The Clemson football program will enter the 2021 season as the defending ACC Champions for a sixth-straight year and nothing seems to be standing in the Tigers’ way from winning yet another conference title this time around.
Though Clemson will be replacing two historical stars in Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne, the Tigers return plenty of talent around the offensive side of the ball and they have one of the most experienced and deep defensive units in the country.
When you add in the excitement surrounding former 5-star QB D.J. Uiagalelei and his potential, there’s real hope that this Clemson football team could bring home the National Title trophy before it’s all said and done.
The 2021 ACC Media Kickoff is set to take place later this month on July 21-22 and we’ll see what the media is thinking preseason-wise then, but we’re going to take a look today at how many Tigers could be All-ACC worthy.
How many Clemson football players could be All-ACC worthy in 2021?
Potential Offensive All-ACC Candidates:
- QB D.J. Uiagalelei
- WR Justyn Ross
- OT Jordan McFadden
- TE Braden Galloway
- WR EJ Williams
- WR Joseph Ngata
- OG Matt Bockhorst
Please note that these are not all going to be All-ACC selections and certainly won’t all be on the list for the preseason team, but when you look at the potential of this offense, I don’t see how you couldn’t at least list each of these guys as potential candidates.
This Tiger offense is going to be something special to watch and it’s my belief that we’ll see another wide receiver- along with Justyn Ross- emerge as a legitimate All-ACC option and, of course, DJ Uiagalelei will be vying for first-team honors before the end of the season.
Potential Defensive All-ACC Candidates:
- DL Bryan Bresee
- DE Myles Murphy
- DT Tyler Davis
- LB James Skalski
- S Nolan Turner
- CB Andrew Booth Jr.
- LB Trenton Simpson
- DE Xavier Thomas
Perhaps the most interesting name on this list is Xavier Thomas. Thomas isn’t going to be on the preseason team, but he very well could explode if he played up to his potential. There’s no doubt he has the talent to be an All-ACC caliber player and he is finally back at his ideal playing weight.
In the end, we can expect that the Tigers will likely surpass double-digits on the All-ACC preseason team and that number could grow by the end of the season.