What Clemson players said about NFL future, bowl game after win over Gamecocks
With Clemson’s win over rival South Carolina to close out the regular season, it will be time for some decisions to be made.
High-profile Tigers players, including Peter Woods, TJ Parker, Avieon Terrell and Will Heldt, will be thinking about whether they want to head to the NFL.
They’ll also need to decide if they’ll play in the team’s bowl game.
Tigers receiver Antonio Williams already announced after last week’s win over Furman that he planned to head to the NFL after the season.
Parker and Heldt were asked about a timeline for a possible decision on Saturday after Clemson’s 28-14 win over South Carolina. The early deadline for college underclassmen to declare for the NFL Draft is Jan. 6, and the hard deadline for those underclassmen is Jan. 14.
“I’m just going to be celebrating this win and preparing for a bowl game,” said Parker, who nearly equaled his season total with three sacks vs. USC. “Everybody wants to know what I am going to do. When that time comes, I am going to announce it. I’m still thinking about it. So, I just want to celebrate this win with my teammates.”
Parker, Woods and Terrell all ranked among ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper’s top 50 players for the 2026 NFL Draft and are projected to go in the first round by various mock drafts.
Heldt has had a productive year in his lone season with Clemson after transferring to Purdue. He had 2.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks and three QB pressures vs. the Gamecocks.
“I think right now I am focused on celebrating. There will be time for that early next week,” Heldt said postgame. “But right now, all I’m worried about is celebrating this win.”
Once a decision is made about a possible professional career, Clemson players must decide if they want to suit up in a Tiger uniform one more time and play in the bowl game. Clemson is 7-5 on the year and will find out next Sunday which bowl game they land (it’ll be a second- or third-tier ACC bowl).
Senior quarterback Cade Klubnik already has said he plans to play in the Tigers’ bowl game. It sounded like Parker wanted to play as well regardless of his NFL decision. Senior running back Adam Randall said he plans to play.
Woods and Terrell weren’t made available to the media Saturday to discuss potential NFL and bowl game decisions. Neither was Williams, the star slot receiver who’s leaving for the NFL but hasn’t announced a bowl decision.
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said after the win that he doesn’t expect any players to opt out of the bowl game, but things can change over the next few weeks.
“I mean, shoot, I have no idea,” Swinney said. “I don’t expect any, but you know, we’ll find out one of these days. I ain’t even processed anything like that. I would be shocked, honestly. But I mean, anything’s possible … We’ll be ready.
In recent years, Clemson players who’ve declared for the draft after the regular season and before the bowl game have opted out of the bowl: DE Myles Murphy ahead of the 2022 Orange Bowl and LB Jeremiah Trotter Jr. and CB Nate Wiggins ahead of the 2023 Gator Bowl.
This story was originally published November 29, 2025 at 6:22 PM.
