Jay Haynes injury update: Dabo Swinney updates recovery, setback

The Clemson Tigers have been down a running back through three games this season, with Jay Haynes still on the mend from his season-ending injury last year. Now, head coach Dabo Swinney has shared that, unfortunately, Haynes has had a setback.

Swinney shared that Haynes has been dealing with a quad strain that recently set him back. Still, overall, he has been making some progress toward getting back on the field.

“He’s still coming,” Dabo Swinney said. “The quad strain, I think I might have mentioned that a week or so ago, the quad strain kind of set him back. He’s still not fully back but progressing.”

Jay Haynes came to Clemson as a three-star recruit in the Class of 2023. He was the 1,053rd-ranked player and the 73rd-ranked running back in that recruiting cycle. That came after he played his high school football in Handley, Alabama, and had offers from Georgia Tech and Western Kentucky, though he’d choose to go play for Dabo Swinney and the Tigers.

In the 2024 ACC Championship, Clemson lost Jay Haynes when he had to be carted off the field. That turned out to be a torn ACL, and he’s been working back onto the field since then. He has not, unfortunately, been able to get on the field in 2025 at all.

Last season, Jay Haynes flashed his potential. That saw him rush for 295 yards and three touchdowns in 13 games a year ago. He also had seven receptions for 32 yards. Going into 2025, there was a chance he would have fought for the primary running back role had he not been dealing with the ACL. Over the offseason, Dabo Swinney had plenty of praise for him and all of the Clemson running backs, sharing his ideal situation.

“I think an ideal situation for me is they all, they all, you know, show that they can do it, they all deserve to play,” Swinney said. “That’d be ideal for me, that we come out of camp going, ‘Geez, man. This is really, really hard.’ That’s ideal for me. You know, that’s kind of the unknown factor, I guess. But, we got some good players, some good guys right there. I think they’re going to do well.”

It’s been a difficult start to the season for Clemson, going 1-2 and losing their ACC opener against Georgia Tech. Still, there is plenty of season left and plenty of time to turn things around. Certainly, Swinney would like to get his running back room to full strength and give them a boost heading into the next stage of the season.

Clemson is returning home for Week 4. There, the Tigers will look to bounce back against Syracuse. Kickoff is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. EST on Saturday, September 20th.