Clemson will be down 2 additional defensive starters against Notre Dame
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney previously announced that starting middle linebacker James Skalski will be out for Saturday’s game against Nore Dame.
He revealed Wednesday night that the Tigers will be down two additional defensive starters as well.
Starting defensive tackle Tyler Davis and starting Sam/Nickel linebacker Mike Jones Jr. will both be out against Notre Dame. Clemson will also be down defensive end Xavier Thomas for the first half of Saturday’s game after he was ejected for targeting in the second half.
“They’re just not quite ready, unfortunately,” Swinney said of Davis and Jones Jr. “You can only take a certain amount of guys up there, and they’re just not quite ready to go.”
Davis was named second-team All-ACC as a true freshman last season. He recorded 51 tackles, 9 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks. Davis has only been able to play in three of the first seven games due to injuries. He has six tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack so far this year.
Jones Jr. is in his first year as a starter. He started the first six games of the 2020 season before missing last week’s game against Boston College with an injury. Jones Jr. has 17 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and an interception this year.
Clemson is off next week before traveling to Florida State for a game on Nov. 21.
“The good news is we’ve got an open date next week and fully expect both of them ready to roll full speed against Florida State,” Swinney said. “We were all hoping that they would make enough progress to be able to make it this week but just don’t think that’s going to be the case.”
This story was originally published November 4, 2020 at 6:29 PM.
