Clemson defender walking away from football

Clemson defensive end Richard Yeargin is stepping away from football just days before the Tigers begin the 2018 season.

A Clemson official confirmed Thursday night that injuries led Yeargin to make the decision to walk away from football. He informed the Clemson coaching staff of his decision earlier this week. He will work as a student coach for the Tigers, The Associated Press reported.

The Tigers begin the season Sept. 1 against Furman.

Yeargin suffered a broken neck during a car wreck in the summer of 2017, forcing him to miss the 2017 season. He rehabbed and was cleared to return to football for this season, but he suffered a stinger in his shoulder during preseason camp, according to Tigers coach Dabo Swinney.

Swinney later said that, “I think that all of that came back good,” in regard to Yeargin’s shoulder stinger.

Yeargin played in 12 games in 2016 and recorded 14 tackles with four tackles for loss. The Florida native missed the final two games of that season with an injury.

In 2015, Yeargin played in 10 games with 15 tackles and a sack.

Yeargin was a U.S. Army All-American in high school and was rated as a top 300 player in the country by the 247Sports composite rankings.

He had 85 tackles with 21.5 tackles for loss and 15 sacks as a senior at University School of Nova.

INJURY UPDATE

Cornerback Mark Fields and tight end Milan Richard are making progress after being injured earlier in the week, according to Swinney.

“(Fields) just banged up his knee. He’s all right. He’ll be fine. He ran pretty good today. All of those guys, he and Milan. Milan bruised his knee as well,” Swinney said after Thursday’s practice. “But I think both of those guys looked pretty good today and, hopefully, by Monday they’ll be out there ready to roll.”

Swinney added that he expects Fields to be able to play Week 1 against Furman.

“Oh yeah, I don’t see any reason why he won’t be ready to go,” Swinney said.

STILL WAITING

Swinney admitted that the coaching staff has a plan as far as how the quarterback reps will be split against Furman, but the Tigers will wait until Monday to announce who the starter will be.

“We’ve got a good idea of where we are and how we’re going to go into this game, and we’ll go from there,” he said.

This story was originally published August 23, 2018 at 7:42 PM.