Tag: Tre Williams

Tre Williams receives promotion within South Alabama staff

The former Tiger linebacker continues to climb up the coaching ranks.

South Alabama promoted former offensive coordinator Major Applewhite to head coach following the departure of Kane Wommack to Alabama. Along with Applewhite, several other members of the Jaguars coaching staff also received a promotion.

Among those was former Auburn linebacker [autotag]Tre Williams[/autotag].

Williams, a Mobile native, joined the Jaguars’ coaching staff in 2023 as the special teams coordinator. Heading into 2024, he will add outside linebackers coach to his rap sheet. Williams’ promotion is one of five announced moves within South Alabama’s coaching staff according to AL.com.

Williams’ career at Auburn ended in 2017 after recording 188 tackles and 10.0 tackles for loss in four seasons on the Plains. Williams began his coaching career once at the high school level and has worked his way up through the Division 2 level before finding a job at his hometown university.

The Jaguars finished with a 7-6 record in 2023, with a 4-4 mark in Sun Belt Conference play. One of those wins was a 33-7 decision over Oklahoma State in Stillwater.

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Dabo Swinney gives an injury update on defensive tackle Tre Williams

Swinney gave an injury update for defensive tackle Tre Williams.

Dabo Swinney held a press conference Thursday and updated the media on the status of veteran defensive tackle Tre Williams.

Williams has been dealing with a shoulder injury that he injured in high school and had fixed this spring, resulting in him missing some time. According to Swinney, while he isn’t ready to play yet, Williams is trending in the right direction.

“He’s doing good. He’s not ready to play,” Swinney said. “He’s doing really good, though. He’s going to be ready to play, and we’re going to kind of see how it goes with him.”

The young defensive tackle has dealt with injuries throughout his time with the program. He had a season-ending injury as a true freshman and has dealt with problems with his foot, shoulder, and knee since then.

“As y’all know, he’s been here, and Lord have mercy, he’s had both shoulders, he’s had knees, he’s had a little bit of everything on his body he’s dealt with,” the head coach said.

If his health remains an issue, there is a chance Williams is redshirt this season. The Tigers have strong depth on the defensive line, and if needed, it could be an option.

“We’re going to really try to kind of take it slow with him because we could get a year back with him,” Swinney said. “A lot of that depends on how we perform if we can stay healthy at the D-tackle position. We do have a little bit of depth, obviously, with TD (Tyler Davis) and Ruke (Orhorhoro) back. So, he’s going to play and will be ready to play, but we’re going to kind of see. It’s something we’ve talked about, and maybe if we can hold him as long as we can and let’s really just fortify his body and get him in a great spot, and then if we could steal a year back, that would be great for him and for us.

“But we don’t know right now, but he’s trending in the right direction. He’s doing good. He’s back in practice. He’s back in green (limited contact jersey) now.”

Right now, the Clemson coaching staff still knows more than we do. It’s anyone’s guess what happens, but hearing he is trending in the right direction is a good sign.

We’ll have to wait and see with Williams.

Swinney gives an injury update on veteran defensive tackle Tre Williams

Swinney gives an update on the injury status of Tre Williams.

Clemson held a media outing on Tuesday where Dabo Swinney gave an injury update on a few Tigers, including veteran defensive tackle Tre Williams.

Williams is currently dealing with a shoulder issue that dates back to high school and recently had to get that issue fixed with surgery. The injury should sideline the redshirt junior defensive tackle for some of camp, but Swinney expects a return from injury around mid-camp.

“We had the surgery there in the spring and so he’s doing really good,” Swinney said. “We had to fix the shoulder again, and I think it was the one from high school. He had one and the other one at Clemson, but he also had one from high school that we had to fix that again. But he’s done well. He’s had a good summer. He’s close, and he’s probably mid-camp type guy before they probably will release at the earliest there.”

Williams, a former four-star recruit, has had a challenging path with the Tigers dealing with injuries. Even so, Swinney knows there is still a lot of time left for Williams in the game.

“Those of you who have been around here, y’all know what we’ve dealt with, with Tre,” Swinney said. “He’s missed a lot of time, but he’s still got a lot of time, too. He really has a lot of time on his clock, and so, we’ve really tried to just kind of hit pause with him a little bit and just slow it down and kind of play the long game with him, and let’s really get him well and let’s get those shoulders fortified and just make sure that he’s ready to go.”

A healthy Tre Williams can impact the Tigers’ defense, but we must wait for that. We will also have to wait for our next update from Swinney on Williams and whether he will be ready by mid-camp.

