Tag: Jeadyn Lukus

Swinney comments on why cornerback Jeadyn Lukus didn’t play against Miami

Swinney discusses why cornerback Jeadyn Lukus didn’t play against Miami.

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney met with the media following practice on Wednesday, sharing an update on why cornerback Jeadyn Lukus didn’t play against Miami last Saturday.

It was a surprise not seeing Lukus on the field in such an important matchup. When asked about Lukus not seeing snaps and if it was a coach’s decision or injury, Swinney had this to say.

“Yeah, injury,” Swinney said.

Not much of an update from the Tigers’ head coach. When asked if he could further update Lukus’ injury status, Swinney didn’t give a great update.

“Just working through an injury right now,” Swinney said.

We will look out for further updates this week on the sophomore cornerback as we wait for more information on the injury.

Swinney gives an injury update on CB Jeadyn Lukus

Swinney updates on the injury status of cornerback Jeadyn Lukus.

Clemson sophomore cornerback Jeadyn Lukus has been dealing with injury and was seen wearing the green jersey (limited participant) jersey at practice Monday.

It was an upgrade from the yellow jersey (no contact) Lukus was wearing to open camp, but still, a possible sign he wasn’t 100%. Wednesday, head coach Dabo Swinney gave an update on Lukus, stating that the young cornerback was a full participant in Wednesday’s practice.

“It is that time of year. You got five practices,” Swinney said. “He was back out there full go today. You get guys in and out of practice. Green is they are practicing. They are just a little limited for whatever reason short term. Sometimes a guy is just sick.”

It’s great news that Lukus is back to full health and ready to go. He has a chance to be a major piece of the Tigers’ secondary in 2023.

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Freshman corner to have another surgery this offseason

Dabo Swinney held his weekly Wednesday post-practice availability via Zoom. Clemson’s head coach said that freshman cornerback Jeadyn Lukus has an injured shoulder that will need surgery this offseason, but it’s something he can play through. “He’s …

Dabo Swinney held his weekly Wednesday post-practice availability via Zoom.

Clemson’s head coach said that freshman cornerback Jeadyn Lukus has an injured shoulder that will need surgery this offseason, but it’s something he can play through.

“He’s OK,” Swinney said, “but it’s just something that’s nagging and we’ll have to clean up when the year’s over.”

Lukus also had a shoulder surgery back in March, but that was his other shoulder.

The Mauldin, S.C. native played three snaps at Notre Dame while cornerbacks Malcolm Greene and Toriano Pride Jr. played on special teams only.

“He’s next man up and he’s been practicing well,” Swinney said of Lukus. “He got banged up. He’s going to have to have a little surgery when the season is over. But he’s healthy enough to go play and he’s really practicing well and has kind of moved up into that second spot. So, we’ll hopefully see more and more of him as we go down the finish here.”

A former five-star prospect and unanimous national top-60 player from nearby Mauldin High School, Lukus has played 51 snaps across six games this season. He made his collegiate debut in the season opener against Georgia Tech, recorded one tackle vs. Furman, added a tackle vs. Louisiana Tech and contributed a tackle for loss at Boston College.

A Shrine Bowl selection for South Carolina who was also selected to the Under Armour All-America Game in Orlando, Lukus had 97 tackles in his last three years at Mauldin, playing just 23 games due to the pandemic, while he had eight tackles for loss and four interceptions to go with 17 passes deflected.

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Wake Forest continues alarming trend for Clemson’s defense

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Clemson’s defense continues its search for the dominant form it possessed for much of last season under Brent Venables. Saturday was a jarring reminder of that. After showing chinks in their defensive armor against Furman and …

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Clemson’s defense continues its search for the dominant form it possessed for much of last season under Brent Venables.

Saturday was a jarring reminder of that.

After showing chinks in their defensive armor against Furman and Louisiana Tech,  the Tigers, now under the direction of first-year coordinator Wesley Goodwin, were shredded by one of the nation’s most prolific passing offenses as Wake Forest marched up and down Truist Field with relative ease, adding insult to Clemson’s injuries. Yet the Tigers got a little redemption when they needed it.

Nate Wiggins broke up Sam Hartman’s fourth-down heave to the end zone in double-overtime to preserve Clemson’s 51-45 win in double overtime. But that kind of play, as Clemson coach Dabo Swinney matter-of-factly put it afterward, was far from the norm on the day the Demon Deacons averaged a whopping 16.9 yards per completion and threw for six touchdowns, easily a season-high for their veteran quarterback, Sam Hartman.

