Five Clemson football players who’ll benefit most from early bye week
The Clemson football team opened up the 2020 season with back-to-back wins over Wake Forest and The Citadel, but now sit at home with a weird open date just three weeks into the season.
While Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney said he wasn’t a big fan of the bye week at first, he said he later changed his mind because of how the academic calendar works and what the Tigers will be able to do in terms of development and getting healthy bodies after their first couple of games.
Here’s a look at five Clemson football players who benefitted from the first open week coming this soon into the season.
5. Justin Foster
Justin Foster missed several practices during fall camp with an injury and hasn’t been able to play in either of the first two games of the season for the Tigers. Swinney told the media prior to The Citadel game that Foster wasn’t available from a ‘protocol’ standpoint, but that he should be available soon.
While it’s still uncertain when Foster can officially return to team activities, it’s clear that this bye week came at a good time for him.
The hope is that he was able to get back at some point and begin going through practices and getting reps. It will take him a little while to get back in football shape and that’s why having this extra week at the beginning of the season could prove to be beneficial for him as we progress later into the fall.
4. Andrew Booth Jr.
Andrew Booth Jr. has not necessarily had the opening performance that many Clemson football fans would have hoped for coming into the season.
Booth Jr. was beaten on a couple of throws against Wake Forest and he got sucked into play-action this past week against The Citadel, as well.
The bye week now gives him a chance to put all of that behind him, refresh and reset moving forward. We’ve seen streaks of greatness from Booth and there’s no doubt he has the ability to play the position at a high level, but it’s going to take him making that next jump and hopefully this was a good learning week for him from that perspective.
3. Lyn-J Dixon
Lyn-J Dixon suffered an injury and was held out of the game against Wake Forest. While the Tigers played him sparingly against The Citadel, the expected second-string running back only rushed three times for 10 yards (3.3 yards per carry).
Dixon is still being brought back slowly and that’s why the bye week came at a perfect point for him.
He’ll be able to (hopefully) return to 100 percent from a health standpoint and, in turn, show that explosiveness and athleticism that we had come to know from him as a backup to Travis Etienne.
2. Taisun Phommachanh & D.J. Uiagalelei
Both backup quarterbacks are hitting the bye week at a perfect point.
D.J. Uiagalelei has shown streaks of greatness through his first two appearances, but has still not been turned loose yet. The Tigers now have film for the true-freshman to go back and watch and learn from, which is extremely valuable to his development.
The third-string QB- Taisun Phommachanh- also now has some game film to go back and watch. While Phommachanh has struggled in the passing game, this week gives both him and Uiagalelei a chance to reset and learn from the things they’ve done on the field in actual game situations.
1. Xavier Thomas
Dabo Swinney provided a positive update earlier this week about Clemson football defensive end Xavier Thomas.
Thomas, who has been recovering from the virus and from strep-throat, has been held out of the last two games, but Swinney said he is further along than what the Tigers had originally expected.
Thomas is currently working to get back into football shape- and that takes some time-but it sounds like he’ll be back on the field sooner rather than later.
That means this bye week gives him yet another week of workouts to get under his belt and take another step towards getting back on the field and earning playing time.