Dabo Swinney talks possibility of Adam Randall returning for fall camp

Adam Randall was a big part of a highly touted Clemson recruiting class this year. But the incoming freshman tore his ACL in spring practice — but Dabo Swinney isn’t ruling out a return in time for fall camp.

Randall, a four-star recruit, graduated early and enrolled at Clemson this spring. He suffered the injury earlier this week, and the program didn’t set a timetable for his return. However, Swinney left the door open for a return in time for the season, Amari Rodgers’ recovery from a torn ACL in 2019 and Taisun Phommachanh’s recovery from an Achilles injury last year.

“Anything’s possible,” Swinney said. “I don’t know if he’ll be ready for fall camp, but he’ll be back in the season at some point. Amari tore his ACL almost a week apart and played in the first game. Y’all were here, Taisun Phommachanh tore his Achilles in the spring game and was ready [for the] first game. Anything’s possible, but you don’t put any expectations on it because everybody’s different.

“He’s back when he’s back. If he’s back for camp, great, if he’s back the end of September, great. If he’s back in October, great. But he’s going to be back, and he’ll still have a great freshman year. There’s no doubt about that.”

Dabo Swinney talks Clemson spring game, what he is looking to see

The spring practice period is beginning to conclude for college football teams across the country, as spring games are getting set to take place starting as soon as this weekend. That’s the case for Clemson – which will take to the field Saturday afternoon to show Tigers fans what they’ve been working on throughout spring practices.

Clemson – led by veteran head coach Dabo Swinney – is coming off a 10-3 season in 2021, which included a 6-2 mark in ACC play and a win over Iowa State in the Cheez-It Bowl. Coming into the 2022 campaign, the Tigers have multiple options at quarterback with sophomore D.J. Uiagalelei and On3 Consensus five-star freshman Cade Klubnik – which is a positive for Swinney.

Alongside the quarterback position, Swinney – just like most college football coaches – has holes to fill at nearly every position, and he’s been using spring practices to see who those players could be. With that said, Saturday’s spring game will allow Swinney to see his team compete in a game-like setting and give him a better feel of who should be on the field for games this fall.

“Just a good, competitive game,” Swinney said. “We’ve got some guys that have had really good springs and I’d like to see them carry it over into that environment. We’ve got a lot of guys that really have had to play much bigger roles this spring than maybe they’ve had in the past. And then you split the team – with 20 scholarship guys unavailable, it gets thin quick.”