Clemson Football: The Citadel looking less likely as a 2020 opponent

The Citadel is looking less likely as a 2020 Clemson football opponent

The revised 2020 Clemson football schedule was released earlier this week and the Tigers had one opening during Week 2 of the year for a non-conference opponent.

Dabo Swinney met with the media following the first practice of fall camp for Clemson football and answered a number of questions related to the season and to his players. When asked about the opening on the schedule, Swinney said that the Tigers are currently waiting to hear word from both The Citadel and Akron and would likely fill the spot between the two opponents.

Well, it’s looking much less likely that we see The Citadel as an option for the 2020 season.

While Swinney said no Clemson football player has elected to opt out on the season at this point, Jeff Hartsell of the Post & Courier reported that 34 players from The Citadel did not show up for football camp.

Clemson football better begin looking elsewhere to fill the opening

While The Citadel still very well may play and there’s not a ton of details on if all 34 of those players are opting out of the season or not, it’s looking much less likely that we see The Citadel field a football team in 2020 and we may very well see the FCS shut it down for the fall altogether before it’s all said and done, though none of that has been finalized yet.

The MAC– the conference that Akron plays in- has yet to determine whether it will play this fall or not, but it’s looking much more likely that the Zips will be the opponent, assuming that they choose to play this upcoming fall.

If both The Citadel and Akron aren’t playing, Clemson will have to look at other Group of 5 leagues across the country to attempt to find an opponent- on short notice, albeit- to fill that opening.