The Clemson football program has made six-straight CFB Playoff appearances and competed in four National Championship games during that time, winning two of them.
The most recent of those National Championship victories saw the Tigers absolutely woodshed the Alabama Crimson Tide by a score of 44-16 back in 2018.
During that 2018 season, Clemson had a freshman phenom at quarterback in Trevor Lawrence but the major storyline was the dominance of the defense, which all started up-front with the defensive line.
Austin Bryant, Clelin Ferrell, Dexter Lawrence and Christian Wilkins- all of which are still on an active roster in the NFL- combined to give Tiger fans a group they wouldn’t soon forget.
The four players combined for 187 total tackles, 56 tackles for loss and 27 sacks, and the reserves with guys like Albert Huggins, Jordan Williams, KJ Henry, Xavier Thomas, Logan Rudolph and Justin Foster gave the Tigers an elite amount of depth unlike anything we had ever seen before in the modern era of College Football as a whole.
Now, ESPN analyst David Hale thinks Clemson football could have something similar with this 2021 defensive line
In ESPN’s spring College Football feature, the article ended with many analysts giving their ‘bold predictions’ for the upcoming season.
Here’s what Hale had to say about the Tigers:
"Spring predictions aren’t usually good for much. If you listen to coaches, every job is up for grabs, every team has attacked the weight room and every freshman is way ahead on the learning curve. So is there anything worth taking seriously? Clemson’s defensive front looks like it could rival the halcyon days of Christian Wilkins and Clelin Ferrell."
It’s not just people around the Clemson football program who are noticing how special the Tigers could be along the defensive line in 2021.
You’re talking about a starting line that consists of Myles Murphy (first-rounder), Bryan Bresee (first-rounder), Tyler Davis (possible first-rounder) and a competition between defensive ends KJ Henry, Justin Mascoll and Xavier Thomas who were all 4-stars or 5-stars coming out of high school.
Then you’ve got depth pieces like DeMonte Capehart, Ruke Orhorhoro, Greg Williams, as well as talented freshmen like Payton Page, Zaire Patterson and Cade Denhoff.