The procrastinator’s guide to the 2021 Clemson football season

After a disappointing College Football Playoff semifinal loss to Ohio State in 2020, Clemson returns more motivated than ever. The Tigers will look to put everything together in hopes of attaining a seventh consecutive ACC championship and a third national title in six years.

If you’re just now plugging in and want an overview of the 2021 season, we’ve got you covered.

The Clemson offense

Despite losing quarterback Trevor Lawrence and ACC all-time leading rusher Travis Etienne, the Tigers’ offense could look more like a reload than a rebuild, starting with sophomore signal caller D.J. Uiagalelei. The California native impressed in his two starts last season as a freshman and is ready to take the reins of the offense as a full-time starter with plenty of weapons from which to choose out of a deep, talented receiving group.

Key departures: Trevor Lawrence (NFL), Travis Etienne (NFL).

Key additions: Will Shipley, Beaux Collins, Dacari Collins.

Key returnees: Justyn Ross, D.J. Uiagalelei, Joseph Ngata, Ajou Ajou, Matt Bockhorst.

The Clemson defense

On the other side, there are big expectations for a Clemson defensive line that has been compared to the program’s record-setting 2018 group that included three first-round NFL Draft picks. Overall, the Tigers return over 15 defensive players that logged at least one start last year.

Key departures: Derion Kendrick (transfer), Mike Jones (transfer).

Key additions: Barrett Carter, Andrew Mukuba.

Key returnees: Justin Foster, Xavier Thomas, Myles Murphy, Bryan Bresee, Andrew Booth.

What else is new in 2021?

▪ Full capacity at Memorial Stadium.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic last year, Clemson restricted its spectators during games. This season, the stadium will be completely opened and has close to 60,000 season ticket requests. Death Valley seats 81,500.

▪ Notre Dame’s not part of the ACC this year.

In the last three seasons, Clemson has only lost one conference game, which was to Notre Dame in 2020. The Tigers got revenge, though, in the ACC championship game and won the crown for a sixth straight year. That ended Fighting Irish’s stint in the ACC for football is over, however, and the team returned to an independent schedule this season.

▪ The South Carolina-Clemson game is back on the schedule.

The in-state rivals didn’t play in 2020 when the SEC went to an all-conference schedule. They’ll resume the Palmetto Bowl on Nov. 27 in Columbia.

Can’t-miss game

▪ Georgia, in Charlotte, Sept. 4

The Tigers’ biggest game of the season happens to be their first game of the season.

Clemson plays Georgia in what is already projected to be a top five matchup with the feel of a national championship contest on Sept. 4 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.

The matchup features two of the top quarterbacks in the country in Tigers sophomore D.J. Uiagalelei and Bulldogs junior J.T. Daniels, both of whom are from Southern California and went to rival powerhouse programs St. John Bosco and Mater Dei, respectively.

It’ll also be the first game where Derion Kendrick isn’t donning an orange or purple jersey in college. The cornerback was no longer part of the Tigers’ team at the beginning of March and announced his transfer to Georgia in June.

Kendrick is contending for a starting spot on a Georgia defense that lost eight starters last year. In contrast, Clemson’s returning strength is on the defensive side of the ball. The Tigers bring back nine starters as well as defensive end Justin Foster, who sat out the 2020 season after struggling with COVID-19. Foster started in 13 of 15 games played in 2019.

Carrying the load

▪ LB, James Skalski, super senior. Experience can never be understated, and the sixth-year senior linebacker has plenty of it. The Georgia native laughed as he mentioned during July’s ACC Kickoff media day that this is truly his final year at Clemson. The team will need him.

The Tigers’ coaching staff sees Skalski as the coach on the field. He also had 44 tackles, 3.5 for loss, and 1.5 quarterback sacks in 2020.

“He’s like Pete Rose this year, player-coach,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said of Skalski. “But Skalski is going to be a coach whenever he’s done.”

Skalski’s presence was missed in each of Clemson’s last playoff losses when he was ejected for targeting. In last year’s Sugar Bowl loss to Ohio State, the Buckeyes scored two plays after his exit. In 2019, LSU scored right after he left the national title contest.

