Wade Woodaz’s departure to the NFL and the high-profile “tampering” saga over Luke Ferrelli and Ole Miss created what critics viewed as a hole in the middle of the Clemson defense. But Dabo Swinney isn’t panicking.
Instead, he is citing the development of Jeremiah Alexander and Kobe McCloud as an indication that the Tigers have “their guys” already on campus. Swinney was especially vocal about Alexander, the former Alabama transfer, stating that “the arrow is up” on his progression.
“He made a lot of progress for us last season,” said Swinney of Alexander. "Now he’s in Year 2 in the system... we have high hopes for him."
Swinney also credited first-year linebackers coach and former Tiger legend Ben Boulware for the fast growth of the unit. Swinney said that the competition beside star junior Sammy Brown is wide open. Swinney added CJ Kubah-Taylor, Fletcher Cothran and a bulked-up Drew Woodaz (now over 220 pounds) to the lineup, along with Alexander and McCloud, as guys who have earned the right to compete for starting snaps.
‘We have a good little group in there,’ Swinney made the observation. “That’s going to be a competitive group.”
The outside noise on the portal misses distracts from what Swinney is counting on being the “nurtured” leadership within the room. The spring will be the first actual test of whether or not this group could replicate the production of the 2025 unit, which Swinney referred to in his tenure as one of the most productive there was.