Clemson Football: Tigers’ DL haul has them set for years to come

The Clemson football defensive line is set for many years to come with the amount of high-level prospects the Tigers are bringing in.

The Clemson football defensive line took a big hit this year with the losses of Christian Wilkins, Dexter Lawrence, Clelin Ferrell, Austin Bryant and Albert Huggins.

Though the Tigers lost plenty of talent, including three first-round draft picks, there is reason to believe that they will be set for many years to come with the recent span of stellar recruiting.

The Tigers will have Nyles Pinckney (redshirt junior), Jordan Williams (redshirt sophomore), Xavier Thomas (sophomore) and Justin Foster (junior) as the projected starters this season. Behind them, they have the likes of KJ Henry (redshirt freshman), Justin Mascoll (redshirt freshman), Logan Rudolph (redshirt sophomore), Xavier Kelly (redshirt junior), Darnell Jefferies (redshirt freshman), and several other true-freshmen on the defensive line this season.

That means that, if they so choose to, every single defensive lineman could return for one more year after 2019.

Joining this group- which will be a veteran, experienced unit next season- will be 5-star DT Bryan Bresee, 5-star DE Myles Murphy, 5-star DT Demonte Capehart and 4-star DT Tre Williams. The Tigers are also targeting 5-star DE Jordan Burch, but either way it’s clear to see that Clemson football is stacked at defensive line for the next few seasons.

It would be extremely exciting, in my opinion, to see a defensive line that consisted of Xavier Thomas and Justin Foster or KJ Henry at the defensive ends with Bryan Bresee and a guy like Nyles Pinckney on the inside.

There are a ton of possibilities with this group of young players and the defensive line certainly looks promising over the next few years for the Tigers. It may take a little longer for players in the group to develop, but they are going to be near impossible to deal with when they do reach that next level.