Clemson’s last COVID class: How and why these super seniors have stuck around
A kicker who thought his career was over. A defensive tackle who needed a waiver to return. An offensive lineman on The Athletic’s “All-Geezer” team. A quarterback who’s officially listed as a “player/coach.” And a safety whose younger teammates won’t stop calling him “Unc.”
Heading into the 2025 season, these five Clemson football players hold a unique designation: They are the program’s last-ever COVID generation.
All five players were true freshmen at Clemson in 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic changed the world and prompted an incredibly odd football season full of masks, social distancing, “availability reports” and lots of Q-Tips up the nose.
“It was crazy,” coach Dabo Swinney said. “Crazy. Nuts.”
Five seasons later, kicker Quinn Castner, defensive tackle DeMonte Capehart, offensive lineman Walker Parks, quarterback Hunter Helms and safety Tyler Venables are still around to tell the tale. With some humor, yes — that comes with the territory. But life lessons, too.
“It’s been interesting to see how guys take the punches and roll with them and adapt to different situations, different scenarios, and try to make the best of a journey that they didn’t think that they were going to be on, but they still are,” Venables said.
The son of former Clemson defensive coordinator and current Oklahoma coach Brent Venables, the veteran Tiger has fully embraced the “super super senior” role that comes with a career like his, which has spanned five years and 50 games and leads to a lot of loving jabs from teammates.
“I’ll be like, ‘Yeah, I was freaking here before COVID hit — before COVID was a thing,’” Venables said. “And they’re like, ‘Dang, dude, I was in sixth grade!’ ”
Reflecting on Clemson’s 2020 COVID season
As true freshmen, Castner, Capehart, Parks, Helms and Venables experienced one of the newsiest, most unpredictable seasons in program history — a stretch that began in March 2020, when COVID-19 canceled the back half of Clemson spring practice.
Star quarterback Trevor Lawrence getting on the phone with President Donald Trump to push for a fall season to happen. An altered schedule that included Notre Dame as a part-time ACC member, a last-second cancellation by Florida State and no South Carolina game for the first time in 111 years. Lawrence, a future No. 1 NFL Draft pick, testing positive for COVID-19 and missing two games. Daily 8 a.m. testing at the team facility. Limited fan attendance. No Gathering at the Paw.
Despite the turbulence, Clemson spent most of the year as the AP No. 1 team and reached the College Football Playoff, losing to Ohio State 49-28 in the Sugar Bowl.
Swinney joked he should’ve taken all his notes from 2020 and put them in a glass jar labeled: “For the next head coach — break only in pandemic.”
“That was an insane year, for sure,” he said.
How Clemson players got extra eligibility
So, how are five Clemson players from that team still around?
The NCAA gave an extra year of eligibility to every athlete who competed during the 2020-21 athletic year. That’s an automatic fifth year. Players could also “stack” a regular redshirt year — for injury or other reasons — on top of that COVID year, taking them from five years to six.
The math is simple. The individual stories are not. After all, Venables said, “I don’t think anybody goes into college necessarily saying, ‘I want to stay for six years.’”
Castner, for example, thought his career was over last year because the NCAA was set to eliminate walk-ons in 2025 under the House settlement. His 2024 season was also cut short by a scary off-field injury — he was hit by a truck and broke his leg.
But the House settlement was amended to “grandfather in” former walk-ons, opening up the chance for Castner to return for a sixth year in 2025.
Injuries are a common theme among Clemson’s other sixth-years. Venables missed all but two games in 2023 while rehabbing from a hip injury. Parks, a regular starter along the offensive line, suffered multiple ankle injuries and opted for a “flip of the coin” surgery in a final attempt to save his career in 2023. (It was a success, but only after months of grueling rehab.)
Capehart spent four years playing behind future NFL linemen and was expected to break out in 2024 — but injuries limited his effectiveness, and he wound up having to petition the NCAA for a sixth year of eligibility this offseason. The NCAA approved his waiver in mid-January.
“I’m very appreciative of the opportunity to come back,” Capehart said.
Helms, a quarterback, might have the most roundabout path of all five. He transferred out of Clemson in 2023 after four seasons, started five games in 2024 for FCS Rhode Island and opted to cut his playing career short a year and return to Clemson as a coaching intern.
But Swinney pitched Helms on spending 2025 as a “player/coach” and suiting up on gamedays as an emergency quarterback option. Now Helms wears No. 99 and will be back in Memorial Stadium as a player — two years after he walked on Senior Day.
‘I love this place’
Swinney said the concept of “COVID years” were one good thing to come out of 2020, along with technological advancements such as Zoom (which Clemson still uses).
Otherwise, “you wouldn’t have Capehart right now,” Swinney said. “I think he benefits for sure from an extra year. There’s been some of these quarterbacks (across the country) that have benefited as well. And Parks, with all that he’s been through.”
Ironically, Clemson’s Class of 2020 is ending their time on a team that most see as having the best shot to win a national championship since that 2020 team led by Lawrence, Travis Etienne and other stars. The Tigers are currently tied with Alabama with the fifth-best betting odds to win the 2025 national title.
Venables said Clemson’s COVID-era players should rep their “old guy” status with pride. After all, it’s representative of the commitment each has made to the program.
“They came back for two extra years because they believe in Clemson, and they want Clemson to succeed and win,” Venables said. “And the same is true for me. I love this place.”
Clemson 2025 football schedule
Listed with known kickoff times and TV channels
Aug. 30: vs. No. 9 LSU, 7:30 p.m. (ABC)
Sept. 6: vs. Troy, 3:30 p.m. (ACC Network)
Sept. 13: at Georgia Tech, noon (ABC or ESPN)
Sept. 20: vs. Syracuse
Oct. 4: at UNC
Oct. 11: at Boston College
Oct. 18: vs. No. 16 SMU
Nov. 1: vs. Duke
Nov. 8: vs. Florida State
Nov. 14: at Louisville/Friday game, 8 p.m. (ESPN)
Nov. 22: vs. Furman
Nov. 29: at No. 13 South Carolina, noon (ESPN or ABC)
This story was originally published August 21, 2025 at 7:30 AM.
