It’s no secret that Clemson’s cornerbacks room will look a bit different than it did a season prior.
Andrew Booth, Jr. and Mario Goodrich are soon-to-be NFL-bound, and replacing them will be no easy task, especially after they earned All-ACC honors last season.
While the Tigers have seemed to already pencil in their starters against Georgia Tech — barring injury, of course — Dabo Swinney highlighted the opportunity that some newcomers and depth pieces will have this spring.
On Wednesday, Swinney mentioned the opportunity that both Jeadyn Lukus and Toriano Pride, Jr. will have this spring, as well as Elijah Rodgers, who originally signed with Indiana out of high school. Rodgers — a 6-foot-1, 185-pound senior out of Gaffney (S.C.) — joined the team as a walk-on after a tryout in the fall.
“There’s a lot of opportunity for that group,” Swinney said Wednesday, “because Malcolm (Greene) is out. It’s a group when Myles Oliver gets here this summer, we’ll have seven guys and then Elijah makes eight. But, I think it’s a really, really talented group that can be developed to play at a high level.”
According to Swinney, it all starts with Sheridan Jones and Nate Wiggins. Swinney lauded Wiggins’ work this offseason and said that he was really impressed with how he finished out his true freshman campaign. He also mentioned Fred Davis II, who has been in a green jersey — which means a player can participate in most drills, but they cannot participate in any live (tackling) drills — for Clemson’s first two spring practices.
“That’s kind of the three that I think we’re gonna start,” Swinney said. “We’ll get Malcolm back, that’s our vet. Then, you throw in Toriano, you throw in Jeadyn and you got Myles coming in. I think we’re gonna have a really good group of personnel there to work with. (Andrew) Mukuba is another guy that can play some corner.”
Lukus, who signed with Clemson in December, is ranked as the No. 7 cornerback and the No. 39 overall prospect in the 2022 recruiting class, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings. Lukus, who hails from nearby Mauldin (S.C.) High School was Clemson’s highest-rated defensive recruit in this year’s class.
The question that Swinney was asked was directly related to the opportunity that Lukus will have going forward. Like all newcomers, there will be a learning curve for Lukus, who’s getting a head start by going through the spring. From a skillset perspective, though, Lukus certainly could be ready to contribute soon.
“Jeadyn’s exactly what we recruited,” Swinney said. “He’s long, he’s fast, he’s a twitchy dude. He needs a big — between now and August — in the weight room and he just needs to go out there and grind this spring. He’ll try to get better each and every day.”
Whether they crack the starting lineup or not, the trio of Lukus, Pride and Rodgers will all have an opportunity to make some waves for themselves this spring.
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