Skalski knows how important he is for the Tigers and doesn’t plan on lessening his intensity, but being more technically sound instead.

▪ QB, D.J. Uiagalelei, sophomore. Offensively, the Tigers will have plenty of talent and potential in their skill positions, but no one will have more eyes on them than quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei. Expectations for the sophomore are high not only because of how well he performed in the two games he started last season, but because of the legacy of Clemson quarterbacks over the past 10 years.

Swinney isn’t worried about the moment ever being too big for Uiagalelei, who has been under a spotlight for a long time. Before arriving at Clemson, Uiagalelei was a highly touted recruit who played at St. John Bosco, a national powerhouse in California.

Areas of concern

▪ Staying away from the injury bug. The primary focus for Clemson: Can the Tigers keep enough players healthy to stay afloat?

While their record last year wasn’t bad at 10-2, the Tigers were never full strength due to injuries and sickness. Wide receiver Justyn Ross was out for the whole season after having spine surgery due to a congenital fusion in the spring of 2020. Frank Ladson Jr. and Joseph Ngata also battled injuries that left the wide receiver group shallow.

For much of the year, the squad was down two top defensive ends in Justin Foster, who never played a game, and Xavier Thomas, who played in seven games, as well as defensive tackle Tyler Davis. Thomas and Foster contracted COVID-19 and were symptomatic, while Davis got bit by the injury bug often, only playing and starting in seven games. Swinney, who’s vaccinated, said the Tigers, returning 14 total starters, are almost 85% vaccinated and are hoping for as close to 100% as possible as the season gets closer.

“They’ve really not had any fear of missing out of anything and I think there’s more motivation for all these teams as they kind of get back going,” Swinney added. “We’ve done everything we can to educate and provide great information and encourage these guys to talk to all the doctors.”

There’s no way to guarantee they an injury-free year, but the Tigers are doing what they can in terms of conditioning and prehab to eliminate the risks.

▪Offensive line. There’s no doubt Clemson has plenty of talent throughout its skill positions, but the Tigers will need the guys up front to be stout. They graduated two of the five from the offensive line and return left guard redshirt senior Matt Bockhorst, redshirt junior Jordan McFadden, who’s switching from right to left tackle, and junior right guard Will Putnam. All three were in their first year as starters last season and look to use their experience to round out a strong offense.

Redshirt sophomores Mason Trotter and Hunter Rayburn have each been getting reps to determine the starting center, while Bockhorst has also got reps snapping the ball. Sophomore Walker Parks earned the starting right tackle spot.

A successful season is ...

Clemson has established itself as a national powerhouse program. The Tigers have won six straight ACC championships and made six College Football Playoff appearances, winning two.

At this point, it’s win it all or bust for the Tigers.

It’s a standard for which every program in America aspires but very few can achieve. Clemson has a 10-year streak of 10 or more wins, making the program only the third school in FBS history to produce double-digit wins in a double-digit number of consecutive seasons. The others are Alabama (13) and Florida State (14).

In the past five years, the Tigers have averaged 12 wins per season. Its worst record during that span was 10-2 in 2020.

Aside from the season opener against Georgia, which could go either way, there’s no reason they shouldn’t run the table and pocket a seventh straight ACC championship. That puts them either undefeated or with one loss likely going into the College Football Playoffs for the seventh year in a row.

Whether in the semifinals or championship, Alabama will likely be the foe at some point. The Crimson Tide and Tigers are no strangers to meeting in the playoffs. Clemson is 2-1 in national championship games against the Tide.

With all the program has achieved and all the weapons it has returning, anything less than adding a fourth national title would feel like a shortcoming.

Clemson projected starters

Clemson football schedule

This story was originally published August 30, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "The procrastinator’s guide to the 2021 Clemson football season."

Alexis Cubit

The State

Alexis Cubit serves primarily as the Clemson sports reporter for The (Columbia) State newspaper. Before moving to South Carolina in 2021, she covered high school sports for six years and received a first-place award in the sports feature category from the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors in 2019. The California native earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Baylor University in 2014.