Clemson Football: The Injury Bug Just Won’t Leave the Tigers Alone

Clemson wide receiver Adam Randall (8) runs near wide receiver Dacari Collins (3) in a drill during Spring practice in Clemson, S.C. Friday, March 4, 2022.Clemson Spring Football Practice March 4
Clemson wide receiver Adam Randall (8) runs near wide receiver Dacari Collins (3) in a drill during Spring practice in Clemson, S.C. Friday, March 4, 2022.Clemson Spring Football Practice March 4

If you’ve read any of the Clemson Football Spring Game primers, you have a decent idea of just how many Tigers are injured or out in one fashion or another.

We were all just hoping the Tigers made it through Saturday’s Spring Game without any major injuries, but it turns out Clemson didn’t even make it to Saturday or even last Saturday for that matter, as Adam Randall suffered a torn ACL on Friday.

"“Adam sustained a knee injury in practice on Friday,” Dabo Swinney said in a statement from Clemson. “He is expected to undergo surgery to repair a torn ACL later this week, after which time I know he will begin attacking his rehab. Adam has had a tremendous spring, and we look forward to having him back on the field once he has returned to full health.”"

It’s a devastating injury for a young man who looked sure to contribute this season as a member of a wide receiver group that badly needed a physical presence at the position.

For Dabo Swinney’s part, he felt Randall was game ready and compared his readiness to contribute to Sammy Watkins.

"“He’s rare. I mean, I don’t know about you, I didn’t see many guys at Pelham High School walking the halls looking like that,” Swinney said. “I mean, yeah. He’s bigger than Sammy (Watkins). Sammy was a physical specimen, but he’s just bigger. I mean, literally, you could put him in the NFL locker room anywhere in the country and you’d never pick him out. You might pick (Hunter) Renfrow. You’d never pick that guy. I mean, Adam Randall is."

With so many injuries that walk-on linebackers are playing safety the Tigers just hope to make it through the spring without any more major ones.

For whatever reason injuries seem to cluster on a team and it seemed for so long that the Tigers were on the good end of the luck.

No more, as the 2021 injury bug seems to have remained in Clemson for the spring of 2022.