Clemson coach Dabo Swinney had an encouraging update this week on the status of his injured freshman receiver, though he’s making no guarantees as to when Adam Randall will return to action.
It’s been just a few months since Randall had surgery to repair his torn ACL this spring, but the former Myrtle Beach High standout is ahead of schedule with his rehab and is expected to return to the field at some point this season.
“It’s really up to him and the doctors,” Swinney said. “All I can tell you is that when you have injuries like that, the doctors have benchmarks that you should be at at certain times with your rehabilitation, and he’s way above every benchmark. To use (head athletic trainer) Pat Richards’ word, he’s a freak. That’s exactly what he said.
“(Randall) looks great and is doing awesome, but when he’s ready, he’s ready. It’s not like he’s a senior and is going to miss games.”
Swinney compared Randall’s progress to that of former Clemson receiver Amari Rodgers, who’s now with the Green Bay Packers. Rogers tore his ACL during the spring of 2019 but was playing by Week 2. He went on to start 10 games during that 2019 season.
“Honestly I wasn’t very comfortable with him getting back out there, but Amari was going to fight somebody if you didn’t let him play because he was above everything,” Swinney recalled of Rodgers’ rehab. “And he was amazing. Had an awesome year coming back and followed that up with a great senior year.”
But Swinney reiterated Clemson will “kind of go with what the doctors say” as far as determining when Randall will be back on the field and stopped short of making any promises as to exactly when that might be. Clemson is slated to open fall camp Aug. 5.
“I know he’ll play at some point,” Swinney said. “Is that the first game or the 10th game? I don’t know. We’ll see when that is, but I do know he’s going to have a heck of a freshman year and a great career for us.”
