Senior cornerback Derion Kendrick has left Clemson football.
To say this has been quite the offseason for Clemson football would be an understatement. Not only did their season end in one of the worst losses under Dabo Swinney but roster attrition has been at an all-time high.
Kendrick now makes the eighth player from the 2020 Clemson football roster to leave the program. Five have transferred to other schools, two have retired from football and it is being reported that Kendrick didn’t voluntarily leave but was dismissed after not being able to live by the standards that head coach Dabo Swinney had set for him.
2020 was a frustrating year for fans in regards to Derion Kendrick.
He spent more time celebrating plays he didn’t actually make versus opponents than actually making plays. How bad was that for the Tigers – he still led the team in passes defended in 2020. The last time we will ever see him in a Tigers uniform, he was getting abused by Justin Fields and the Ohio State offense.
Of all the ways anyone wanted to see Kendrick’s career end, this was not one of them.
While he cannot enter the 2021 NFL Draft, he can still hold out hope for the 2021 NFL Supplement draft, which will take place sometime in July. More than likely he will enter the transfer portal and spend his last year or two of eligibility elsewhere.
Kendrick was part of the 2018 Clemson football signing class that saw the Tigers locked down five 5-star recruits – Trevor Lawrence, Xavier Thomas, KJ Henry, Jackson Carman, and Kendrick himself. All of them played roles in helping Clemson secure its third national title against Alabama as true freshman later that year.
Despite playing various roles in high school, Kendrick was originally a wide receiver when he enrolled at Clemson but made the change to defense full-time heading into his sophomore year. That culminated in him being named a second-team All-ACC corner in 2019 and a first-team All-ACC corner in 2020.
Despite the odd antics in 2020, no one should any ill-will toward Kendrick. We should all hope that he is able to get his life back on track and find what he is truly passionate about on and off the football field.