Clemson may have played its best game of the season at Florida State, but it appears to have been a costly victory for the Tigers in some capacity. Despite the 36-24 win over the Seminoles, Clemson seems to be quite banged up ahead of the Syracuse game on Saturday afternoon. Not only is starting left guard Elyjah Thurmon in concussion protocol, but three other players could be missing time, too.
Dabo Swinney touched on Thurmon's injury on Monday. While Thurmon is in good spirits, there is no need to rush him back after last Saturday night's scary situation. Swinney also mentioned that starting center Harris Sewell will be having minor surgery and should be out a few weeks. Linebacker Kobe McCloud will miss a few weeks as well. Gideon Davidson might not play against Syracuse either.
While this will all get fleshed in the upcoming ACC injury reports, Clemson may be more up against it when taking on Syracuse than expected. Clemson may be a slight road favorite, but keep in mind that Syracuse got the Tigers in Death Valley last season. Although Clemson might not be overlooking the Orange this time, potentially missing three key starters and a rotational linebacker could prove costly.
That's a pretty long list between Thurmon (starting left guard), Sewell (starting center), Davidson (starting running back) and McCloud (rotational LB). Clemson's roster at Syracuse on Saturday will look pretty different. Dabo: "Some other guys are gonna need to step up" https://t.co/fGvXKfSLnS
— Chapel Fowler (@chapelfowler) November 3, 2026
Clemson has to get healthier before the Duke and South Carolina games
The good news for Clemson is their next two opponents may not be able to take advantage of the Tigers possibly being down three starters on offense. Syracuse seems to be playing better with Steve Angeli at quarterback, but it is also a team that started ACC play out in an 0-4 hole. Assuming Clemson holds steady at Syracuse, the Tigers will host the worst team in the ACC in Georgia Tech.
Had the Tigers been playing conference foes that were a little more feisty than Syracuse or Georgia Tech, Sewell, Thurmon, and potentially Davidson's absences could be magnified. Look for Grant Wise to get the start at center, Gavin Blanchard at left guard, and for Jarvis Green and Chris Johnson Jr. to get more touches in lieu of Davidson being banged up. This also puts more pressure on Tait Reynolds.
Reynolds may be coming off his best game of the season, but he has to build upon it, and not regress to the mean. Clemson has done a much better job of taking care of the football in recent weeks. However, Syracuse is playing better football of late and Georgia Tech is a desperate rival. Although Clemson should be able to beat both of them, Duke and South Carolina are totally different animals.
Duke is still in the mix to get to Charlotte at 6-2. The Blue Devils may not repeat in the ACC this year, but they do have one of the best running backs in the country in Nate Sheppard. As far as South Carolina, Shane Beamer is feeling himself after having his back against the wall. The Gamecocks are now a ranked team, hoping to be a thorn in every good team's side they play for the rest of the year.
Clemson should be thankful that these handful of injuries have come ahead of this two-game stretch.
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