Clemson Expected to Get Back Significant Defensive Piece Ahead of ACC Play

The Clemson Tigers needed some help in an injured position group early in the season. They're expected to get one back before ACC play.

Clemson defensive tackle Vic Burley will miss the Georgia Southern game, but he is expected to be back for North Carolina. | USA TODAY Sports

Clemson football is coming off a lot of lows entering Week 2 of college football. However, head coach Dabo Swinney had some positive news regarding a returning player. 

On Monday night’s Tiger Hour with Swinney, he said that senior defensive tackle Vic Burley will be reinstated from his indefinite suspension after being arrested last month. It will have him ready play once again for the Tigers later in September. 

"He will not play this weekend, but he'll be reinstated on Monday and be available for next week's game,” he said on Monday.

The news is a vital win for Clemson’s defensive line, which was bullied throughout its loss to LSU. The Tigers allowed 309 rushing yards en route to the worst loss of Swinney’s career, 51-10, inside Tiger Stadium. 

The team needed an effective run stopper was needed, especially after losing Oklahoma transfer Markus Strong to a lower-leg injury. Swinney then said that he would be out for the remainder of the regular season with the injury, after saying he’d be out ‘for a while’.

However, the addition of Burley is critical, especially with him being one of the expected starters on Clemson’s defensive line entering 2026. 

The former five-star finally saw an opportunity to break through on the starting defensive line, and he became one of the standouts of the Tigers’ spring game back in March. Burley had 2.5 sacks in the scrimmage before entering fall camp. 

Despite competing for a starting role, he got into some legal trouble on Aug. 22, when he was arrested for disorderly conduct a week before Week 0 of the sport. At the start of the following week, Swinney suspended him indefinitely, but a reinstatement plan expected him to return sooner rather than later. 

Now, he will be playing for the Tigers once again in 2026, beginning against North Carolina at home on Sept. 19. Many expected Burley to break out in the new role, and Clemson fans could see him do so before the program gets into the middle of the ACC schedule. 

Based on the general media coverage of how the game went last Saturday night, Clemson’s only way to make it to the College Football Playoff will be to win the ACC this season. Swinney’s group can’t trip up at any point, due to not playing contenders like SMU and Louisville, especially early. It led to the team’s demise last season, despite high expectations, with back-to-back losses to Georgia Tech and Syracuse essentially putting them out of conference championship contention. 

On the bright side, the Tigers have an important piece back, and he will look to make a presence on the interior, beginning on Sept. 19. 

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