ESPN's Greg McElroy Gives Optimistic View on Clemson's 2026 Defensive Line

While Clemson continues to build its 2027 class, plenty of viewers and analysts are giving their opinions on what the Tigers will look like heading into this upcoming season, including ESPN's Greg McElroy.

On Wednesday, McElroy released his Top 10 defensive lines ahead of 2026 during his Always College Football podcast, slating Clemson at the No. 4 spot behind Notre Dame, Texas and Oregon. Trailing the Tigers are Ole Miss, Michigan, Oklahoma, Indiana, Texas Tech and Georgia.

McElroy's ranking is fairly more optimistic than the consensus, given that Clemson is fresh off its worst season since 2010. That's to say nothing of the losses along the defensive line, with Peter Woods, T.J. Parker, DeMonte Capehart, and Cade Denhoff all departed for the NFL.

"That's a really challenging thing to replace, for many programs that would not just be subtraction, but [rather] a detonation. And yet here we are, talking about Clemson being in the top four again because this is what Dabo Swinney does. If you look at since 2019, the Tigers have put nine defensive linemen in the NFL Draft. The developmental pipeline does not stop because two ones graduated. It just keeps running."

Despite those losses, McElroy is pointing to Will Heldt to anchor the room in his final collegiate season.

In 2025, Heldt was arguably the best defensive lineman on the team in just his first season, as he was fresh off transferring from Purdue. The 6-foot-6, 260-pound edge rusher totaled 46 tackles, 15.5 for a loss (team-high), seven sacks (team-high) and one forced fumble across 13 contests.

Ahead of 2026, Heldt aims to create the same waves of momentum, as he has high expectations. Even just two weeks ago, CBS Sports' Chris Hummer released his way-too-early mock draft and projected the New England Patriots to draft the defensive end in the first round of the 2027 NFL Draft.

"He's outstanding and a guy that plays the game with a little bit of a chip on his shoulder," McElroy said about Heldt. "Now it's projecting, if you look forward, [Heldt's] a guy that could very well hear his name called very early in the draft than you would have thought a year or two ago."

Clemson also still has senior Jahiem Lawson, who had 6.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks as a backup in 2025 before his season was cut short by an ankle injury. Not to mention, the program brought in multiple edge rushers via the transfer portal and high school recruiting.

The one fans will most likely see the most of in 2026 is Colorado transfer London Merritt, whose relationship with the Tigers goes back to high school. As a true freshman in 2025, the 6-foot-3 defensive end logged 25 tackles, eight for a loss and one sack as a backup. He earned Freshman All-American honors from PFF, along with an All-Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year Honorable Mention.

The other edge rushers obtained over the offseason include: Howard transfer C.J. Wesley, three-star high school recruit J.R. Hardrick and local high school product Michael Foster.

The edge isn't particularly the question mark surrounding the 2026 Clemson defensive line, though; it's the interior.

McElroy relayed that it's certainly a bit thinner than years past due to the losses of both starters in Woods and Capehart, as well as their best rotational defensive tackle, Stephiylan Green, who transferred to LSU back in January.

However, Clemson made it a priority to pursue interior defensive linemen in the transfer portal, acquiring Oklahoma's Markus Strong, West Georgia's Kourtney Kelly and JUCO product Andy Burburija. They also finally signed Kam Cody from Benedictine Military School in Savannah, Georgia to the 2026 recruiting class.

While Kelly suffered a torn ACL in March during spring practice, which will likely force him to miss the 2026 season, the Tigers recently filled that hole by landing Texas State transfer DeVarrick Woods.

As it stands, the starters are unknown, but the most-used players at the position will likely be true sophomore Amare Adams, redshirt junior Vic Burley and Strong. Depth is the biggest concern, but Clemson's staff has enough trust in the interior to head into 2026 without addressing it further.

"The depth question is legitimate, but I'm a big believer in what they have in the scheme. I'm a big believer in what they have coming back. And I'm a big believer in the upside, and the chip on their shoulder that Clemson is approaching the season with," McElroy finished.

"So maybe [I'm] a little higher than most, but still very optimistic and bullish on what the Clemson Tigers could be this season, which is why I have them at number four."

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