Dabo updates status of several Clemson defensive starters for Saturday’s game
Dabo Swinney provided an update on several Clemson defenders who either missed Saturday’s game against Wake Forest or were injured during it during his weekly press conference on Tuesday.
Defensive tackles Tyler Davis and Ruke Orhorhoro were banged up in Clemson’s 37-13 victory and received MRIs over the weekend.
Davis, an all-ACC selection, suffered a sprained MCL against Wake Forest and Tigers coach Dabo Swinney is hopeful Clemson will “get him back here sooner than later.”
Davis will miss Saturday’s game against The Citadel but Swinney said he could be back by early October. He added that Davis has a similar injury to the one that kept running back Lyn-J Dixon out this past weekend against Wake Forest.
“He’s just got a little sprain on his MCL. Very similar to Lyn-J. Hopefully not as bad as Lyn-J’s,” Swinney said. “It sets up good for him. Obviously he’s out this week, but we’ve got an open date coming up. We’ll hope for Virginia and see what happens.”
The Tigers are slated to host Virginia in their first home ACC game on Oct. 3.
Defensive tackle Ruke Orhorhoro, the backup to Tyler Davis, was also injured against Wake Forest. Swinney is not as sure as far as a timeline for Orhorhoro.
The sophomore is due to get a scope on his knee, and Clemson will have a better idea of how much time he will miss after that takes place. Swinney said Orhorhoro’s injury is related to his meniscus.
“If it’s just cleaning it up he should be fine pretty soon. If it’s a repair once they get in there then he’s probably going to be out longer, but I don’t know right now what the status of that is,” Swinney said.
In addition to the two players who were banged up against the Demon Deacons, starting defensive end Justin Foster missed Saturday’s game due to “protocol.” While starting cornerbacks Derion Kendrick and Mario Goodrich were out for undisclosed reasons.
Kendrick and Goodrich will be back this week, Swinney said. Foster will be unable to suit up on Saturday.
“D.K. and Mario are definitely back. Foster is still not available from a protocol standpoint,” Swinney said. “Getting better and hopefully he’ll be back sooner than later also. He’s another one of those guys, the open date sets up good for him with his continued improvement.”
This story was originally published September 15, 2020 at 11:26 AM.
