Dabo Swinney and the Clemson football program lost a piece of their linebacker room with TJ Dudley’s dismissal after a team standards violation, making the unit a bit more scarce heading into the 2023 season.
While the Tigers usually look to have eight linebackers on the roster at a time, the team is down to six with the loss of Dudley. After the loss, Swinney discussed the plan for the position now that they are down to six.
“It’s definitely disappointing to lose a player for sure. But hey, we like the six we got, and the good news is you didn’t really have a lot of 4-3 anymore,” Swinney said.
A loss like this isn’t great, but if it were to happen at any position, linebacker should be the least of the Tigers’ concerns. Clemson has the best linebacker duo between Jeremiah Trotter Jr. and Barrett Carter in the country. Both are 2024 NFL Draft first-round hopefuls and will be the backbone of the Clemson defense in 2023.
Wade Woodaz is also expected to take the next step as freshman Jamal Anderson will look to carve out a role on the defense. Swinney mentioned opposing offenses running 11-personnel creates a lack of concern.
“You’re still three deep at either spot there,” Swinney said. “So we just gotta hopefully have a little luck along the way.”
As long as Trotter and Carter are good to go, the Clemson linebackers should have no issues.
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