“They didn’t give up seven,” Swinney said. “That’s the only good thing I can say. “

Clemson was again without safety Andrew Mukuba as well as senior cornerback Sheridan Jones, who sustained a stinger last week against Louisiana Tech. Another veteran corner, Malcolm Greene (undisclosed), also didn’t make the trip, leaving the Tigers’ secondary just as vulnerable as it appeared to be a week earlier even with Wiggins, who was held out last week with a hip flexor, back in action.

Against the second-best passing attack in the ACC, it was a recipe for disaster. Hartman and his big-bodied group of wideouts repeatedly went over the top against the Tigers’ younger-than-usual secondary, connecting for an average of 16.9 yards per reception.

When it was all said and done, Hartman had 337 yards passing, surpassing the 303 passing yards Wake was averaging coming in. He needed just 20 completions to get there.

It was in stark contrast to the way things played out almost a full calendar year ago when Wake visited Clemson. Hartman completed just 62% of his passes in that matchup and threw for most of his yardage after Clemson’s 48-27 win was already well in hand.

Clemson’s pressure up front was a major factor in that runaway victory over the Demon Deacons last November. Clemson lived in the backfield, getting to Hartman for eight sacks and notching 10 tackles for loss. On Saturday, Clemson, even with the return of star defensive tackle tandem Bryan Bresee and Tyler Davis, notched just three sacks and six stops behind the line of scrimmage.

Clemson mixed up its looks but dialed up its fair share of pressure from the second and third levels with the front four not generating as much. That often left Wiggins, Fred Davis and true freshmen Toriano Pride and Jeadyn Lukus on an island in coverage, matchups Wake exploited time and time again for chunks of yardage either through explosive completions or five pass-interference penalties drawn by the Demon Deacons’ receivers, which accounted for half of the Tigers’ penalty total.

Wake pieced together seven scoring drives, including four straight in the second half. On a day when Clemson’s offense bailed the defense out with nine scoring drives of its own and an average of 6.5 yards per play, the Demon Deacons averaged 6.6. Wake Forest faced just 12 third downs for the game.

After forcing punts on four of Wake’s first five possessions, the Tigers didn’t come up with many stops other than the ones it had to have. The first came on Wake’s final possession of regulation with the score tied at 38 to push the game to overtime. And after blowing a coverage that left Wake’s 6-foot-5 receiver, A.T. Perry, all alone in the end zone for a score in the first overtime, the decisive one came after Clemson’s final go-ahead score.

Wake’s first two plays of its final possession went nowhere, and Hartman scrambled for 4 yards on third down, leaving the Demon Deacons in need of a fourth-down conversion to extend the game. Hartman went for it all and threw one last deep ball Perry’s way, but Wiggins came up with the most timely of Clemson’s four pass breakups on the day.

With wins in their first two ACC games, It helped put the Tigers in the early driver’s seat in the race to return to the top of the Atlantic Division standings. But Saturday also provided the latest evidence that there’s still plenty of work to do if the Tigers are going to get there.

Day 7 observations of Clemson’s defense

Clemson continued preparations for the 2022 season this morning at Jervey Meadows with its seventh practice of preseason camp. Here are some observations of the Tigers’ defense and special teams from the media viewing periods: To start things off, …

Clemson continued preparations for the 2022 season this morning at Jervey Meadows with its seventh practice of preseason camp. Here are some observations of the Tigers’ defense and special teams from the media viewing periods:

  • To start things off, coming into Friday’s practice at Jervey Meadows, the only two injuries to make note of were Tré Williams (knee scope) and Myles Oliver (shoulder) — both were not at practice and understandably so.
  • About halfway through the fifth period, DeMonte Capehart came out with a trainer. The redshirt sophomore defensive tackle appeared to be dehydrated and was held out of the remaining two practice periods that were open to the media on Friday.
  • Freshman cornerback Jeadyn Lukus came off the field with a trainer. He was having trouble getting stretched out and left the field quickly to get his upper-right thigh taped up.
  • Defensive lineman Jabriel Robinson blocked a field goal during the special teams period.
  • Will Taylor, Will Shipley, Cole Turner and Antonio Williams were all back deep, returning punts from the likes of Aidan Swanson, B.T. Potter, Jackson Smith and Brodey Conn.
  • As for Smith, Swinney was not happy with some of his line drive punts. He spoke with the freshman multiple times and did not look too pleased.
  • While other defensive linemen were involved with the punting drills, Capehart, Xavier Thomas, Etinosa Reuben, Payton Page and Caden Story were working individually with Nick Eason.
  • The cornerback position was relatively thin today as Clemson was down two scholarship players — Oliver and Sheridan Jones. The latter was obviously excused from today’s practice as he was participating in his commencement ceremony at the Littlejohn Coliseum.
  • That allowed for a player like senior Elijah Rodgers to get a lot of snaps, as he received plenty of coaching up from Mike Reed.
  • Speaking of Reed, in a combined defensive backs drill, he got on freshman Kylon Griffin on multiple occasions. Griffin appeared to be confused and received instruction from Reed.
  • Swinney had this to say about Griffin when asked about the freshman safety Wednesday: “He’s a great young prospect with a lot on his plate. He’s a little lost after five days of installation — just getting here in the summer, wasn’t a mid-year (enrollee). Just a smooth athlete, but a lot to learn.”

