Clemson Football: How Xavier Thomas will elevate the Tiger DL
Xavier Thomas is going to help elevate the rest of the defensive line around him this season for the Clemson football program.
The Clemson football defensive line will be looking to replace a ton of talent from last year that included three first-round draft picks and five total players who were drafted.
Christian Wilkins, Clelin Ferrell, Dexter Lawrence, Austin Bryant and Albert Huggins were all heavily relied upon over the past few seasons for the Tigers and now it will be a new group’s chance to prove what they are capable of becoming.
The starters along the defensive line for the 2019 Clemson football season do have experience, but nothing near the level that Tiger fans grew accustomed to over the past couple of seasons.
Right now, it’s expected that Xavier Thomas, Justin Foster, Nyles Pinckney and Jordan Williams take over for the four lost starters with guys like Xavier Kelly, Logan Rudolph, KJ Henry and freshman Tyler Davis stepping in as the backups.
Though the defensive line is inexperienced, it’s clear that the Tigers have plenty of talent and skill to still be successful up-front this season. It all starts with Xavier Thomas.
Thomas is already being recognized by many national analysts as one of the top defensive ends in the country. He received preseason All-ACC honors and has even been named to a couple of preseason All-American teams on the second-team.
Thomas’s elite explosiveness combined with his physicality is what sets him apart. The sophomore is going to elevate the play of his teammates because of the attention he is going to attract.
Teams are going to leave a running back in the backfield to deal with his pass-rush or may even designate a second offensive lineman to help in pass-protection. That is going to open up the hole for a Nyles Pinckney or Jordan Williams to have single coverage up the middle.
If a team has to leave their running back in the backfield, that’s going to help the defensive backfield and could help a pass-rusher like Justin Foster or a blitzing linebacker like James Skalski get to the quarterback.
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Thomas is going to be a problem for opposing offenses and he’s going to open up opportunities for his fellow teammates as a result of his explosiveness, athleticism and pure pass-rushing ability.