With only six Saturdays remaining before the 2024 college football season kicks off with “Week 0’s” ACC matchup between Florida State and Georgia Tech in Dublin, Ireland, ESPN took a look at sleeper picks for teams in their post-spring Top 25 rankings.
For Clemson, returning linebacker Wade Woodaz was named the team’s sleeper pick by ESPN.com’s David Hale.
Per Hale:
“The talk at linebacker around Clemson largely centers on three players: The one who left (Jeremiah Trotter Jr.), the one who stayed (Barrett Carter) and the one who just arrived (five-star recruit Sammy Brown). The name missing from that conversation is Woodaz, who has racked up 5.5 sacks, two picks, 11.5 tackles for loss and a ton of big reps over two years with the Tigers and will be stepping into a full-time starting role in 2024.
Dabo Swinney raved about Woodaz’s work this offseason, and he made a point of noting that, for all the buzz surrounding Brown, it’s clear who’s ahead on the depth chart today.”
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Woodaz made five starts for the Tigers a year ago and had eight tackles in the Tigers’ Orange vs. White Spring Game in April. 247Sports named Woodaz as the team’s top spring practice standout.
Clemson was No. 16 in ESPN’s post-spring rankings (released in May), five spots behind Florida State and three spots behind NC State among ACC teams.
Georgia was ranked No. 1 in ESPN’s rankings. The Tigers travel to Atlanta to face the Bulldogs to open the season August 31 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Kickoff is set for noon EDT. The game will be televised nationally on ABC.
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