Dabo Swinney updates Clemson’s injuries heading into South Carolina game
Clemson football had two key players go down during Saturday’s win over Furman.
Coach Dabo Swinney provided a postgame update on the statuses of tight end Olsen Patt-Henry and defensive end Jahiem Lawson as the Tigers (6-5) shift gears and prepare for their rivalry game at South Carolina (4-7) next Saturday.
Swinney said Patt-Henry will be out for the year with a patella tendon injury, and Lawson will be “day to day” after suffering a sprained ankle against Furman.
“Olsen will bounce back, but that’s a loss for us there,” Swinney said of Patt-Henry.
On Lawson, a top rotational defensive end, Swinney said: “I think it’s just a sprained ankle, so we’ll just have to see where he is day to day.”
“We’ll see where Jahiem is,” Swinney said of Lawson later in his Saturday news conference. “Hopefully he’ll be back this week, but we’ll see where he gets to throughout the week.”
Swinney also said true freshman defensive tackle Amare Adams was hurt during practice this week and will be out for the season with an ankle injury. Adams was announced pregame as unavailable for the Furman game.
The Tigers beat the Paladins 45-10 to become bowl-eligible for the 27th season in a row. They’ll end the year at USC next Saturday (noon, SEC Network) before learning their postseason destination on Selection Sunday Dec. 7.
Lawson shouldn’t have been in game, Dabo says
Patt-Henry is Clemson’s best overall tight end and has 16 catches for 126 yards this season. But his absence won’t drastically hurt the Tigers because they have two other strong tight ends in Josh Sapp and Christian Bentancur.
Lawson’s absence, though, could be big. A developmental success story, the in-state recruit has emerged as a legit option at defensive end beside starters T.J. Parker and Will Heldt. Lawson has six tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks this season.
He was also injured on a play that he wasn’t supposed to be in on.
Clemson was leading Furman 31-3 in the early third quarter at Memorial Stadium, and the Tigers had switched to almost exclusively backups on defense. Their first-team offense had long been out of the FCS game, too.
But there was Lawson, rushing the passer and getting banged up.
Why? Swinney said postgame that Lawson was on the field as part of a special package where he lined up as an interior defensive lineman instead of an edge rusher. Swinney said the mistake was completely on him as a coach.
“I thought we had everybody out, honestly,” Swinney said. “... I didn’t see. That’s all me, 100%. He shouldn’t have been in there. But I should’ve seen it, called timeout, got him out of the game. ... That’s football. Those things can happen.”
Clemson’s first-team defense wound up returning to the field in the fourth quarter when Furman was on the verge of cutting the game to two possessions.
Adams, also announced as out for the year by Swinney on Saturday, has played about 17 snaps per game in a spot role as a backup defensive tackle. He is a former five-star recruit from South Florence High School and has 10 tackles this year and will miss out on crucial development time during bowl practice.
Adams could be in position to start for Clemson in 2026.
“He’s going to have tightrope (ankle) surgery,” Swinney said of Adams. “Again, he’ll be fine. But he’s gonna be out.”
This story was originally published November 22, 2025 at 10:37 PM.
