Clemson veteran safety injured in Georgia game, out for season
Clemson safety Lannden Zanders is out for the season, Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney said Monday night during his weekly call-in show.
Zanders sustained a shoulder injury in the season opener against Georgia on Saturday. He tweeted out a message Monday night, expressing his disappointment.
“Did not picture this season ending this way for me,” he said. “I love the adversity and doubters. I will be a better version of my self next year, time will tell. Jeremiah 29:11.”
Tigers defensive coordinator Brent Venables earlier Monday said it was the same shoulder Zanders had injured last year.
“Lannden’s been great,” Venables said Monday afternoon. “He did everything we wanted him to do in the out of season and making improvement where he needed to with getting healthy. ... He’s been doing well.”
During fall camp last month, Zanders said he had torn his labrum and a part of his rotator cuff in his shoulder during the 2020 fall camp, playing the year at “70%.” Still, the junior was among the team’s top 10 tacklers with 34, 2 1/2 for loss, along with a quarterback sack and three pass breakups with nine starts in 10 games played.
“Talking to the doctors and telling me I need surgery and what not, it kind of got to me mentally,” the Shelby, N.C. native said in August. “So all year, I feel like I was mentally down, not really just focused on football, trying to protect myself and that really affected my game.”
Before the season began, Zanders was listed as a potential starter at strong safety, though true freshman Andrew Mukuba ended up getting the nod. Zanders made two tackles in the season opener.
This story was originally published September 6, 2021 at 8:59 PM.
