Clemson football: Defense could get big boost soon

There are several Clemson football players that still have decisions to make.

This is the time of year that college football fans dread and something that Clemson football fans have had to get used to – the players that leave early for the NFL or transfer because of playing time.

This is still really new territory for the Tigers as not many guys leave early and few have transferred.

Over the course of the last four days, we have seen announcements from Trevor Lawrence, Jackson Carman, Nyles Pickney, and Jordan Williams. These four are either leaving as expected, Lawrence and Carman or are transferring for more playing time, Pickney and Williams.

However, rumors are swirling that Clemson football could in fact get some really good and unexpected players back for 2021 – specifically on the defensive side of the ball.

With 2020 being a “free” year for all college football players, everyone had the ability to return for an additional year due to COVID-19, and apparently, three Tigers are giving it serious consideration. Those three players – James Skalski, Nolan Turner, and Xavier Thomas.

While those three have yet to say anything officially, getting them back would be huge and kind of surprising – though all of them face uphill battles trying to make an NFL team as all three of them are undersized for the standards that NFL teams have set at their specific positions.

That does not mean that they do not possess NFL talent, but the talent is just one of a handful of traits that NFL teams look at when it comes to drafting and signing free agents.

The last two years for James Skalski have not ended the way that he ever envisioned – being kicked out of games for targeting calls. While both were correct calls by the way the rule was written, neither of those hits were malicious by intent and removed the Tigers’ best defender in the national spotlight. Being able to finish his career the way he wants, could be a huge draw to the fifth-year senior.

Even though Nolan Turner was a second-team All-American pick, he is not on any NFL radar at the moment as far as drafts go.

He has the okay size and balls skills to play safety at the next level but lacks the speed that NFL teams want on the backend of their defenses. He has had a great career at Clemson and one more year of him would be nothing short of amazing.

Xavier Thomas is the least surprising should he decide to come back.

His junior year started off with the bad news he would be redshirting due to illnesses and then never really got any better. He missed most of the season and never got an opportunity to shine. Of these three, he can make the most money by coming back and showing that he has returned to form as no NFL team will touch him until late in the draft if at all at this point.

Getting these three seasoned players back for 2021 would be huge for Brent Venables and his defensive staff, given the losses that they have already taken on and off the field over the last week. While none of these players have confirmed that they are returning, if rumors are true, these are huge and will go a long way in helping Clemson football get back to the College Football Playoffs for a seventh straight year.