Clemson Football Midseason Report: Freshman Redshirt Decisions

We’ve played six games. Here are the freshmen that will avoid a redshirt and those that may be headed that way after six games for Clemson football.

We’ve played six games and we’ve already seen several true-freshmen make an impact for Clemson football in 2018.

Here’s a breakdown of the Tiger freshmen and how many games they’ve played in each.

*The numbers are from high-to-low.*

Clemson Football Freshmen:

• Trevor Lawrence, QB (6 games)
• Justyn Ross, WR (6 games)
• Xavier Thomas, DE (6 games)
• Derion Kendrick, WR (6 games)
• Kyler McMichael, DB (6 games)
• BT Potter, K (6 games)
• Lyn-J Dixon, RB (5 games)
• Braden Galloway, TE (5 games)
• Mario Goodrich, DB (5 games)
• Jackson Carman, OL (4 games)
• KJ Henry, DE (4 games)
• Ben Batson, QB (1 game)
• Jordan McFadden, OL (1 game)
• Mike Jones Jr., LB (0 games)
• Darnell Jefferies, DT (0 games)
• Jake Venables, LB (0 games)
• Justin Mascoll, DE (0 games)

Who will redshirt?

Here at the midseason, we’ll definitely see the coaching staff make some decisions on redshirts, especially with the new rule.

The Tigers have a guaranteed nine true-freshmen that will not redshirt. Trevor Lawrence, Justyn Ross, Xavier Thomas, Derion Kendrick, Kyler McMichael and BT Potter have all played in every single game this season for the Tigers. Braden Galloway, Lyn-J Dixon and Mario Goodrich have all played in five.

That leaves decisions to be made on the final eight true-freshmen. As of right now, Jackson Carman and KJ Henry have both played in four games. They could technically sit out the rest of the season still redshirt, but I don’t think that will be in the cards for either of the freshmen.

Ben Batson could potentially redshirt as a quarterback, but he will without a doubt continue to be third on the depth chart for the Tigers the rest of the season.

I’d expect that Mike Jones Jr., Darnell Jefferies, Jake Venables, Jordan McFadden and Justin Mascoll all redshirt. I wouldn’t be surprised, though, if we saw a few of these guys- particularly Jones Jr.- see some time later in the season. If they progress physically, you could see them provide depth in the final four games of the season.

Perhaps we even see one of them make an impact in the College Football Playoff by providing depth. Overall, though, those would be the guys that I expect to redshirt at this point.