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Why Clemson’s top defensive signee stuck with Tigers after coordinator change

When news of Brent Venables’ departure for Oklahoma broke back in December, Jeadyn Lukus’ phone started blowing up. And he wasn’t the only one. Clemson lost three blue-chip recruits once Venables, the Tigers’ longtime defensive coordinator, left the …

When news of Brent Venables’ departure for Oklahoma broke back in December, Jeadyn Lukus’ phone started blowing up.

And he wasn’t the only one.

Clemson lost three blue-chip recruits once Venables, the Tigers’ longtime defensive coordinator, left the program to take his first head coaching job. IMG Academy teammates Jihaad Campbell, Keon Sabb and Daylon Everette, ranked as four-star prospects or higher, ended up at Alabama, Michigan and Georgia, respectively.

But Lukus, the highest-ranked defensive signee in Clemson’s 2022 recruiting class, quickly let the schools that were inquiring amid the Tigers’ staff shakeup know he was staying put.

“A couple of them that I was talking to late down the stretch tried to re-engage, but it wasn’t anything too crazy because I think they knew I was locked in,” Lukus said.

Lukus was an in-state pull for Clemson who played his prep ball at Mauldin High School. But as a five-star recruit rated by the 247Sports Composite as the nation’s No. 7 cornerback prospect, the 6-foot-2, 190-pounder could’ve gone nearly anywhere. North Carolina, Alabama, LSU, Ohio State, Notre Dame and even Venables’ new program were among those that offered Lukus a scholarship.

But for Lukus, who was committed to Clemson for five months before Venables’ departure, the decision to stick with the Tigers was simple.

“I committed to the program,” Lukus said. “I didn’t commit to Coach V. That’s probably the biggest thing.”

And Lukus figures to be an immediate contributor for Clemson and Venables’ replacement, Wesley Goodwin, this fall. Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said he saw enough from Lukus during the spring to know the newcomer will be able to help in Year 1 despite Lukus missing six practices after undergoing shoulder surgery.

Lukus said he’s pain-free now and entering fall camp with a clean bill of health. His primary focus at this point is learning Goodwin’s system, something Lukus said the first-time coordinator is trying to simplify for the entire defense.

“Obviously it’s not like an easy, dumbed-down defense, but he’s made it easy on us to take it in,” Lukus said. “He’s very smart. You could say he knows what he’s doing.

“He’ll get fired up. That’s for sure. He’s a nice guy, and I guess he does seem kind of quiet. But once you get to know him, he gets fired up about football.”

Lukus said he not only expects to contribute this season at corner, where fellow true freshmen Toriano Pride Jr. and Myles Oliver are also competing for snaps, but also on special teams.

Healthy again, touted freshman eager to make impact in Clemson’s secondary

It wasn’t the best time, though it rarely is for any injury. Yet all things considered, it could’ve been worse for Jeadyn Lukus. Lukus is more than four months removed from surgery to repair a torn labrum in his shoulder, an injury that started …

It wasn’t the best time, though it rarely is for any injury. Yet all things considered, it could’ve been worse for Jeadyn Lukus.

Lukus is more than four months removed from surgery to repair a torn labrum in his shoulder, an injury that started during his prep days as a star defensive back at nearby Mauldin High. It was aggravated this spring to the point of a complete tear when Lukus dove to deflect a pass during one of Clemson’s practices.

“I think they just put (surgical) tacks in it and put it to the bone,” Lukus recently told The Clemson Insider. 

