Clemson safety getting screw put in hand, other injury updates for FSU

Clemson strong safety Tanner Muse had a small screw put in his hand on Sunday, Tigers coach Dabo Swinney announced during his weekly teleconference.

Muse split time with K’Von Wallace at safety in Clemson’s win against N.C. State on Saturday evening. He broke a bone in his hand on the first series of Clemson’s win over Georgia Tech on Oct. 28 but continued to play with a large cast on his hand each of the past two weeks.

Swinney expects Muse to be available this weekend against Florida State.

“He actually had a little screw put in today, and he’ll play this week with the same type of club on it. Then I think The Citadel week they’ll have him in a much smaller brace,” Swinney said. “But he’ll be ready to go this week.”

In addition to Muse, star defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence was injured against the Wolfpack, reaggravating his ankle injury that he suffered against the Yellow Jackets.

Lawrence played a limited number of snaps against N.C. State.

“He actually played really well to be honest with you, when he played,” Swinney said. “He had a guy fall on him again. He’s just kind of banged up. He’s just been battling that ankle that he hurt against Georgia Tech, just trying to get it better. He’s just working through it. It’ll be something that he’ll manage, but again, not anything that’s going to keep him from playing.”

Swinney is unsure if cornerbacks Marcus Edmond or Mark Fields will be available against the Seminoles. Fields has been out since being injured in the Syracuse game on Oct. 13, while Edmond has not played since Week 2 against Auburn.

“I don’t know until (trainer) Danny Poole assesses them in the morning and lets me know,” Swinney said. “But I mean, we’d love to have them back. That’s for sure. But we’ll be ready either way.”

CONFIDENCE IN KICKING?

Swinney is looking for any positives he can get when it comes to the kicking game.

Kicker Alex Spence was 1-for-2 on field goal attempts against the Wolfpack, but the miss he had came after he made a kick that did not count because N.C. State head coach Dave Doeren called a timeout.

“He was actually 2-for-3, there was just a timeout during one of them. I’m looking for every silver lining I can get,” Swinney joked. “But he’s really handled the pressure in practice. He nailed that first one. He’s better than he was the last time out on the road (against Syracuse).”

Spence also had two kickoffs go out of bounds, but Swinney does not expect that to be a problem moving forward.

“He’s actually done a good job kicking off, that was kind of uncharacteristic,” Swinney said. “I see his confidence growing, and hopefully that will pay off for us as we go down the stretch run here.”

SWINNEY SEES GROWTH

Clemson was able to earn a road win over a top 20 team even though it didn’t play well, according to Swinney.

Clemson’s coach sees that as progress for his team.

“We’ve got 36 guys that are playing that are either brand new players or they’re guys that are having big roles for the first time in their career. And I just see them growing,” Swinney said. “I’m encouraged by that. We really didn’t play a great game, but to still win the game I think really speaks to the heart of our team.”

This story was originally published November 5, 2017 at 7:43 PM with the headline "Clemson safety getting screw put in hand, other injury updates for FSU."