Clemson Football: Kendall Joseph will be missed at linebacker
Clemson football will lose several key players off of what proved to be the best defense in the nation. One of those pieces is linebacker Kendall Joseph.
Kendall Joseph never really gets the credit he deserves when people talk about Clemson football.
Joseph never came away with eye-popping numbers and he wasn’t part of that dominant defensive line, but what he did during his time as a Tiger was special.
Joseph was, in many ways, the quarterback of that Tiger defense.
He relayed signals, made reads in the backfield and contributed greatly to the Tigers’ success against opponents.
He finished his senior season with 79 total tackles and 3.5 sacks.
While we’ll all talk about the losses of Christian Wilkins, Dexter Lawrence, Austin Bryant, Clelin Ferrell, Tre Lamar and Trayvon Mullen, we don’t need to forget about the loss of Kendall Joseph.
Joseph was a leader and a very talented linebacker.
He made a difference in the game and his role will have to be replaced for the Tigers to have success. Joseph did a great job making reads and being in position to make plays.
His experience this year was invaluable. There were times when you go back and watch the film where he stopped what would’ve been a big gain for little yardage. There were times when he was in the backfield and, although he didn’t come away with the sack, he contributed to the Tigers getting to the quarterback.
That quiet consistency will be hard to replace.
Next. Isaiah Simmons the early MVP for the 2019 defense. dark
I think you’ll probably see Joseph move to WLB at the NFL level, which will be good for him.
It will be interesting to see how his draft preparation goes and to see if his stock rises a bit as we get closer to time. Joseph certainly has the ability to play meaningful snaps at the next level, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see a team take a chance on him a bit early to lock in a solid linebacker on their roster.