The shoulder was initially sore once he started the rehab process, Lukus said. Now less than two weeks before the start of fall camp, Clemson’s freshman cornerback said he’s pain-free.

“Now it feels great,” Lukus said. “Working out every day, and it feels really good.”

The injury forced Clemson to shut Lukus down after just his ninth practice as a Tiger, meaning his missed nearly half of the spring, including the annual Orange and White finale. Lukus admitted it hampered his physical progression as a first-year player, but he still attended most of the practices he missed and took mental reps of first-year defensive coordinator Wesley Goodwin’s system.

“I can kind of keep up (mentally) with the other guys that were able to play,” he said.

How comfortable would he be if he was immediately thrown into action against Georgia Tech in the Labor Day opener?

“That’s what we work on the entire offseason is being ready for that game day, so hopefully I’ll be A-OK,” Lukus said.

Clemson doesn’t plan to waste any time getting the talented in-state product on the field as long as he maintains his clean bill of health. A five-star recruit ranked in the 247Sports Composite as the top recruit in South Carolina and No. 7 cornerback nationally, the 6-foot-2, 190-pound Lukus brings plenty of size and range to a position where a pair of new starters are needed with Andrew Booth and Mario Goodrich both off to the NFL.

“I’m long and physical,” Lukus said, referring to his skill set. “Good ball skills and good man (coverage) technique are probably the best things.”

There’s also not much proven depth at corner. Sheridan Jones, Fred Davis and rising sophomore Nate Wiggins are back, but Lukus and fellow true freshmen Toriano Pride Jr. and Myles Oliver make up the rest of the scholarship corners on the outside (Malcolm Greene is returning at nickel).

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said he’d seen enough in Lukus’ limited practice time this spring to know he will be an immediate contributor. Pride, who had seven tackles in the spring game, also got a head start on his time at Clemson as an early enrollee.

“Me and Tori are both going to get some good playing time,” Lukus said. “Just acclimating to the speed of the game and learning the playbook are going to be the biggest things us as freshmen. But I think we’ll do just fine.”

A look at how Brent Venables defensive recruiting stacks up vs. team recruiting rankings over the last decade

A look at how Brent Venables defensive recruiting classes stack up nationally by average composite rating for the last decade.

A lot has been made of the Oklahoma Sooners’ current ranking in the 2023 cycle. They’re currently No. 35 in the team recruiting rankings over at 247Sports after picking up a commitment from linebacker Phil Picciotti on the Fourth of July.

We’ve preached patience as recruiting classes aren’t built in June or July, and the Oklahoma Sooners and the rest of the country are still eight months away from national signing day. Recall that Brent Venables needed two months on the job at OU to take the Sooners recruiting class from No. 28 in the country after Lincoln Riley left to a class that finished No. 8 in the country for the 2022 cycle.

That’s pretty good. Now imagine what he’ll be able to accomplish with a full year to recruit for the 2023 class.

With Venables, the Sooners recruiting classes will be more marathon vs. sprint in the race for the nation’s top recruits. The Sooners would prefer their players not to visit other teams after they commit, so players trending to Oklahoma will not likely commit until they’ve gone through their entire process. This means the Sooners may not do well in May or June of a recruiting cycle, but July and August should be fruitful months full of commitments to Oklahoma.

However, there’s been some question about how well Venables can recruit. So, I took a look back at the last decade, predominantly from his time at Clemson to see how well he performed relative to the rest of the country. Taking the average score for the commits on the defensive side of the ball for each class over the last decade, we compared that average rating with the average team score for the rest of the country to see how they compared.

If Clemson’s recruiting class in 2018, 2020, or 2021 had been strictly defensive players, the Tigers would have finished with the highest average among their commitments. Those classes were all top 10, but team recruiting rankings are based on a total score, not an average, so they finished seventh, third, and fifth instead of No. 1.

Here is a synopsis of what we’re looking at here.

  • The comparison is Brent Venables defensive recruiting classes on average using the 247Sports composite rating for each player in the class and comparing that to the team recruiting rankings from 247Sports.
  • Removed Clemson’s 2012 recruiting class as Venables was just getting started with the Tigers.
  • I allowed Venables to get partial credit for both Clemson and Oklahoma’s 2022 recruiting classes. He was a big part of Clemson’s 2022 recruiting cycle but wasn’t there to finish it and the class would have been better had Jaren Kanak not flipped. Conversely, he was a huge part of recovering Oklahoma’s 2022 class after Lincoln Riley left, but several players were also recruited under the previous regime.

