Dabo Swinney and his coaching staff have plenty of positions they’re evaluating this spring, including one on defense where Clemson is losing both starters from last season.
Andrew Booth and Mario Goodrich made up one of the nation’s top defensive back tandems a season ago. Both were first-team all-ACC performers. Now they’re preparing for this year’s NFL Draft, leaving significant holes for Clemson to fill at cornerback.
What’s left at the position isn’t exactly green, though there is a dropoff in experience. Sheridan Jones, Malcolm Greene, Fred Davis and Nate Wiggins are back from last year’s team, but Jones is the only corner on the roster that’s started a game on the outside. Greene, who’s not practicing this spring as he continues to recover from shoulder surgery, has primarily repped at nickel during his time at Clemson.
Jones is also the lone senior among the group, so the natural assumption is Clemson’s most seasoned corner will become a full-time starter next season. Eight spring practices in, though, cornerbacks coach Mike Reed said there’s been little separation among everyone competing for those starting jobs.
“Nobody has cemented any position out there,” Reed said. “I have not made a roster depth chart right now, so these guys are competing every day. Who knows who’s going to start? One may be better working with another guy. Who knows? I’ve got to find the best two, the best four, the best six because I play all my guys.”
Still, it would be a surprise if Jones wasn’t one of the first corners to take the field for the first defensive snap of Clemson’s 2022 season at Georgia Tech. Reed said Jones, who’s started 11 of the 38 games he’s played for the Tigers, has “taken a step” both with his performance and his leadership.
“There’s a time for everything,” Jones said. “Everybody’s time comes different.”
Davis, who’s dealing with an ankle injury, has worn a green jersey throughout the spring as a limited participant, though Clemson coach Dabo Swinney and Reed both said full-contact periods are the only ones Davis is being held out of currently. Reed said he expects Davis to be back at full strength once Clemson resumes practices following spring break, which is set for next week.
A longer body type at the position at 6-foot-1, Wiggins has impressed his coaches this spring. Reed said Wiggins has taken a natural step in his maturity from Year 1 to Year 2, improving his speed and his route recognition since playing in 11 games last season as a true freshman.
“Just talent-wise, he’s as good as we’ve signed here,” Swinney said of Wiggins. “We’re still kind of polishing him up, but he’s a really good football player. I really like where we are with that group.”
Clemson also has two of its cornerback signees, Toriano Pride and Jeadyn Lukus, going through spring practices as mid-year enrollees. With Greene out for the time being, it’s given both a chance to get more reps.
Lukus, the Tigers’ second-highest rated signee during the 2022 recruiting cycle in the 247Sports Composite, has been slowed by a shoulder injury that Swinney said will require surgery later this spring, but Reed said he’s already seen enough from his newcomers to know that both will likely contribute next season. At 6-2, Lukus is the tallest corner on the roster.
“He’s one of those kids that jumps out of the cereal box and he’s already assembled,” Reed said of Lukus. “There ain’t much I’ve got to do. … He’s got an NFL body right now.”
Another signee, Myles Oliver, will join the competition once he reports to campus this summer, one that’s already begun in earnest with a variety of options.
“We’re in a better spot (at corner) than we were this time last year all the way around,” Swinney said.
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