Since coming out of the bye, Clemson has been on a pass-rushing tear. Of the 24 sacks the Tigers have on the season, 10 have come in the last two games. Dabo Swinney offered as much about the pass rush. "That's one of the biggest areas of improvement on our team, our pass rush, our disruption up front ... It's been individual improvement and good fundamentals, and technique with great effort."
Clemson had four last week at Florida State, with Sammy Brown, Jerome Carter III, Darien Mayo, and Will Heldt all getting one apiece. The Tigers had six the week prior in the Virginia Tech loss. Heldt had two of his own. Mayo, Amare Adams, and Jahiem Lawson each had one, while Corey Myrick and Caden Story shared a sack. Clemson also had four in the Tigers' win over Charleston Southern, too.
So 14 of Clemson's 24 sacks have come since the bye. Heldt, Mayo, and Story have led the way with three, two, and two, respectively. Swinney has attributed this pass-rushing flurry to the coaching staff having "setting in and learned their personnel", as well as Mayo moving inside from defensive end to defensive tackle. This one move has allowed the Tigers to generate more pressure than ever before.
Dabo says they've "settled in and learned their personnel" on defense and that's helped, too. Lots of shifts among the defensive line snap counts this year, especially at D-tackle spot. Darien Mayo shifting from DE to DT has also been a notable/effective move https://t.co/D7dWtLDhZC
— Chapel Fowler (@chapelfowler) November 4, 2026
Darien Mayo has unlocked everything for a revitalized Clemson pass rush
This is what coaching is all about. Tom Allen looked at the defensive roster and decided to implement one change to make all the difference. Moving Mayo inside has given an otherwise weak defensive tackle group some much-needed bite. This has not only elevated the games of Mayo and Adams in the trenches, but Story has finally started to come alive within his expanded role out along the edge.
Heldt was always going to get his this year, as shown by his seven sacks on the year in eight games. While nobody else on the team has more than two, Mayo is part of a Clemson quintet with a pair of sacks on the season. Brown, Lawson, Story, and London Merritt are the others. What this move has done is free up more guys to be fresher in their pass-rushing rotations, allowing them to give more.
Although the special teams are Clemson's strongest unit, the defense is the heartbeat of this team. Even though the offense is starting to come alive with Tait Reynolds at quarterback, Clemson is able to stay in most of its games because of the other two units. What we have seen is Allen find a solution to Clemson's bottleneck on defense. He fixed this defensive line, and it elevated the entire system.
Right now, Allen has to take advantage of the fact that Mayo still has two more years of eligibility after this. This is because he only played in three games as a true freshman. Now that he has carved out a role that suits him best, Clemson can find other guys more playing time to help offset the certain losses of Brown, Heldt, and cornerback Ashton Hampton to the NFL Draft. Mayo is a building block.
What Allen has done after the bye should have Clemson fans excited for the final third of the season.
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