Dabo Swinney provides injury update on Clemson players in spring camp
Head coach Dabo Swinney and the Clemson Tigers are getting ready for their annual spring game on Saturday. However, the Tigers are going to be without several key players in that game due to injuries that they’re getting over.
Ahead of that spring game, Swinney shared an extensive injury update on the Clemson players in the spring game.
“I don’t have my sheet in front of me,” Dabo Swinney said. “You’ve got [Jaedyn Lukus], he’s been out all spring. He’s doing great, but we had to do the surgery on him beforehand so he’d be ready for the summer. We’ve got a pretty good, healthy list. Cole [Turner] is not gonna be able to play. Adam [Randall] is back. Cole’s not quite ready. He’s a lot better, he’s kind of got a strained ab, but he’s not quite ready. So, he had a really good start to spring, a really good first scrimmage, and strained his ab so he’s not quite ready to go.”
From there, Swinney transitioned to talking about a couple of Clemson’s offensive linemen that he’s hoping to get a lot from next season.
“Just thinking offensively. Walker Parks is back but he’s not gonna scrimmage. He’s been able to get, second half of spring here, he’s been able to get most all the team stuff and individual stuff. Same thing with Ronan O’Connell. A young freshman. He’s coming off a surgery from high school, but he’s been able to get out there and get some individual stuff. He won’t be able to go.”
Sticking with the offensive side of the ball, Dabo Swinney then went into breaking down the injuries that several offensive skill players are dealing with this spring.
“Receiver-wise, Tyler Brown is not going to play. He had the foot surgery. He’s doing great, he’s running routes, but not released to go play. [Troy] Stellato had a really good, he got 10 or 11 practices in and that was by design because he’s never really had a spring or fall camp for that matter. So, it was important, we thought, for him to get the work. Then we just went ahead and cleaned up his shoulder. So, he’ll be ready to go for summer and have the full summer as well. Jay Haynes is not going to be able to go. He’s a lot better, but he’s still recovering from a hamstring.”
From there, Dabo Swinney switched over to talking about the guys on the defensive side of the ball where there are plenty of other players who have missed time due to health and injury issues this spring.
“Defensively, Peter Woods has got mono. So, they’re not gonna let him play. He looks great. He feels great, but when you’ve got mono you’ve got a time period…so you’ve got to be smart with that. So, he’s not going to be able to go. [Vic] Burley is out. He’s battling a hamstring. [Branden] Strozier is back. Corian Gipson who’s been out all spring coming off an ACL from his high school, he looks great. He’s doing all the individual and team stuff, but he can’t play, but he’s been back at practice so that’s been good progression for him,” Swinney said.
“But Strozier is good to go. [Tyler] Venables is out there…Ricardo [Jones] had a good spring. He had a little bit of a fracture in his foot, which they think was there for a while as well. So, they fixed that. So, he’s out for the game.”
It was an extensive list of names that Dabo Swinney shared, even though he didn’t have the injury report sitting directly in front of him. Still, this is spring, and there is time to get healthy for when it matters most in the summer and fall.
“So, that’s about it. Should’ve brought my injury report in here. Y’all challenged me off the top of my head here. I think all the backers are good as far as injury goes…Noble [Johnson] has been out all spring. He’s not cleared yet. He’s better. Getting better, but he’s not been able to practice all spring.”