According to Swinney, Williams has had an excellent summer, so the wait should be worth it.

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Swinney updates status of injured defensive linemen

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney on Tuesday updated the status of a pair of injured defensive linemen, which included some good news for a unit that has yet to play whole this season. Defensive end Xavier Thomas has yet to play this season after …

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney on Tuesday updated the status of a pair of injured defensive linemen, which included some good news for a unit that has yet to play whole this season.

Defensive end Xavier Thomas has yet to play this season after sustaining a foot injury during preseason camp, and Swinney said he’s still unsure if the senior will be available for Saturday’s top-10 matchup with N.C. State at Memorial Stadium.

“He’s close,” Swinney said.

But Swinney said Tre Williams is expected to be back for this week’s game. Williams, who’s been dealing with inflammation in his knee, hasn’t played in the last two games. Swinney said the backup defensive tackle has been held out as a precaution in an effort to keep the injury from getting worse.

Throwback Thursday: Razorbacks defeat Texas A&M to snap nine-game losing streak

Ahead of Arkansas’ rivalry game with Texas A&M, Razorbacks Wire flashes back to the 2021 game, where Arkansas ended a nine-game losing streak to the Aggies.

The No. 10 Arkansas Razorbacks travel to Arlington, Texas this Saturday to face the No. 20 Texas A&M Aggies for the annual Southwest Classic. In honor of the upcoming rivalry game, Razorbacks Wire is going to take a trip back in time to a classic game in the series.

Today’s rewind takes just one step back to the 2021 season, when Arkansas defeated the Aggies, 20-10. The win was important, as it would be Arkansas’ first win over Texas A&M since the Aggies joined the SEC in 2012.

Looking back at the history of this rivalry, Arkansas has had a longstanding success over Texas A&M, as they boast a 42-33-3 record in the series. However, Texas A&M has dominated recent history. The Aggies entered the SEC in a surprising fashion by winning 11 games, which included an upset of Alabama, in 2012. Since then, Texas A&M has become bowl eligible every season.

While Texas A&M has enjoyed early success in this new era, Arkansas seems to be walking away from its “dark time”, as they enjoyed just three winning seasons from 2012-20.

Arkansas had no trouble with Texas A&M in 2021’s game, as they led 17-3 at halftime before a Cam Little 24-yard field goal in the 4th quarter sealed the win.

Quarterback [autotag]KJ Jefferson[/autotag] passed for 212 yards on seven completions, which included an 85-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver [autotag]Treylon Burks[/autotag]. [autotag]Bumper Pool[/autotag] led the team with eight tackles, and [autotag]Tre Williams[/autotag] recorded two sacks.

Here is a look back at the best images from last season’s 20-10 victory over Texas A&M at AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys.

Will Clemson’s defensive line be whole again against Wake Forest?

Clemson’s defense hasn’t looked like the dominant force many expected to see coming into the season, particularly considering the level of competition the Tigers have faced through three games. Clemson also hasn’t played any of those games at full …

Clemson’s defense hasn’t looked like the dominant force many expected to see coming into the season, particularly considering the level of competition the Tigers have faced through three games.

Clemson also hasn’t played any of those games at full strength up front.

Will that change in time for what will easily be the Tigers’ stiffest test of the season Saturday when they travel to take on No. 21 Wake Forest in an early Atlantic Division showdown? 

The answer is still to be determined, though Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said his team is in a “much better place” from an injury standpoint going into the weekend. The Tigers’ defensive line, widely viewed as arguably the best in college football leading up to the season, has been hit with its share of attrition already.

The patchwork group held its own against FCS foe Furman and, most recently, Louisiana Tech. The Tigers still rank in the top 12 nationally in rush defense and tackles for loss but have just five sacks so far. That ranks in the bottom half of the FBS.

Defensive end K.J. Henry, who’s starting in the place of the injured Xavier Thomas for the time being, said the line is capable of taking its game to another level when intact.

“The sky is the limit for when everybody is healthy,” Henry said. “Now that being said, the game we play, I don’t know if we’ll get everybody healthy, especially not 100%. Ain’t nobody going to be 100%. But as we start to get guys matriculating back in, we’re just going to keep getting better and better.”

The good news for the group is star defensive tackle Bryan Bresee is expected to return to the lineup Saturday after missing the Louisiana Tech game following the recent passing of his sister. But Clemson played last week without two other starters up front in Thomas (foot) and Tyler Davis (undisclosed).

The Tigers were also without a third defensive tackle in Tre Williams, who was held out with a knee injury. Davis, Bresee’s running mate on the interior, has missed the last two games while Thomas has yet to play this season after sustaining his injury during the latter part of preseason camp, though they could be back sooner rather than later.

While Swinney kept things close to the vest when asked Wednesday about the status of the Tigers’ injured players, he said last week that Davis probably could have played against Louisiana Tech if he was needed, an indication Davis may have simply been held out again as a precaution. As for Thomas, Swinney reiterated the senior edge defender is close to returning and cracked a smile when asked specifically if Thomas will be available for Saturday’s game.

“Maybe,” Swinney said. “I’m hopeful.”

In the meantime, Clemson has gotten a closer look at some of its linemen further down the depth chart who have helped fill in. Kevin Swint, a former linebacker who averaged less than eight snaps a game in his first two seasons with the Tigers, has 11 tackles and a fumble recovery as part of the rotation at end with Henry, Myles Murphy and Justin Mascoll. On the interior, sophomore Payton Page logged a season-high 23 snaps last week. Third-year sophomore DeMonte Capehart, who played just 20 snaps all of last season, got in for 17 snaps.

Co-defensive coordinator Mickey Conn said being able to build the kind of depth Clemson is going to need over the course of the season is a silver lining to all the attrition. But now would be a good time for the Tigers to start getting some of their frontline guys back if they want to maximize their chances of disrupting what’s been one of the ACC’s most prolific offenses to this point.

Wake Forest is bringing the league’s second-highest scoring offense and second-best passing offense into Saturday’s matchup.

“When you play hopefully a 15-game season, you’ve got to build that depth. You’ve got to build that confidence,” Conn said. “I’m excited we got to do it here early, but it’ll be great to get (our starting linemen) back. I’m excited about that.”

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The good, the bad and the ugly from Clemson’s win over Louisiana Tech

Clemson overcame a sluggish start to pull away from Louisiana Tech for its latest win late Saturday night at Memorial Stadium. The victory moved the Tigers to 3-0 with their first ACC road test looming against Wake Forest next weekend. Here’s the …

Clemson overcame a sluggish start to pull away from Louisiana Tech for its latest win late Saturday night at Memorial Stadium. The victory moved the Tigers to 3-0 with their first ACC road test looming against Wake Forest next weekend.

Here’s the good, the bad and the ugly from the Tigers’ 48-20 victory:

The good

Clemson has been nearly unbeatable when rushing for at least 200 yards during Dabo Swinney’s tenure. Until Saturday, though, the Tigers had not been able to add to their impressive record when pulling off that feat this season.

Clemson’s ground game put it all together against Tech as the Tigers rushed for a season-high 280 yards, improving their record under Swinney to 73-1 when reaching the 200-yard mark. At the center of it was Will Shipley once Clemson started feeding him the ball with more regularity (more on that later).

With Tech opting to play man defense for much of the night, Clemson’s offensive line blocked things up well in the box and seemed to get more consistent push, creating plenty of running lanes for Shipley and company. Shipley rushed for a career-high 139 yards and two scores on just 12 carries. 

Clemson kept its perfect red-zone scoring percentage intact by coming away with points on all six of their trips inside the Bulldogs’ 20-yard line, continuing a strong start to the season in terms of Clemson’s execution near the goal line. The Tigers found the end zone on each of their final three red-zone trips after having to settle for field goals on two of their first three. Clemson is one of just two teams nationally (Michigan) that’s had at least 19 red-zone possessions and scored on all of them.

And the offense got more help in the turnover department from the defense, which had four more takeaways. Clemson scored 21 points off those turnovers, which helped the Tigers pull away in the second half. Clemson, which also had its first turnover-free game of the season on offense, sits at plus-3 in turnover margin through three games.

The Tigers also blocked a field-goal attempt in the first half, running their tally to three blocked kicks on the season.

The bad

As explosive as Clemson’s offense was at times, the Tigers are still trying to put together a four-quarter game in the consistency department.

Clemson started fast the previous week against Furman but ended slow. It was the opposite Saturday when the Tigers mustered just 13 first-half points against what’s been one of the worst defenses in Conference USA this season. After putting together a 79-touchdown drive midway through the first quarter, Clemson punted on three of its final four possessions of the first half, accumulating just 26 yards on those drives.

Uiagalelei wasn’t as precise with his accuracy as he had been the week before, overthrowing a couple of shot plays early before finding a groove in the second half. He didn’t always get consistent help from his receivers. Joseph Ngata’s diving catch to set up the Tigers’ first touchdown followed by a drop on a well-placed ball later in the first half was a prime example.

Defensively, Clemson’s back seven continues to struggle in coverage. A week earlier, it was Furman’s quick passing game and screens that gave the Tigers fits. Tech’s Air-Raid offense went vertical more often than not, either burning the Tigers’ man coverage or finding soft spots in a zone. Tech quarterback Parker McNeil needed just 23 completions to throw for 311 yards, an average of nearly 14 yards per completion.

Clemson’s defense wasn’t all that disruptive up front with just one sack on more than 40 pass attempts and seven tackles for loss, though the Tigers were playing without a handful of significant contributors on that side of the ball.

The ugly

While the offense struggled to find its overall footing early, Shipley ripped off 20 yards on his first run. He later scored on a 2-yard plunge. Yet despite averaging 7 yards on his five carries in the first quarter, Shipley didn’t get another carry for the rest of the first half.

In a perplexing move, Clemson went away from Shipley and the running game for most of the second quarter despite averaging 6.6 yards a carry as a team through the first 15 minutes, a decision offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter acknowledged afterward was made too quickly.

The Tigers opted to throw a bunch of 50-50 balls to receivers instead trying to take advantage of those one-on-one matchups on the perimeter, but Uiagalelei completed just 5 of 12 passes during a second quarter that saw Clemson muster just 79 total yards. When Streeter went back to the running game with more regularity in the second half – Clemson ran it 25 times in the final two quarters to just 14 times in the first half – the Tigers averaged 7.7 yards on the ground.

Meanwhile, injuries keep mounting. While defensive linemen Tyler Davis (undisclosed) and Xavier Thomas (foot) were held another week as a precaution, fellow defensive lineman Tre Williams (knee), safety Andrew Mukuba (elbow) and cornerback Nate Wiggins (hip flexor) also didn’t play. Starting corner Sheridan Jones got banged up during the game and was unable to finish.

Swinney said he’s not worried about any of those injuries long term. But for a team that was ravaged by injuries early and often a season ago, it’s a situation worth monitoring.

Dear Old Clemson is excited to announce a limited edition football and poster signed by Clemson’s Avengers.

Now there is a new way you can support Clemson student-athletes. Purchase collectibles from Dear Old Clemson and the proceeds with go to support Clemson student-athletes. Visit Dear Old Clemson to find out how you can help!

 

Swinney gives injury updates following Louisiana Tech game

During his postgame press conference following Clemson’s 48-20 win over Louisiana Tech on Saturday night at Death Valley, head coach Dabo Swinney was asked how confident he is that the Tigers’ injured players will be back for next Saturday’s game at …

During his postgame press conference following Clemson’s 48-20 win over Louisiana Tech on Saturday night at Death Valley, head coach Dabo Swinney was asked how confident he is that the Tigers’ injured players will be back for next Saturday’s game at Wake Forest.

“I don’t know, we’ll see,” he said. “I feel good about some of them. There might be a couple of them maybe all the way down to game time, I don’t know. But they’ll be close.”

“Nobody that’s got any type of long-term, serious injury that’s going to make them miss a lot of time,” Swinney added. “Just kind of some normal football stuff.”

Among the players who didn’t play in Saturday night’s game were defensive tackles Tyler Davis and Tre Williams, defensive end Xavier Thomas and cornerback Nate Wiggins.

“Tre, just nursing that knee a little bit,” Swinney said. “He was a little sore on it, so we decided to hold him. I think he’ll be ready to go.

“Tyler probably could’ve played tonight, so hopefully we’ll have him rolling. We’ll see where XT is as well. Nate had a little hip flexor. So, just some football stuff. Nothing that’s long-term or anything like that. Hopefully we can get some of these guys back and get back to full strength.”

Dear Old Clemson is excited to announce a limited edition football and poster signed by Clemson’s Avengers.

Now there is a new way you can support Clemson student-athletes. Purchase collectibles from Dear Old Clemson and the proceeds with go to support Clemson student-athletes. Visit Dear Old Clemson to find out how you can help!

For Swinney, Power Rangers aren’t the comparison for Clemson’s Avengers

Clemson’s current defensive line is often compared to the group the Tigers had four years ago, and it’s easy to understand why. Much like the 2018 unit that helped lead Clemson to its most recent national championships, the headliners of what’s …

Clemson’s current defensive line is often compared to the group the Tigers had four years ago, and it’s easy to understand why.

Much like the 2018 unit that helped lead Clemson to its most recent national championships, the headliners of what’s expected to be another suffocating defense this season reside up front. Star defensive tackle Bryan Bresee and end Myles Murphy are projected first-round picks while Clemson’s entire starting front four, which includes Tyler Davis and Xavier Thomas, could be drafted the way Clelin Ferrell, Christian Wilkins, Dexter Lawrence and Austin Bryant all were in 2019. Even the group’s adopted superhero-themed moniker, The Avengers, was inspired by the Power Rangers nickname given to that 2018 group.

Yet that’s not the comparison that comes to mind for Dabo Swinney.

“On paper, it reminds me of our ‘14 defensive line,” Clemson’s veteran head coach said.

While his current defensive front may possess the same kind of front-line talent that the 2018 group did, Swinney said the two don’t share the same quality depth.

Clemson returned its entire two-deep up front from a defense that yielded the second-fewest points in the country last season. The Tigers have nine defensive linemen on their roster that have started at least one game. Of those, seven have started multiple games, including another projected draft pick in senior K.J. Henry, who will fill in opposite Murphy on the edge as Thomas works his way back from a foot injury that will sideline him for Clemson’s Labor Day opener against Georgia Tech if not longer.

“Everybody talks about ‘18, and that was a great group, but really very young behind (our starters),” Swinney said. “We got lucky, and you’ve got to have some luck to win a national championship. There’s so much that’s got to go into that. You’ve got to get a little luck along the way, and we were very, very fortunate that Christian, Dexter, Clelin and Austin played every game.

“And we had (defensive tackle) Albert (Huggins). We kind of had five guys, and if you really look at the roster, we were really young, very inexperienced and very unproven behind those guys. Those guys had to play a lot of snaps.”

With another senior end, Justin Mascoll, also part of the rotation at end as well as juniors Ruke Orhorhoro, Tre Williams and Etinosa Reuben on the interior, Swinney said the depth along the current defensive front is at a point where he doesn’t feel like there is “anybody that’s got to go play 60 snaps.” That’s why he said the makeup of this year’s line reminds him more of the 2014 group that had a comparable blend of talent and depth.

Future first-round picks Shaq Lawson and Vic Beasley manned the end sports then, but Kevin Dodd, Tavaris Barnes and Corey Crawford were also part of the rotation on the edge. Yet the Tigers may have been even deeper on the interior that season.

“You look at that (defensive) tackle group, DeShawn Williams, he’s on Year 8 with the (Denver) Broncos,” Swinney said. “Carlos Watkins, D.J. Reader, Grady Jarrett. I think Josh Watson was in the group.

“The only guy I knew was going to start was Grady, and it wasn’t because he was more talented than anybody. He just separated himself in every area. But at that spot, (former defensive tackles coach) Dan (Brooks) would grade them all through Tiger Walk and how he felt like they looked in pregame. And then he’d say, ‘All right, you run out there.’ I never even worried about who was playing.”

The 2014 line spearheaded what was statistically the nation’s best defense that season, so Swinney doesn’t want to get carried away with the comparison. At least not yet.

“I can’t mention this group in the same breath because they haven’t done anything,” Swinney said. “You don’t play it on paper, but it’s a talented group that has the opportunity to do something special this year if we can stay together.”

Dear Old Clemson is excited to announce a limited edition football and poster signed by Clemson’s Avengers.

Now there is a new way you can support Clemson student-athletes. Purchase collectibles from Dear Old Clemson and the proceeds with go to support Clemson student-athletes. Visit Dear Old Clemson to find out how you can help!

Goodwin gives update on injured defensive lineman’s status

Clemson defensive coordinator Wes Goodwin today gave an update on an injured defensive lineman’s status. Redshirt sophomore defensive tackle Tre Williams missed time last season and this spring with various injuries, including both shoulders that …

Clemson defensive coordinator Wes Goodwin today gave an update on an injured defensive lineman’s status.

Redshirt sophomore defensive tackle Tre Williams missed time last season and this spring with various injuries, including both shoulders that were operated on this offseason.

Head coach Dabo Swinney said following practice on Aug. 9 that Williams sustained a knee injury in the weight room that would keep him sidelined for an unspecified amount of time.

Goodwin was asked today if he has any feel for when Williams might be back.

“He’s progressing right along, so hopefully sooner than later,” Goodwin said. “But I can tell you he’s at a really good spot and has done a tremendous job of rehabbing and putting in time in the training room, and hopefully get him back here soon.”

Williams enters 2022 with 17 tackles (5.0 for loss) and a sack over 257 snaps in 13 career games (one start).

In 2021, he battled through injuries to his foot and both shoulders to play 243 snaps over 11 games (one start) and finish the year credited with 13 tackles (4.0 for loss) and one sack.