Swinney Confirms Will Taylor Suffers Serious Knee Injury; Updates Injuries Heading Into Open Date
Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney has faced his fair share of adversity in his time at Clemson. This season, through the first five games, the adversity seems to be taking the form of the injury bug.
Swinney's squads had seemingly developed an immunity to the injuries that plagued other teams—until the 2021 season.
"We were down 10 or 11 guys, it was crazy. Just a mash unit out there (against Boston College)," Swinney said. "Will Putnam couldn't go because of a bad toe. We lose Davis (Allen, ejected due to a targeting penalty) which impacted us on special teams a ton; his backup goes in a gets a huge missed assignment. We lose E.J., Frank, Galloway, Will Taylor, Justyn Ross... Mario Goodrich couldn't go, we were hopeful we could go. Fred was out again. Joseph Charleston's hamstring. Just a crazy, crazy situation and guys kept stepping up. Think about Sage Ennis, who hadn't caught a ball since high school and was out all last year and he made a big first-down conversion coming off the goal line."
While the majority of the Tigers listed above will recover fully from their injuries, another big blow to the Tigers was dealt in the form of Taylor—who suffered a torn ACL and will be lost the remainder of the season.
"Well, biggest, biggest loss from the game was Will Taylor, he did tear his ACL and just been a crazy year from that standpoint," Swinney said. "And just, you know, like most ACLs non-contact is kind of stick your foot in the ground."
Taylor immediately earned Clemson’s starting punt return role, serving that role as a true freshman in Clemson’s season opener vs. No. 5 Georgia … rushed five times for 20 yards and returned three punts for 53 yards vs. SC State … earned team special teams player of the game that week after he recorded a 51-yard punt return, the longest punt return by a Clemson player since a 53-yard return by Amari Rodgers against Wake Forest in 2019 … had a 10-yard punt return and his first career reception — a 5-yarder — vs. Georgia Tech … exited with an injury vs. Boston College after recording one catch.
Swinney addressed the team's injury situation further Monday night.
"Open date's coming at a good time for us," Swinney said. "We're a MASH unit and, as I said the other night, we got a lot of guys that we have a hard time probably playing this week, so I feel like we'll be in good shape come Sunday.
Want to join in on the discussion? 100% FREE! Interact with fellow Tiger fans and hear directly from publisher Zach Lentz, deputy editor Brad Senkiw and recruiting analyst Jason Priester on any subject. Click here to become a member of the ALL CLEMSON message board community today!
