Dabo Swinney is a big fan of the four-game redshirt rule, which allows players to redshirt and thus maintain a year of eligibility if they play in four games or less during a single season.
That’s because the rule, which was introduced four years ago, gives Swinney and the Tigers the opportunity to be strategic — like they were in 2018, when James Skalski played 38 snaps over four games while redshirting.
That year, the former Clemson linebacker played in just one game during the regular season before seeing action in the ACC title game against Pittsburgh, the College Football Playoff semifinal against Notre Dame and the Tigers’ CFP national championship victory over Alabama.
“I love it. I really do,” Swinney said Monday regarding the four-game redshirt rule. “Like for example, if you think about that year where we were able to hold Skalski. He played in the last three games — ACC Championship, the playoff game and the national championship — and we needed him.”
Swinney says the Tigers envision doing something similar this year with Cole Turner, the true freshman receiver who has yet to make his college debut but whom Clemson’s head coach is very high on.
“We are trying to do that like Cole Turner,” Swinney said. “Cole Turner is going to be… He is going to be some kind of special player. That is why we have not played him yet. We are really trying to save his four games.”
Another legacy recruit for Clemson, Turner is the younger brother of the Tigers’ former All-American safety, Nolan Turner. Cole was a versatile playmaker at Vestavia Hills (Ala.), catching 42 passes for 581 yards and six touchdowns as a senior while also returning punts and kicks. He scored touchdowns doing both.
The 6-foot-1, 180-pounder initially focused on basketball before playing his first season of high school football as a junior. He enrolled at Clemson this past summer after committing to Swinney’s program back in January.
“He is a kid that nobody knows about right now,” Swinney said. “He is going to be a heck of a player for us. So, it is fun to be able to have the opportunity to be strategic with how you use some of the guys.”
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