It’s been a gradual progression back to full strength for Clemson defensive end Xavier Thomas.
The fifth-year senior missed the first five games of the season recovering from surgery on his broken foot during the preseason before coming back with a bang in his season debut at Boston College on Oct. 8.
Dabo Swinney expects Thomas to “ramp it up” in the month of November and has “high expectations” for the pass rush specialist as the regular season winds down.
“I think the biggest thing for XT is he’s done a great job on his conditioning side — it’s just two more weeks of just great healing in that foot,” Clemson’s head coach said during his weekly Tuesday press conference. “Because again, it’s not something that he’s got to play with all year. It’s one of those things from where he started, it gets better as he goes, because they wouldn’t have let him go play if the healing wasn’t where he could play. But there was going to be a little bit of pain involved, but that’s just getting better and better and better.
“So, we’ll see him ramp it up over this month. I’ve got high expectations for him in November, and we’re going to need him down the stretch here.”
Thomas debuted with two sacks, a forced fumble and an additional quarterback hit in just six snaps against Boston College three games ago, earning ACC Defensive Lineman of the Week and collecting the Leather Helmet Award from the Boston College Gridiron Club as the game’s MVP.
The Florence, S.C., native then played a season-high 32 snaps against Florida State, recording two tackles, before his snap count dipped to 14 against Syracuse in Clemson’s most recent game Oct. 22. He didn’t record any stats against the Orange.
Swinney believes Thomas has been able to shake off the rust from the time he missed, and he hopes to see No. 3 come on strong to end the season.
“Obviously it was a tough situation for him in camp, but he’s gotten a couple games under his belt and kind of gotten the rust off of himself,” Swinney said. “He’s got his conditioning back going. He’s in the best spot that he’s been as far as how he actually feels and his ability to really do what he wants to do. He’s been a player of the game on six snaps.
“So, he’s got confidence, so I think this is an opportunity for him to really – we have four more games, and we have something in postseason as well — so he’s got a chance to really finish well and have a great ending.”
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