Clemson Football: Pre-Spring DT Positional Analysis 2020

The Clemson football team will begin spring practice in a matter of days. Here’s a look at our pre-spring analysis and depth chart for defensive tackle.

The 2020 Clemson football team is considered one of the favorites to get to the CFB Playoff and one of the reasons is the amount of depth along the defensive line.

The Tigers return basically everyone from last year’s defensive line- other than Xavier Kelly (transfer) and Logan Rudolph (retirement) and will have plenty of talent to pull from as they look to rework a defense that relied strongly on the secondary a year ago.

Here’s a look at our depth chart projection for Clemson football in the spring and what we can expect from the defensive tackle position in 2020.

Spring Depth Chart Projection: Defensive Tackle

DT: Tyler Davis

• Jordan Williams
• Demonte Capehart or Ruke Orhorhoro
• Tayquon Johnson

DT: Nyles Pinckney

• Bryan Bresee or Darnell Jefferies
• Etinosa Reuben

Analysis:

There’s a ton of depth at this defensive tackle position and that doesn’t even incoming 4-star Tre Williams, who will enroll later this summer.

When you look at defensive tackle, you’ll see that Tyler Davis and Nyles Pinckney (the two returning starters) will get the first shot with veteran Jordan Williams not that far behind.

At this point, I just don’t see how you’re going to keep Bryan Bresee, in particular, off the field. Bresee is likely going to line up at both defensive tackle and defensive end, but the coaches are going to find ways to get him on the field. That, in turn, may take snaps away from Pinckney and from some of those other defensive linemen who have been waiting.

This defensive tackle group is the deepest in the country, in my opinion. The Tigers legitimately have third-stringers who could start at many other Power-5 programs. That amount of depth and talent is unheard of and it will be interesting to see how Clemson football manages the rotation at the defensive tackle position in 2020.