Suspension in title game caps disappointing season for Clemson’s Xavier Thomas
Clemson defensive end Xavier Thomas was hoping for a breakthrough game in Monday night’s national championship after what had been a disappointing sophomore season.
Instead, Thomas was suspended for the first quarter of the matchup against LSU and was basically a nonfactor in the biggest game of the year.
“I wasn’t allowed to play the first quarter for a team disciplinary issue,” Thomas told The State after the game.
The preseason All-American finished with two tackles in Clemson’s 42-25 loss as LSU piled up 628 yards of offense, including 463 passing yards by Heisman winner Joe Burrow.
“Obviously it was very talented overall,” Thomas said of LSU. “They had a very tempo offense, just made it pretty tough to keep up with them. But it was a very talented offense, of course.”
Thomas, who entered the year with sky-high expectations, finished the season with 27 tackles, eight tackles for loss and two sacks. He finished 14th on Clemson’s team in tackles, fifth in tackles for loss and tied for seventh in sacks.
Thomas did miss three games with a concussion, but when he did play he was far from the dominant pass rusher he was expected to be. He didn’t record a sack after the Syracuse game on Sept. 14.
The Florence native still has two seasons of eligibility remaining, but he needs to improve to live up to the hype in 2020.
“I definitely haven’t lived up to my expectations,” Thomas said of his season prior to Monday’s national title game. “I’m stepping into a new role, dealing with my injury and sitting out all of those games, having to come back. It’s been pretty challenging.”
This story was originally published January 14, 2020 at 10:01 AM.
