Upstate pundit thinks Clemson football isn’t worthy of ranking

Clemson football has lost two of its best players during the 2020 offseason.

Staying healthy during football season is a big part of any team’s success but especially for a program like Clemson football that is expected to contend for a national title. While “next man up” is a cliché that is overused by seemingly everyone, it is absolutely true with this Clemson team.

Losing both Justyn Ross and Xavier Thomas for the 2020 season are big losses, looking at the Clemson football roster, it is easy to see that the Tigers have talent and depth at both wide receiver and defensive end and should not be too worried about replacing them.

However, Upstate radio host (Florida graduate) Marc Ryan took the opportunity to take a shot at Clemson and their preseason number one ranking.

“Clemson has now lost two of the top ten players on its team. Two stars. There’s no way they should be considered the national championship favorite at this point. Making the playoff would be a great season.”

I am sure as a Florida graduate, Ryan would love nothing more than think that a team with more talent and better coaching, such as Clemson, has already been eliminated from the College Football Playoff before the season ever kicked off.

One look at the roster will tell you that while losing two players of that caliber is unfortunate, Clemson is going to be just fine.

Replacing Xavier Thomas in the Clemson football lineup

There are several options right now in replacing Xavier Thomas at defensive end. His classmate, K.J. Henry, is the leading candidate at this point. Henry was very good last year for Clemson after making the mature decision to redshirt his first season on campus.

That redshirt year allowed him to get bigger, leaner, faster, and a chance to understand exactly what defensive coordinator Brent Venables is trying to do on the defensive side of the ball. With Thomas out for several games in 2019, Henry was able to gain valuable snaps that will serve him well in 2020.

In 2019, Justin Mascoll took more than 250 snaps for Clemson football at defensive end as well. Just like Henry, Mascoll played a lot in 2019 and will be ready to play when his number is called. Lastly, you have true freshman Myles Murphy, who is currently listed on the two-deep behind senior Justin Foster.

Murphy was the highest-rated defensive in the 2020 class and has an elite college football body and power now. If he has a great camp as Tyler Davis did a year ago, he will see action early and often on both sides of the defensive line.

While Clemson football has lost several key players this offseason to health, transfer, and acting, the Tigers still have the best roster in college football and will be just fine in 2020, even if talking heads think otherwise.