Clemson Tigers News: Rebuilding the DL through the portal, Trotter All-American

In my opinion, the Clemson Football defense didn’t look the same this season as it had been in recent memory under Brent Venables.

They had their moments for sure, but overall they didn’t seem to have the same fire as previous units, whether that was due to the coordinator change, the personalities of the group or a combination of both.

But, maybe I’m being too critical, as PFF.com shows the Tigers with more pressure than any other team in terms of raw numbers.

As we pointed out last week, the defensive front that created most of that pressure is on track to lose a ton of talent this season, at least potentially.

With Bryan Bresee and Myles Murphy expected to be top 15 picks and earn 8 figure NFL rookie deals, I struggle to see either returning, but not all Clemson fans feel that way and I get that.

Still, buried in this article is the statement that Clemson has already reached out to a few players that are in the portal.  Don’t tell the national media, it’ll ruin one of their favorite narratives around Clemson.

Clemson football may have to look to the transfer portal for experience along the defensive line in 2023

The snark aside, even the coaches realize that they’re going to need some experienced help next season.

The Tigers have a class full of young, talented defensive lineman coming in headlined by Peter Woods, but the group will look very different next year and will almost certainly be very inexperienced.

Other Clemson Tigers News

One of the guys backing the line got some good news on Monday.

In a twist, Trotter was previously named to the “Honorable Mention” All-ACC team, yet he makes the Associated Press Second Team All-American.  Interesting.

There’s a level of excitement and anticipation around Clemson baseball that I haven’t seen since, well, the change from Jack Leggett to Monte Lee.

That in and of itself should be a cautionary tale, but Erik Bakich and his staff are doing work on the recruiting trail.

Recently the Tigers have received commitments from two high school freshman, one of them being Jack Stepp from Wade Hampton High School.

For an old head like me recruiting high school freshmen and having them commit is something I’m not used to, but it appears to be the norm, at least in college baseball.