We’ve looked at the offensive side of “Trench City”. Now let’s look at the defensive side. There are 16+ road graders competing on the offensive line. If you thought that was a lot, wait till you see the defensive side.

According to the official spring roster, there are 13 defensive ends and 10 defensive tackles. That’s 23 players vying for four starting positions. In all fairness, there is a pecking order. There are the starters returning from last year, the “first off the bench” players, the freshmen coming in, and a handful of walk-ons that will rarely see time on gameday.

The returning starters are the household names. Defensive end Myles Murphy, and defensive tackles Bryan Bresee and Tyler Davis. The other defensive end starter will come from a handful of players with a lot of experience. KD Henry and Justin Mascoll took most of the snaps last year and look to be the front runners again this year. Coming back from “difficult situations” (for lack of a better way to put it) are Justin Foster and Xavier Thomas, both very talented and looking to make life difficult for Henry and Mascoll. Regan Upshaw (166) and Greg Williams (67) saw limited time and are expected to be there at the next level. Having said that, there are two very talented freshmen bringing their talents to an already deep defensive end position.

Cade Denhoff (6-4 225) and Zaire Patterson (6-6 230) bring size and speed to the position. Both should get bigger and both are strong and hungry to get in and compete. The defensive end position is in good hands with these two.

Defensive tackle is going to be a work in progress once you get past Davis and Bresee. The Tigers lost two four-year players in Jordan Williams (VT) and Nyles Pinckney (Minnesota) to the transfer portal. That’s 500 snaps that will go to someone else. There really is no one or two DT’s that stand out as ready to come in and take control of the line. Darnell Jefferies (49), Ruk Orhorhoro (33), and Etinosa Reuben (40) combined for a grand total of 122 reps between the three of them. Clemson’s depth left with Williams and Pinckney. So who is going to have to step up? That task will fall into the laps of two redshirt freshmen and a true freshman. DeMonte Capehart (6-5 305) logged 20 snaps, Tre WIlliams (6-2 300) logged 14 snaps and true freshman Payton Page (6-4 315) need to come into spring practice ready to make a difference. These guys are “the next men up” everyone loves to talk about. This is the year for these young Tigers to make their presence known.

What’s scary is Clemson will return most of the guys mentioned in this article in 2022. Justin Foster and Xavier Thomas will probably leave after this year. Tyler Davis will be a junior this year, and whether goes early to the NFL or not is a decision to be made later.

What does the class of 2022 look like? To date, the Tigers have only three commitments and none are on the defense. Clemson has offered only 50 scholarships in this next class so far, a number that should go up throughout the summer, but they only offered 72 in the 2021 class. Don’t expect 100+ offers from the Tigers, it’s not going to happen.

Of the 50, Dabo and staff have offered 13 players for the defensive line, only one having committed elsewhere right now, and that was Mallck Sylla out of Katy, Texas (committed to Texas A&M). Of the 13 the Tigers have offered, SIX are of the 5-star kind. The other seven are of the 4-star variety. SIX of the 13 offers are considered the #1 player in the state they are from. Needless to say, the Tigers are after some big time players. Only time will tell.

Names to watch for in the 2022 class: