For most of Clemson’s championship era, there was one position on the roster that almost never required much imagination.
Defensive tackle.
You knew Clemson was going to have somebody.
Usually several somebodies.
There was Grady Jarrett.
Then Carlos Watkins.
Then Christian Wilkins and Dexter Lawrence.
Then came Bryan Bresee, Tyler Davis, Ruke Orhorhoro, Payton Page and Peter Woods.
Different players. Different body types. Different personalities.
Same expectation.
When an opposing offensive line walked into a game against Clemson, it was supposed to know that the middle of the line of scrimmage belonged to the Tigers.
For more than a decade, dominant interior defensive-line play was not simply part of Clemson’s defense.
It became part of Clemson’s identity.
And that is exactly what makes the 2026 defensive tackle room so fascinating.
Because entering this season, Clemson has bodies.
It has recruiting pedigree.
It has transfers.
It has a former five-star.
It has a junior-college All-American.
It has veterans.
It has young talent.
It has one of the most respected defensive-line coaches in college football in Nick Eason.
What it does not have is an obvious answer.
Not anymore.
What began as an offseason rebuild has turned into one of the most turbulent position-group transformations Clemson has experienced in years.
Peter Woods left for the NFL.
DeMonte Capehart left for the NFL.
Stephiylan Green transferred to LSU.
Then Kourtney Kelly tore his ACL.
Then Hevin Brown-Shuler was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma and stepped away from football to undergo treatment.
Then Vic Burley was arrested and suspended indefinitely.
One hit.
Then another.
Then another.
And another.
By late August, a Clemson position group that already faced massive turnover had become what Dabo Swinney himself described during the offseason as a “huge unknown.”
Now, with the season upon Clemson, the question is no longer simply who replaces Peter Woods.
It is much larger than that.
Who is going to take ownership of the middle of Clemson’s defense?
FIRST CAME THE NFL EXODUS
To understand how Clemson arrived here, start with what walked out the door.
Peter Woods was not simply another starter.
He was an All-American talent and one of the most physically gifted defensive linemen Clemson has recruited in the Swinney era.
The NFL agreed.
The Kansas City Chiefs selected Woods with the 29th overall pick in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft.
That is not the kind of player a program simply replaces by moving the next name up one line on the depth chart.
Woods could disrupt plays without necessarily recording the tackle. He commanded blocking attention. He could play through contact, move around the front and create opportunities for linebackers and edge defenders.
His presence changed blocking plans.
Then there was DeMonte Capehart.
Capehart’s Clemson career did not always follow a straight line, but he developed into another enormous, NFL-caliber interior defender.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers selected Capehart with the 155th overall pick in the fifth round.
Clemson therefore lost two defensive tackles to the NFL in the same draft.
And it was not just symbolic turnover.
Clemson’s own spring guide noted that Woods, Capehart and another departing tackle had accounted for all 24 regular-season starts at defensive tackle in 2025.
That other tackle?
That is where this story becomes even more interesting.
STEPHIYLAN GREEN DIDN’T JUST LEAVE — HE WENT TO LSU
Stephiylan Green was supposed to be part of Clemson’s next wave on the interior.
Instead, he became part of LSU’s.
Green transferred to LSU after three seasons at Clemson and officially joined the Tigers in Baton Rouge in January.
And this was not the departure of somebody who had never played.
Green appeared in 24 games with six starts at Clemson, recording 34 tackles, five tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks while playing 611 defensive snaps.
All six of those starts came during the 2025 season.
Ironically, his first career start came against LSU.
Now he wears LSU colors.
That makes Clemson’s 2026 opener in Baton Rouge particularly interesting.
One year after lining up for Clemson against LSU, Green is now on the other side of the matchup.
But the larger issue for Clemson was what his departure did to the roster.
Woods was gone.
Capehart was gone.
And now Green was gone.
Clemson’s three defensive tackles who had collectively started every regular-season game at the position in 2025 were all elsewhere.
Twenty-four starts.
Gone.
Before spring football had even provided Clemson with a real opportunity to establish its new hierarchy.
That alone would have made defensive tackle one of Clemson’s biggest offseason questions.
Unfortunately for the Tigers, the attrition was just beginning.
THE TRANSFER PORTAL WAS SUPPOSED TO PROVIDE ANSWERS
Clemson knew what was coming.
That is why Swinney and his staff did something the program historically had been much more selective about.
They attacked the transfer market.
Clemson initially added Kourtney Kelly from West Georgia and Markus Strong from Oklahoma, then signed junior-college standout Andy Burburija from Iowa Western.
For a program that once seemed almost philosophically allergic to using the portal heavily, Clemson clearly understood that defensive tackle required immediate reinforcement.
And the three additions represented three very different bets.
Strong brought Power Four experience.
Kelly brought production and upside.
Burburija brought disruption.
On paper, Clemson appeared to have constructed enough depth to absorb the NFL and portal departures.
Then spring practice arrived.
KOURTNEY KELLY: ANOTHER ANSWER DISAPPEARS
Kelly was one of Clemson’s more intriguing portal additions.
At West Georgia, he had produced 17 tackles, seven tackles for loss and four sacks in 12 games.
At 6-foot-3 and roughly 290 pounds, he gave Clemson another athletic interior defender capable of competing immediately for a spot in the rotation.
Then came Clemson’s first spring scrimmage.
Kelly tore his ACL.
Just like that, another piece of the plan disappeared.
The injury did not necessarily eliminate Kelly from the entire 2026 season. Swinney said in July that Kelly was progressing extremely well and had a strong chance to return at some point during the year.
But he was not going to be the immediate August answer Clemson originally hoped he could become.
And at defensive tackle, availability matters.
Interior defensive linemen rotate constantly.
They absorb double teams.
They fight 300-pound offensive linemen for dozens of snaps.
A championship-caliber defensive front cannot operate with two capable tackles.
It needs waves.
Losing Kelly took away one of those potential waves before Clemson ever reached fall camp.
THEN FOOTBALL BECAME SECONDARY FOR HEVIN BROWN-SHULER
Some losses are football stories.
This one was not.
In May, Clemson announced that Hevin Brown-Shuler had been diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma after doctors discovered a mass in his chest.
Brown-Shuler began treatment and is expected to miss the 2026 season while focusing on his health and recovery.
His stated goal is to return to Clemson football in 2027.
The football ramifications are obviously secondary to Brown-Shuler’s health.
But from a purely roster standpoint, Clemson lost another player who had been expected to compete for significant rotational snaps.
Brown-Shuler had already played 106 defensive snaps across seven career appearances and had spent two seasons developing inside Clemson’s program.
He knew Eason’s room.
He knew the system.
He knew the expectations.
He was supposed to be another piece in a group attempting to replace enormous production.
Instead, Clemson rallied around Brown-Shuler while the football staff was forced to reassess the defensive tackle depth chart yet again.
This time, the Tigers responded by returning to the portal.
ENTER DEVARRICK WOODS
Clemson needed another experienced body.
It found one in Devarrick Woods.
The former Texas State defensive tackle joined Clemson in May after receiving a fifth season of eligibility.
Woods brought something increasingly valuable to a young and reshuffled position room:
actual college football experience.
He arrived at Clemson having played 29 career games between Hinds Community College and Texas State.
Across those stops, Woods had accumulated 82 tackles, 15.5 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks.
At Texas State in 2025, he appeared in 11 games and recorded 16 tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack.
Woods is not arriving with the recruiting hype of Peter Woods or Amare Adams.
He does not need to.
Clemson needs dependable snaps.
It needs somebody capable of entering a game without the integrity of the defense collapsing.
It needs veteran players who understand leverage, pad level, gap responsibility and how to survive against veteran Power Four offensive linemen.
Devarrick Woods was added because Clemson could no longer afford to simply hope all of its younger players would develop at the same pace.
The Tigers needed insurance.
Then, incredibly, they needed even more.
THE VIC BURLEY SITUATION CHANGED EVERYTHING AGAIN
Entering August, Vic Burley appeared positioned to become one of Clemson’s most important defensive tackles.
The former elite prospect had finally reached the point in his career where opportunity and necessity were colliding.
Burley entered 2026 having recorded 24 career tackles in 267 defensive snaps across 21 games, including one start.
In 2025, he played 175 defensive snaps and produced 15 tackles.
And his timing appeared excellent.
With Woods, Capehart and Green gone, this was supposed to be Burley’s chance.
He was one of the few returning tackles with meaningful experience in Clemson’s system.
During preseason camp, Swinney had publicly indicated that Burley was making progress and had stood out during Clemson’s final major scrimmage.
Then came the early morning of Aug. 22.
Clemson University Police arrested Burley on a charge of public disorderly conduct.
According to the police incident report, officers found Burley asleep in the driver’s seat of his running truck shortly after 2 a.m. Police reported signs they believed indicated impairment. During a search of the vehicle, officers reported finding a THC vape and a Glock 19 handgun. The incident report did not state that the handgun belonged to Burley, and the publicly reported charge stemming from the incident was public disorderly conduct.
Later that day, Swinney suspended Burley indefinitely from the football program.
Swinney said Clemson was “extremely disappointed” in Burley’s actions and decisions.
And suddenly Nick Eason had lost another potential centerpiece.
Again.
AN IMPORTANT UPDATE ON BURLEY’S LEGAL CASE
The legal situation moved quickly.
On Aug. 26, Burley appeared in Clemson University Municipal Court and received a conditional discharge.
Burley entered a guilty plea to public disorderly conduct for purposes of the conditional-discharge program, but he was not adjudicated guilty and no conviction was entered.
Under the terms reported from the court proceedings, Burley is subject to six months of court supervision and must complete required education programs, 24 hours of community service unrelated to football, pay the statutory program fee, remain on good behavior and comply with other conditions, including potential random drug testing.
If he successfully completes the program, the charge is to be dismissed and eligible for expungement.
That resolves part of the legal path.
It does not, at least as of the latest available reporting entering this week, automatically resolve his football status.
Burley’s suspension was announced as indefinite, and his path back to Clemson’s defensive line remained uncertain following the court proceeding.
That distinction matters.
There is a legal process.
And there is Clemson’s internal disciplinary process.
They are not necessarily the same timetable.
For the purposes of Clemson preparing to play football, Nick Eason and Tom Allen have to construct their defensive tackle rotation based on the players available to them.
And that brings us to the player who may have more riding on this season than anybody in the room.
AMARE ADAMS: IT MAY BE TIME
If Clemson is going to produce another superstar at defensive tackle, Amare Adams is the obvious candidate.
The talent has never been the question.
Adams arrived at Clemson as one of the nation’s premier defensive-line recruits.
247Sports ranked him No. 7 nationally, the No. 4 defensive tackle and the top player in South Carolina in his recruiting class.
He was a five-star prospect.
He was the kind of recruit Clemson became famous for stacking along its defensive front during the championship years.
At 6-foot-4 and approximately 305 pounds, Adams has legitimate big-time interior size.
And he has already shown flashes.
As a freshman in 2025, Adams appeared in 10 games, played 107 defensive snaps and recorded 10 tackles.
He made three tackles against Syracuse and two apiece against Duke and Louisville.
Then an ankle injury ended his season in November.
That injury mattered because Adams might otherwise have started Clemson’s postseason game.
Instead, Burley and Champ Thompson received those opportunities.
Now Adams enters 2026 healthy again.
And Clemson does not merely need him to participate.
It needs him to arrive.
There comes a moment in the career of nearly every highly recruited defensive lineman when the recruiting stars stop mattering.
Nobody cares anymore where you ranked at 17 years old.
Can you defeat a double team?
Can you knock a guard backward?
Can you shed a center and make the tackle?
Can you collapse the pocket in a quarterback’s face?
Can you make third-and-2 feel like third-and-7?
Can you become the player an opposing offensive coordinator circles on Tuesday?
That is the challenge in front of Adams.
Clemson does not need him to become Peter Woods.
It needs Amare Adams to become Amare Adams.
But Clemson badly needs that version to be very, very good.
MARKUS STRONG: EXPERIENCE FROM OKLAHOMA
Beside Adams, Markus Strong might be Clemson’s safest veteran bet.
Strong arrived from Oklahoma after spending three seasons with the Sooners and participating in Oklahoma’s 2025 College Football Playoff run.
His numbers are not gigantic — 10 tackles, four tackles for loss and three sacks in 14 games at Oklahoma — but there is value in having lived inside a major college football program.
He has practiced against Power Four offensive linemen.
He has played in major stadiums.
He understands the physical difference between dominating a rep in practice and surviving a Saturday night against a veteran offensive guard.
Strong recorded seven tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack while appearing in 11 games for Oklahoma in 2025.
At 6-foot-3 and approximately 295 pounds, he has the body to live inside.
What Clemson needs now is consistency.
Strong does not necessarily have to become a 10-sack defensive tackle.
He needs to hold his gap.
He needs to make offenses earn rushing yards between the tackles.
He needs to keep blockers off Sammy Brown and the rest of Clemson’s linebackers.
And if he can add interior pass rush on top of that?
Even better.
ANDY BURBURIJA MAY BE THE WILD CARD OF THE ENTIRE DEFENSE
Then there is Andy Burburija.
And this is where things get interesting.
Burburija did not come from Georgia.
Or Alabama.
Or Ohio State.
Or another Power Four program.
He came from Iowa Western Community College.
In fact, Clemson’s signing of Burburija made him the first junior-college signee of Dabo Swinney’s entire head-coaching tenure and Clemson’s first JUCO signee since 2006.
That alone tells you Clemson believed there was something worth pursuing.
Then look at the production.
Burburija recorded 78 tackles, 27.5 tackles for loss and 14 sacks during two seasons at Iowa Western.
In 2025 alone?
45 tackles.
18.5 tackles for loss.
11 sacks.
From defensive tackle.
Eleven sacks from an interior defender will get your attention regardless of the level.
He also produced eight tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and two sacks in Iowa Western’s national championship victory.
Swinney called him strong, tough and physical.
During Clemson’s August camp, Burburija began generating buzz almost immediately.
Observers noted how physically impressive he looked despite being only 6-foot-2. His lower-body strength stood out, and he quickly inserted himself into the conversation for major snaps.
This is the gamble.
Junior-college dominance and Power Four dominance are not automatically the same thing.
The guards are bigger.
The centers are stronger.
The protection schemes are more sophisticated.
Quarterbacks get rid of the football faster.
But disruption is disruption.
If Burburija’s strength and motor translate?
Clemson may have found something.
Maybe something significant.
An outside depth chart updated Aug. 26 even listed Burburija alongside Amare Adams atop Clemson’s two defensive-tackle spots, with Champ Thompson, Devarrick Woods and Markus Strong among the next group. That is not an official Clemson depth chart, but it reflects the direction camp reports had been pointing.
For a player who arrived during the summer from junior college, that is one heck of an ascent.
CHAMP THOMPSON CANNOT BE FORGOTTEN
There is a tendency in a rebuilt position room to focus on the new names.
Do not forget Champ Thompson.
Thompson has been developing inside Clemson’s system since 2024.
He enters 2026 with 143 defensive snaps across 11 games, including one start.
He recorded his first career sack against Boston College last season and ultimately started Clemson’s postseason matchup after the departures at the position.
He has been through Nick Eason’s practices.
He understands Tom Allen’s defense.
He has spent years in Clemson’s strength program.
That matters.
Thompson did miss some time during August with an undisclosed injury, which slowed his camp progress, but he returned to the competition.
At 6-foot-3 and 290 pounds, Thompson gives Clemson another legitimate rotational body.
And this room is going to need rotation.
Lots of it.
THE NEXT WAVE: MAKHI WILLIAMS LEE
Another name Clemson fans should begin learning is Makhi Williams Lee.
Williams Lee was one of the most productive defensive tackles in Georgia during his high school career.
How productive?
Try 230 career tackles, 61 tackles for loss and 26 sacks in 38 high school games.
That is absurd production for an interior defensive lineman.
He recorded 20 tackles for loss and nine sacks during his senior season alone and was named DeKalb County Defensive Player of the Year.
But his Clemson career was delayed before it really started.
Williams Lee missed his entire true freshman season in 2025 while rehabbing an injury.
So, much like Adams a year ago, Clemson knows there is talent there.
It simply has not seen enough college football evidence yet.
At 6-foot-2 and roughly 300 pounds, Williams Lee has the build to become a powerful interior piece.
The question is how quickly he can translate high-school disruption into college production after essentially losing a developmental season.
AND THEN THERE IS FRESHMAN KAM CODY
Do not dismiss Kam Cody simply because he is a freshman.
Cody arrived from Benedictine Military School in Savannah with impressive production of his own.
Before completing his final high-school season, Clemson credited him with 248 career tackles, 37 tackles for loss and 22.5 sacks.
He was named his region’s Defensive Player of the Year and arrived in Clemson as another disruptive interior prospect.
Cody is now listed at approximately 6-foot-3 and 295 pounds.
That means he does not have to spend three years becoming physically large enough to play the position.
Whether he is technically ready is another question.
Freshman defensive tackles have to learn quickly that college offensive linemen do not move simply because you hit them hard.
Hand placement matters.
Leverage matters.
Eyes matter.
Gap discipline matters.
But considering everything that has happened in Clemson’s defensive tackle room, the Tigers may not have the luxury of treating every young player as a long-term developmental project.
Cody could find himself needed sooner than anticipated.
THE DEEPEST PART OF THE ROOM STILL MATTERS
Clemson’s official 2026 roster currently lists a substantial collection of interior defensive linemen.
Beyond Adams, Burburija, Strong, Thompson and Woods, that group includes:
Makhi Williams Lee.
Kam Cody.
Kourtney Kelly.
Hevin Brown-Shuler.
Vic Burley.
Patrick Swygert.
The roster also lists Dietrick Pennington as a DT/OL hybrid and Caden Story more broadly as a defensive lineman.
Not every one of those players is expected to play meaningful defensive snaps immediately.
But emergencies have a funny way of changing depth charts.
Patrick Swygert, a former walk-on from Batesburg-Leesville, has played only three career defensive snaps, but he has developed into a 6-foot-5, 285-pound body inside the program.
And then there is the human bulldozer.
Dietrick Pennington.
Pennington is listed at 6-foot-5 and 355 pounds and has spent the majority of his Clemson career on offense. The current roster lists him as a DT/OL hybrid, giving the coaching staff a unique emergency or situational option with truly massive size.
Nobody should expect Pennington to suddenly become Christian Wilkins.
That is not the point.
The point is that Clemson has reached a place where every possible answer matters.
WHY DEFENSIVE TACKLE MATTERS SO MUCH TO TOM ALLEN’S DEFENSE
The temptation is to evaluate defensive tackles entirely through sacks.
That is a mistake.
Sometimes the best defensive tackle on the field is the guy whose name barely appears in the box score.
Why?
Because somebody had to absorb the guard and center so Sammy Brown could run untouched to the football.
Somebody had to force the running back sideways.
Somebody had to knock the offensive line backward.
Somebody had to make the quarterback leave the center of the pocket and run directly toward Clemson’s edge rushers.
That is interior defensive-line play.
Tom Allen’s defense becomes far more dangerous when Clemson can create pressure without constantly manufacturing it.
If Adams, Burburija, Strong or somebody else can consistently defeat one-on-one blocks inside, the entire defense changes.
Now the offense has to help the guard.
Now the center cannot immediately climb to the linebacker.
Now the running back has to worry about interior leakage.
Now Clemson’s edge players see more favorable matchups.
Now Allen can disguise pressure instead of being forced to send pressure.
Everything becomes connected.
Conversely, if Clemson’s tackles cannot hold up?
Then offensive linemen reach the second level.
Linebackers get blocked.
Running backs hit the crease with momentum.
Second-and-9 becomes second-and-4.
And the entire defense begins playing backward.
That is why this position is bigger than two spots on a depth chart.
The defensive tackles determine the geometry of the entire front.
NICK EASON HAS BUILT THIS POSITION BEFORE
If Clemson fans are looking for one reason to trust that somebody will emerge, start with Nick Eason.
Eason is not simply Clemson’s defensive tackles coach.
He is Clemson’s associate head coach and co-defensive coordinator.
He has coached in the NFL.
He played in the NFL.
And since returning to Clemson, he has worked with a succession of players who became high-level college defenders and NFL prospects.
His Clemson résumé includes coaching Tyler Davis, Ruke Orhorhoro, Bryan Bresee, Peter Woods, Payton Page and others.
In 2023, Davis earned first-team All-ACC honors, Orhorhoro was a third-team selection and Woods became a Freshman All-American.
In Eason’s first Clemson season, Bryan Bresee ultimately developed into a first-round NFL Draft pick.
Now comes a very different coaching assignment.
Eason is not polishing one established star.
He is trying to identify one.
Maybe two.
Maybe four.
He has to take transfers from different systems, a JUCO standout, young Clemson recruits, injury returnees and developmental players and turn them into one functional rotation.
This could be one of the most impressive coaching jobs of Eason’s Clemson tenure if he pulls it off.
THE QUESTION SWINNEY ASKED HAS NOT BEEN COMPLETELY ANSWERED
During August, Swinney openly discussed wanting somebody to emerge as the “alpha dog” of the defensive tackle room.
That phrase matters.
Clemson has players who can play.
The staff believes that.
What Clemson is looking for is the guy who changes the temperature of the room.
The player who wins the rep when everybody knows the ball is coming between the tackles.
The player who ruins practice for the offensive line.
The player teammates look toward when the opponent has first-and-goal from the 3.
For years Clemson always seemed to have one.
Jarrett.
Watkins.
Wilkins.
Lawrence.
Bresee.
Davis.
Woods.
Sometimes Clemson had two or three at the same time.
That is an unfair historical standard.
It is also Clemson’s historical standard.
THE MOST INTRIGUING POSSIBILITY: MAYBE THERE ISN’T ONE ALPHA
There is another possibility.
Maybe Clemson does not replace Peter Woods with another Peter Woods.
Maybe Clemson replaces him with five players.
That may ultimately be the best version of this room.
Adams gives you elite upside.
Burburija gives you explosiveness and penetration.
Strong gives you Power Four experience.
Thompson gives you program experience.
Devarrick Woods gives you veteran depth.
Williams Lee gives you another developing power player.
Cody gives you young upside.
Kelly may potentially rejoin the equation later in the season.
And Burley’s football status could eventually change depending on Clemson’s internal disciplinary decisions.
Instead of one superstar playing 55 snaps, perhaps Clemson rolls bodies through the interior.
Twenty-five snaps here.
Thirty there.
Fifteen for another.
Keep them fresh.
Keep offensive linemen dealing with different styles.
Make the fourth quarter Clemson’s advantage.
There is nothing wrong with winning by committee.
But committees still need production.
THE LSU OPENER MAKES THE STORY EVEN MORE DRAMATIC
And because college football occasionally has a sense of humor, Clemson’s first major test comes against the program that now has Stephiylan Green.
LSU.
In Baton Rouge.
Green knows Clemson.
He knows Nick Eason.
He knows the terminology.
He practiced against many of Clemson’s offensive linemen.
Now Clemson enters that stadium trying to establish an entirely new defensive-tackle rotation while one of the players who was supposed to inherit a major role in that rotation stands on the opposite sideline.
You could hardly script it better.
Or crueler.
And LSU will test Clemson’s interior immediately.
This is not September football against an overwhelmed opponent where Clemson can rotate everybody and figure things out.
This is SEC football.
On the road.
Under the lights.
Against enormous offensive linemen.
There will be nowhere for the Tigers’ defensive tackles to hide.
Which may ultimately be exactly what Clemson needs.
We are going to find out very quickly who is ready.
CAN AMARE ADAMS BECOME THE NEXT GREAT ONE?
This may ultimately be the question that defines the room.
Because Clemson’s ceiling at defensive tackle changes dramatically if Adams becomes special.
If he becomes merely solid, Clemson can still field a good defense.
If he becomes disruptive?
Now everything changes.
Imagine Adams requiring two blockers.
Burburija attacking the opposite guard.
Jahiem Lawson or Will Heldt coming off the edge.
Sammy Brown running clean behind them.
Suddenly Clemson starts looking like Clemson again.
That is why Adams’ development is not simply an individual storyline.
It is a force multiplier.
A dominant defensive tackle makes everybody around him better.
BURBURIJA COULD BECOME ONE OF THE GREAT PORTAL STORIES
Then there is the other fascinating outcome.
What if the player who emerges is not the five-star?
What if it is the junior-college kid from Iowa Western?
There would be something almost poetic about it.
During the era when Clemson became nationally known for recruiting blue-chip defensive linemen, the Tigers rarely needed junior-college reinforcements.
Now the first junior-college signee of Swinney’s Clemson tenure could potentially become one of the most important players on the entire defense.
Burburija has already proven he can wreck games at one level.
Now comes the biggest test of his football life.
Can he do it against LSU?
Florida State?
South Carolina?
ACC offensive lines?
If he can, Clemson’s defensive tackle outlook changes dramatically.
STRONG, THOMPSON AND WOODS MAY DECIDE WHETHER THE ROOM HAS ENOUGH DEPTH
Stars are important.
Depth wins November.
That is where Strong, Thompson and Woods become essential.
Even if Adams and Burburija become Clemson’s top pairing, they cannot play every snap.
Nor should they.
Defensive tackles exhaust themselves faster than almost any position on the field because nearly every snap involves direct physical collision with a 300-plus-pound offensive lineman.
The difference between snap 12 and snap 52 can be enormous.
If Clemson can send Strong onto the field without losing anything…
Then Thompson…
Then Woods…
Then suddenly those starters remain dangerous late in games.
The opposite is also true.
If Clemson only trusts two or three tackles, opponents will identify it quickly.
They will speed up the offense.
Prevent substitutions.
Run directly at tired bodies.
And turn Clemson’s lack of depth into a tactical weakness.
That is why the fourth, fifth and sixth defensive tackles could matter almost as much as the first two.
KELLY COULD BECOME THE MIDSEASON WILD CARD
Do not erase Kourtney Kelly’s name.
Not yet.
ACL recoveries are serious and unpredictable, and Clemson will obviously prioritize his long-term health.
But Swinney expressed optimism in July that Kelly could return during the season.
If that happens, Clemson could potentially gain a fresh defensive tackle midway through the schedule.
Imagine the impact if Clemson gets through September with Adams, Burburija, Strong, Thompson and Woods — and then adds Kelly later.
That could completely alter the depth equation for the stretch run.
Again, there are no guarantees.
But his story is not necessarily finished for 2026.
AND BROWN-SHULER’S STORY IS ABOUT SOMETHING MUCH BIGGER
Meanwhile, Brown-Shuler’s season will be measured differently.
Not in tackles.
Not in snaps.
Not in sacks.
His goal is recovery.
His goal is getting healthy.
His goal, as he said when announcing his diagnosis, is getting back to the point where he can once again run down Clemson’s Hill and touch Howard’s Rock in 2027.
Football can wait.
And whenever Brown-Shuler is ready to return to it, Clemson’s defensive tackle room will be waiting for him.
FROM CERTAINTY TO CHAOS IN ONE OFFSEASON
Step back and look at what happened.
Clemson began the offseason knowing it had to replace Peter Woods and DeMonte Capehart.
Difficult.
Then Stephiylan Green transferred to LSU.
More difficult.
Clemson countered by bringing in Markus Strong, Kourtney Kelly and Andy Burburija.
Then Kelly tore his ACL.
Then Brown-Shuler received his diagnosis and stepped away for treatment.
Clemson countered again by adding Devarrick Woods.
Then Vic Burley was arrested and suspended indefinitely.
That is not normal roster turnover.
That is an offseason obstacle course.
Every time Clemson appeared to establish a reasonable answer at defensive tackle, the equation changed again.
And yet here the Tigers stand.
Amare Adams.
Andy Burburija.
Markus Strong.
Champ Thompson.
Devarrick Woods.
Makhi Williams Lee.
Kam Cody.
Kourtney Kelly potentially later.
And the unresolved football future of Vic Burley.
That is the group Nick Eason now has to mold.
THE STANDARD HAS NOT CHANGED
Here is the uncomfortable part.
Nobody Clemson plays is going to care about the circumstances.
LSU will not give Clemson an extra yard because Peter Woods went to the NFL.
Florida State will not stop running the football because Brown-Shuler is unavailable.
South Carolina will not decline to double-team Adams because Clemson has endured unusual roster turnover.
Football does not grade on difficulty.
The job remains the job.
Stop the run.
Collapse the pocket.
