Clemson Football: DT group building depth after spring camp

The Clemson football defensive tackle group has to work on building depth following spring camp and heading into the summer.

Clemson football will be looking to replace historically great players at defensive tackle in 2019.

For the first time in three years, the Tigers will not have Christian Wilkins, Dexter Lawrence or Albert Huggins suiting up in orange and white. All three of those guys are now preparing for the NFL Draft and getting ready to begin their careers as professionals.

Both Wilkins and Lawrence were two of the best defensive tackles to ever play for Clemson football.

Having that duo on campus at the same time was an incredible asset to Brent Venables and that Tiger defense, but it’s back to the drawing board in 2019.

The spring didn’t answer many questions when it came to the defensive tackles, either.

Both expected starters- Jordan Williams and Nyles Pinckney- missed the entire camp due to injuries. That left Xavier Kelly and a bunch of freshmen to contend for playing time.

While it’s not ideal to be without the projected starters at the position, their injuries may actually prove to have been valuable in building depth at defensive tackle. Had Pinckney and Williams been fully available, we wouldn’t have seen as much of guys like Kelly, Tyler Davis and Darnell Jefferies.

Those guys were able to get more in-depth looks from the coaching staff and learn more from getting to participate in more reps.

During the spring, we also learned that true-freshman Tyler Davis is a monster. Both Clemson football coaches and players alike continuously mentioned him when talking about the progression of spring camp.

Davis is going to be a force to be reckoned with, even as a freshman.

In the end, it will be important to get both Pinckney and Williams back. The Tigers need those guys to perform at a high level, but it will be equally as important for some of those two-deep guys to provide depth and confidence in the interior line.