Healthy Tyler Davis can be dominant force for Tigers
CLEMSON — Clemson football’s season opener against Georgia is right around the corner. College football season will be here before we know it, and ClemsonSports.com is helping you get ready by counting down the 25 most important players for Clemson in 2021. Up next: No. 7 Tyler Davis.
Tyler Davis had a solid sophomore season for Clemson, but after a standout freshman campaign, it wasn’t the year many were expecting.
The Florida native finished with 17 tackles, 5 tackles for loss and a pair of sacks, but he was bothered by injuries all year and was only able to play in seven games.
Look for Davis to get back to being dominant this fall.
The leader of Clemson’s defensive tackles group has the potential to be one of the best interior defensive lineman in the country this fall. He was named second-team All-ACC as a freshman in 2019, finishing with 51 stops, including 9 tackles for loss. Davis led all true freshmen defensive tackles in the country in sacks with 5.5 his freshman year and could challenge for the national lead in sacks by a defensive tackle this season.
“I’ve just been really pleased with Tyler Davis. He took it to another level,” defensive tackles coach Todd Bates said at Clemson Media Day.
Davis became the first true freshman to start at defensive tackle for Clemson since 1974 during his freshman year in 2019 and immediately showed why the staff was so excited about his potential.
He shared Clemson Defensive Player of the Week honors after his first career college game and continued to impress throughout 2019. But then came the setbacks last fall.
Davis lacked the explosiveness and pass rushing ability that was on full display during his freshman season last year due to injuries.
He should have that back now, and alongside Bryan Bresee the two have the potential to be the best defensive tackle tandem in the country.
With plenty of experience returning at defensive end and veteran linebackers behind them, Davis, Bresee and the rest of the Clemson defense should give opposing offenses fits this season.
The Tigers struggled defensively the last time out against Ohio State. Don’t expect that to be the case this fall.
“We’re excited about this year. We’ve got a great looking team coming back. We have 20-plus guys that have started games a year ago [on defense], which is an all-time high for us,” defensive coordinator Brent Venables said. “We have tremendous experience coming back… really feel like we have a great chance to have a great football team and a really, really strong defense.”
Tyler Davis will be a big part of that.
Photo courtesy John Byrum/Getty Images
Clemson football most important players
No. 25 B.T. Potter
No. 24. K.J. Henry
No. 23 Mario Goodrich
No. 22 Lannden Zanders
No. 21 Will Putnam
No. 20 E.J. Williams
No. 19 Xavier Thomas
No. 18 Hunter Rayburn
No. 17 Baylon Spector
No. 16 Braden Galloway
No. 15 Walker Parks
No. 14 Nolan Turner
No. 13 Sheridan Jones
No. 12 Joseph Ngata
No. 11 Matt Bockhorst
No. 10 Lyn-J Dixon
No. 7 Tyler Davis