain to opposing quarterbacks for some time to come.

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Brandon Maye, RS freshman, LB. Another ‘diamond in the rough’ unearthed by the Clemson coaching staff, Maye chose the Tigers out of high school after both Southern Miss and South Carolina retracted their scholarship offers to the Mobile, Ala. native. Maye was the only Tiger named most improved on the field and in the weight room for spring practice and figures to be the opening-day starter at MIKE linebacker. Maye still needs to improve his lower-body strength, but he plays with a toughness and an attitude –even in practice – that many Tiger fans have been calling for from the linebacking corps. With the overall inexperience of that group, there are a number of players – Scotty Cooper, DeAndre McDaniel, Stanley ‘Buster’ Hunter, Kavell Conner – that could emerge for the Tigers, but Maye’s moxie might be the biggest key to how Clemson fares against opposing rushing attacks this season.

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Michael Palmer, junior, TE. Palmer only has 18 catches in two seasons for the Tigers, but he is the most complete of all the team’s tight ends at this point and is a huge asset as almost a sixth offensive lineman – he had at least one knockdown block in every game last season. With all of Clemson’s skill guys, Palmer may not see many balls again this year, but he will no doubt be a big part of the team’s success on offense. And while throwing to the tight end hasn’t been a staple of Rob Spence’s offense recently, Palmer is quite capable of making a big play or two down the field.

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Mark Buchholz, RS senior, K. Despite leading the ACC in scoring with 114 points last season, Buchholz was much maligned at times as well. He garnered a great deal of goodwill from Tiger fans, though, with his game-winning 35-yarder against South Carolina. This season, the Clemson coaching staff is expecting even bigger things out of Buchholz, as he has completed his eligibility as a star for the Tigers’ soccer team and is free to focus fully on football. He was very solid last season on kicks from the middle of the field, but struggled to convert attempts from either hash mark. Buchholz will be as big a key as any player if the Tigers are to capture that elusive ACC Championship this season, as undoubtedly at least a couple of games will come down to converting field goals down the stretch.