Clemson football: What losing Tyler Davis means for the Tigers

The Clemson football team will open up the 2021 season this Saturday in Bank of America Stadium against the Georgia Bulldogs and it should be a fun one.

The Tigers are currently slight favorites over the Bulldogs as we head into the matchup, but there are several question marks and some murky water surrounding both teams as we inch closer to kickoff.

One of the reports coming out of the Clemson football program is that DT Tyler Davis has tested positive for COVID-19.

While Dabo Swinney didn’t officially confirm that when he last talked to the media, he didn’t deny it either. We’ll point out that it’s not completely out of the conversation that Davis could ‘test out’ of quarantine if he isn’t showing symptoms and has consecutive negative tests. This has been something discussed in Clemson football circles, but we still have to believe that the chances of this happening are very slim.

So, what will the loss of Tyler Davis mean for the Clemson football team against Georgia?

You can’t pretend that losing Davis doesn’t affect this Clemson defense in a big way.

He is a veteran and his presence proved to be extremely important last year. When Davis was on the field, there was a different confidence level surrounding the Tigers’ front-seven, especially when it came to stopping the run and plugging the interior. When he was out, Clemson was not nearly as effective in stopping the run and the Tigers struggled.

While it’s our belief that this defensive line has progressed and grown up since last fall, you still can’t underestimate what Davis brings to this unit.

If he’s gone, it’s going to be a blow to the defense and Brent Venables is going to have to find ways to scheme around it and help his less-experienced defensive tackles so that pressure doesn’t mount on them.

If Davis is out, we can Ruke Orhorhoro will be the starter alongside Bryan Bresee and we can also expect that Tiger fans will see a healthy dose of Tre Williams, and potentially even some Darnell Jeffries.

Both Orhorhoro and Williams have had great preseason camps and they were two players that the coaches have talked about multiple times. Still, throwing them into the fire isn’t necessarily how you wanted to see them get their first action of the season.

Clemson still has the talent defensively to stop Georgia, but the lack of Davis’s presence on the inside will certainly not help the Tigers’ bid at slowing down the Bulldog rushing attack and getting pressure from the inside-out.