Is a Six Man Defensive End Rotation Likely?

As we mentioned last week Clemson Football coaches are planning on losing four defensive ends at the end of the 2022 season.

To that end there’s talk of using a six man defensive end rotation during the 2022 season.

History, though, tells us that not all April ideas come to be in the fall.

Depending on your point of view this is either a good thing – building depth, keeping players fresh and deserving players getting the opportunity to play – or you’re taking your best players off the field for a third of the snaps.

I see it as a little of both, but think it could be a good thing overall.

Barring something unusual the Tigers are going to lose Myles Murphy, Xavier Thomas, K.J. Henry and Justin Mascoll at the end of the season.

That’s a massive drain of talent and we’ve detailed the recruiting urgency this creates.

But it also means if Greg Williams and Kevin Swint don’t see meaningful snaps this season, they’d be green next season as the projected starters.

It’s also smart from the recruiting  perspective and fits with Dabo Swinney’s mantra that if you come to Clemson you’re going to play.

However, the quote I saw from Lemanski Hall was that he would “love” to have a six man rotation, not that there would be a six man rotation.

"“I would love to go in with six guys and then see what happens,” Hall said. “That is kind of the rotation this year, even this spring. I had a chance to put Greg and Kevin with the first group just to see what they can do. They did a great job.”"

In addition, even if there is a six man rotation there’s no guarantee that the reps would be shared equally.

My takeaway is that they’re going to give Swint and Williams every opportunity to play and get experience for next season, but how that actually manifests itself come fall is still to be determined.