Control the A-gaps.
Keep offensive linemen away from the linebackers.
Create negative plays.
Force quarterbacks off their spot.
That is the standard.
And at Clemson, the standard at defensive tackle has been extremely high for a very long time.
SOMEONE HAS TO BECOME A PROBLEM
That is ultimately what Clemson needs.
Not simply a starter.
A problem.
Someone an opposing offensive coordinator has to mention during Monday’s staff meeting.
Someone a guard knows he will have to deal with for four quarters.
Someone capable of destroying the timing of a running play before the running back even gets started.
Maybe it is Amare Adams.
Maybe Burburija’s junior-college production translates immediately.
Maybe Markus Strong takes a massive developmental jump.
Maybe Champ Thompson has simply been waiting for his opportunity.
Maybe Devarrick Woods becomes the late-portal steal nobody saw coming.
Maybe Clemson has to do it collectively.
But somebody — or some combination of players — has to own the middle.
THE DEFENSIVE TACKLES MAY DETERMINE WHETHER CLEMSON’S DEFENSE IS GOOD OR ELITE
Clemson has talent around them.
There are edge defenders.
There are linebackers.
There is experience and athleticism in the secondary.
Tom Allen has pieces.
But elite defenses almost always have the ability to control games from the inside out.
If Clemson’s defensive tackles hold up, Sammy Brown and the linebackers become more dangerous.
The edges become more dangerous.
The secondary can play more aggressively.
Allen can become more creative.
Third-and-7 becomes the norm instead of third-and-2.
Everything opens.
If the tackles struggle?
Everything contracts.
Linebackers fight through guards.
Safeties have to become more involved against the run.
Play-action becomes more effective.
The pass rush becomes predictable.
The entire defense starts compensating.
That is how important these 600 or so combined pounds in the middle of the defense can become.
THE GIANT QUESTION MARK
There may not be another Clemson position group with a greater difference between its potential ceiling and its potential floor.
The ceiling?
Amare Adams blossoms into a star.
Andy Burburija becomes the steal of Clemson’s offseason.
Markus Strong provides dependable veteran production.
Champ Thompson makes a jump.
Devarrick Woods gives Clemson quality rotational snaps.
The youngsters develop.
Kelly returns later.
And suddenly Clemson has a deep, nasty, rotating interior front capable of controlling football games.
The floor?
Nobody becomes dominant.
The transfers are merely serviceable.
The young players are not ready.
Depth becomes an issue.
And opposing offenses discover they can attack Clemson between the tackles.
That is a massive range of possibilities.
Which makes defensive tackle perhaps the most consequential unknown on the entire Clemson roster.
WHO IS THE NEXT ONE?
Clemson fans became spoiled.
They could look toward the middle of the defensive line and see an NFL player.
Sometimes two.
Sometimes three.
Grady Jarrett.
Carlos Watkins.
Christian Wilkins.
Dexter Lawrence.
Bryan Bresee.
Tyler Davis.
Ruke Orhorhoro.
Peter Woods.
Those names set an almost ridiculous standard.
But that is the inheritance sitting inside Nick Eason’s meeting room.
Somebody eventually gets the next seat.
Maybe it belongs to Amare Adams.
Maybe Andy Burburija becomes one of the most improbable stars of the Swinney era.
Maybe Markus Strong emerges.
Maybe Clemson wins the position by committee.
Nobody knows yet.
And that is what makes this position group so compelling.
Clemson has spent almost an entire offseason watching its defensive tackle plan get rewritten.
NFL departures.
A major transfer to the opponent Clemson will face in its opener.
An ACL tear.
A cancer diagnosis.
A late portal addition.
An arrest.
An indefinite suspension.
And now, finally, football.
No more projections.
No more recruiting rankings.
No more offseason speculation.
Put the ball down.
Line up.
And find out.
Because for all the questions surrounding Clemson’s rebuilt defense in 2026, the biggest one may be sitting directly in the middle of it:
Who is going to become Clemson’s next great defensive tackle?
Someone has to step forward.
Someone has to take ownership.
Someone has to become the alpha.
And if Clemson intends to return to playing truly elite defense, somebody wearing orange is going to have to make the middle of the line of scrimmage Clemson territory again.
