Clemson football: All eyes will be on the Tigers defense Saturday in Death Valley

All eyes will be on the Clemson football defense as the Tigers will conclude spring practice with their annual Orange and White scrimmage on Saturday in Death Valley.

There is no reason to sugarcoat anything, the Clemson football defense has kept them from winning a national title over the last two seasons. Against LSU in the 2019 College Football Playoff national title game and against the Ohio State Buckeyes, the Tigers defense gave up more than 1,000 yards of total offense.

This offseason has been a mixed bag for the Tigers’ defense.

At one point all 11 starters were going to be back in 2021 but then head coach Dabo Swinney announced that All-ACC cornerback Derion Kendrick was been dismissed for conduct violations and the defense has lost several important depth pieces to the transfer portal as players want more playing time than what they were getting at Clemson.

Including Kendrick, in all, the Clemson football defense will replace five guys from their 2020 defensive Top 30 – defensive linemen Jordan Williams and Nyles Pinckney, starting linebacker Mike Jones is at LSU and corner LeAnthony Williams is now at Marshall.

Clemson football is still licking its wounds.

There are many who believe that Clemson football is done – though many of these same media people said the same thing about Alabama after their embarrassing loss to Clemson in 2018.

The Tigers have a lot of elite pieces on both sides of the ball in 2021.

Starting quarterback DJ Uiagalelei could be the best quarterback has ever had, EJ Williams will have a say in being the greatest receiver to ever put on the orange and purple, and while the Tigers will miss the best running back in ACC history (Travis Etienne, duh), they will have an argument for the best running back group in America.

On defense, All-American candidates Bryan Bresee and Myles Murphy are apparently better than ever and linebacker James Skalski comes back for a rare sixth year. While those three will be the pillars of the Tigers’ defense, there is plenty of talent from front to back for defensive coordinator Brent Venables.

No light will be warmer than that on the secondary.

A lot of eyes will be on returning secondary members Mario Goodrich, Sheridan Jones, Andrew Booth Jr, Ray Thornton, Fred Davis II, Nolan Turner, Lannden Zanders as well as incoming freshman Nate Wiggins who will get a look as the Tigers look to shore up the backend of the defense.

It will be great to see Clemson football back on the field this week, but this will be step one in a long off-season where the Tigers have to find their defensive identity of they are going to be in the national conversation come December.