Venables’ defense has helped quite a few players get selected in the top 100 of the NFL draft over the last decade, and there’s little doubt he’s going to help Oklahoma defenders hear their names called early in future NFL drafts.

Of course, Venables isn’t solely responsible for how well a recruiting class turns out. Dabo Swinney played a big part in that too and so Venable’s defensive assistants. But as the defensive coordinator, the buck stopped with Brent Venables. He’d be responsible for how well or poorly they recruited.

The Newcomer Files: Jeadyn Lukus

Clemson signed 21 players as part of its 2022 recruiting class, some of whom still have yet to make it to campus. Nine signees went through spring practice as early enrollees while the rest, including transfer Hunter Johnson, will arrive on campus …

Clemson signed 21 players as part of its 2022 recruiting class, some of whom still have yet to make it to campus.

Nine signees went through spring practice as early enrollees while the rest, including transfer Hunter Johnson, will arrive on campus this summer. The Clemson Insider is taking a closer look at each newcomer and the likelihood of him contributing immediately this fall based on development and positional need.

TCI previously highlighted Keith Adams Jr., T.J. Dudley, Sherrod Covil Jr., Robert Gunn III, Kylon Griffin, Cade Klubnik, Jahiem Lawson and Johnson. Next up is Jeadyn Lukus.

Position: Cornerback

Height: 6-foot-2

Weight: 185 pounds

Ranking: 5 stars (247Sports Composite)

Previous school: Mauldin High

Early enrollee? Yes

The skinny: Lukus was one of the country’s more sought-after recruits coming out of nearby Mauldin, but Clemson benefited from the proximity to home in ultimately landing the highest-rated defensive signee in its class. Ranked as South Carolina’s top recruit and the No. 30 prospect nationally in the 247Sports Composite, Lukus has the length, speed and athleticism that college programs covet in corners. He also brings some physicality to the position, finishing with 97 tackles in 23 games over the last three high school seasons before getting his career at Clemson started in January as an early enrollee.

In addition to Lukus’ physical skills, there’s opportunity at his position. Clemson has lost both of its starting corners, Andrew Booth and Mario Goodrich, to the NFL. And while Lukus’ first spring with the Tigers was cut short by a shoulder injury that required surgery, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said he saw enough from Lukus in nine practices to know he will be able to contribute immediately. Swinney said recently he expects Lukus to be back to full strength come fall camp. If that’s the case, Lukus figures to compete for a starting job. Worst case, Lukus will be part of the rotation at a position where Clemson has just one scholarship senior (Sheridan Jones).

Bresee, other injured Tigers ‘progressing well’

It’s been nearly two full months since Clemson’s football team concluded a spring that was missed completely or in part by more than 20 players recovering from injuries. Most of them, including star defensive tackle Bryan Bresee, have been …

It’s been nearly two full months since Clemson’s football team concluded a spring that was missed completely or in part by more than 20 players recovering from injuries.

Most of them, including star defensive tackle Bryan Bresee, have been recovering from injuries that occurred last season, but a couple of new injuries to freshmen Jeadyn Lukus (shoulder surgery) and Adam Randall (torn ACL) popped up during the spring, which ended April 9 with the Tigers’ annual Orange and White game.

Other than Randall, though, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said he doesn’t anticipate anyone who was sidelined this spring to not be ready for the start of fall camp.

“It’s good to see them all heading in that direction, and hopefully come August, we can get through the summer and everybody is in a good spot,” Swinney said during Clemson’s Prowl & Growl stop in the Charleston area Tuesday. “If we’re halfway more healthy, it’s going to be a better year for us.”

Bresee, widely projected to be a high pick in next year’s NFL Draft, is nearly eight full months removed from surgery to repair his knee ligament. Bresee did some light running on the side during the spring, but Swinney said the 6-foot-5, 300-pounder has progressed to where “he’s moving and doing everything.”

“Everybody is progressing well,” Swinney added. “We had a lot of guys out. We only had one scholarship back this spring. (Receiver) E.J. (Williams) was out, and he’s getting back going. Obviously (receiver and punt returner) Will Taylor, he’s back going and you see what he’s doing already (with the baseball team). He’s just a natural. He’s got that it factor. That’s why he was kind of where he was heading early with us last year.”

As for Randall, Swinney said the first-year receiver is ahead of schedule in his rehab and is expected to be back at some point during fall camp. The fact that Randall’s tear was isolated to one ligament has helped with his recovery.

“It was best-case scenario for him and for us,” Swinney said.