I signed up to cover the defensive ends and defensive tackles because I needed proof that the 2025 defensive line couldn’t hurt me anymore. There are certain expectations, some might call them standards, for a Clemson defensive line, and for good reason. There were several seasons where Clemson’s defensive line wasn’t just the best defensive line in the country; they were the best position group in the country. For me, Clemson’s rise to prominence in the pre-NIL era was built upon two things: a dominant
defensive line and a dynamic quarterback. When Dabo and company had those two things in place, they could piece the rest of it together and put a National Championship contender on the field.
I had the highest of hopes heading into last season because, on paper, Clemson was bringing back a dominant defensive line and a dynamic quarterback. Turns out, neither of those things ended up being true, and we were all forced to sit through the most lackluster, uninspiring Tiger football season since Tommy Bowden roamed the sidelines. I covered the defensive ends last week (link), and today I’m taking a look at the defensive tackles.
Peter Woods and DeMonte Capehart have left the building, and while I respect all the hard work and dedication they put into being Clemson athletes, I can’t say that I’m sad to see them go. I think both of them are individually talented players, but for whatever reason, neither of them could make a play when the team needed it last season. I remember at the height of the Venables era, I would celebrate when teams went for it on 4th down. That meant Clemson was about to get the ball back and the offense was going to go for a kill shot down the field in short order. The defensive line was so dominant that opponents had to try to scheme their way to a 2-yard gain on 4th and short because lining up and running power was an invitation to have your running back pile driven into the turf a yard behind the line of scrimmage. The Tiger defense wasn’t terrible on 4th down last season; they finished 20th in the nation, allowing a 1st down or touchdown on 41% of their opponents’ attempts. That’s not a bad defensive line, but it’s certainly not a dominant defensive line, and Clemson needs a dominant defensive line.
Woods, in particular, was a perfectly fine, talented player who was billed as the second coming of Christian Wilkins. His 30 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, and 2 sacks last season looked more like the second coming of 2019 Jordan Williams, who had 5.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks. Woods was projected as a top 10 NFL draft pick and ended up going 29th on his potential because his production wasn’t worthy of a 1st-round pick. In this new era of college football, Clemson needs its big-ticket players to play up to their potential because there isn’t an endless pool of money. The guys getting paid need to produce. Woods and T.J. Parker put up a combined 7 sacks and 13 tackles for loss. I guarantee that’s not the return Dabo thought he was going to get out of what I can only imagine was a substantial investment in both players. I would have traded both for two functioning safeties.
However, hope springs eternal in Tiger Town. The 2025 season is in the rearview mirror, and the 2026 season is just peeking over the horizon with the start of fall camp. The defensive tackle group won’t be as talented on paper as the 2025 group, but Tom Allen better hope they are significantly more productive.
Defensive Tackles
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Thoughts
Writing position previews for Kansas State and Purdue gives me a unique perspective on Clemson’s roster. I keep hearing that the Tigers have questions at defensive tackle. Folks, Purdue and Kansas State have questions at defensive tackle, and the main question is “are these guys talented enough?” Kansas State is a good football team. They should be in the upper echelon of the Big 12 this season, and the overall talent gap between Clemson and Kansas State, at least on paper, is stark. Kansas State has questions at defensive tackle; Clemson should have answers. There’s no shortage of talent, but talent wasn’t an issue last season, and the production didn’t come close to meeting the hype. There’s less hype this season, but maybe that will come with a better overall performance.
Amare Adams is the headliner. The former 5-star recruit in the 2025 class gets a pass for last season. He was banged up and wasn’t on the field much for the defensive abominations we witnessed. He played just 110 defensive snaps. This is another case of Clemson needing their big-ticket players to be dominant. Forget the crock pot; he needs to play now, and he needs to be dominant. If Adams plays up to his potential, everything else falls into place. That’s a lot to put on such a young player, but that’s the nature of the beast. If Clemson is going to invest a bunch of money in a top-level high school recruit like Adams, they need to get an immediate return on their investment.
If Adams plays up to his potential, he has the size to play nose guard but is quick enough to play the 3-tech. Tom Allen should be able to move him around, depending on what he needs on any particular snap. He should be the player the opposition has to scheme against every game. The question for Adams, and it’s a question that people asked about him coming out of high school, despite his lofty ranking, is if his production can catch up with his talent. That makes me extremely nervous, but Adams has the talent to put all of those worries to bed. If he’s not the starter to open the season, Clemson needs to take a long, hard look at how they’re developing defensive tackles.
I’ve got Adams penciled in as a starter, but the other defensive tackle spot is wide open. Clemson hit the portal and brought in a highly sought-after junior college transfer to bolster their defensive tackle ranks. The player receiving the most buzz heading into fall camp is junior college transfer Andy Burburija. At 6’2”, 305 lbs., he’s not the biggest defensive tackle on the Clemson roster, but it sounds like he’s the most difficult to move out of the way. Capehart never figured out how to bend and play low with power; that shouldn’t be an issue for Burburija, who, by all accounts, has legs the size of a slot receiver. Teams got into Capehart’s legs and rooted him out on too many occasions; Burburija sounds like he’s going to be the one rooting out offensive linemen in 2026. I’m not sure if he’s going to put up big numbers; that should be Adam’s job, but if he can hold the point of attack and keep from getting pushed out of the A-gap, he’ll be worth whatever Clemson paid to pry him away from Nebraska.
He’s joined by Oklahoma transfer Markus Strong. Like Burburija, he’s not a jumbo-sized defensive tackle, but he’s supposed to play with good leverage and have heavy hands. He was a key part of Brent Venables’ defensive tackle rotation at Oklahoma last season, so I can buy that. The fourth-year player brings more college football seasoning to the table than either Adams or Burburija and should have plenty of urgency to make the starting lineup, or at worst, the 3rd defensive tackle in the rotation. Like Burburija, he might not have elite physical traits, but if he can bring a Venables-level of toughness and effort to the middle of the defense, it will be hard to keep him off the field.
Speaking of seasoning, Texas State transfer and member of the 2021 recruiting class, Devarrick Woods, has developed a nice college football crust. The former Texas State defensive tackle by way of Hinds Community College was a late addition to the team after Kourtney Kelly, a transfer from West Georgia, tore his ACL in the spring. Woods was in limbo, waiting for an eligibility waiver, and once it finally came through, the Tigers had to fight off Florida and Florida State for the services of a defensive tackle who put up 16 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, and a sack last season. This new college football world is strange indeed. That’s not to say Woods isn’t a good pickup for the Tigers. He’ll be one of the older players in the nation this season after not playing football for two seasons after graduating in 2021 before deciding to resurrect his career at Hinds C.C. He’s another player who should be anything but entitled. I’m going to guess they don’t have a slide at Hinds or Texas State, much less a nap room. Dabo remembered that “they don’t put rings on soft hands” and went out and procured some rough hands in the transfer portal.
I’m not sure what Clemson’s desperate bid for Devarrick’s services says about the three formerly high-ranking recruits on the roster, but I don’t think the Tigers are in a position to spend money on players they don’t need. Whatever Champ Thompson, Vic Burley, and Caden Story bring to the rotation requires the coaching staff to go out and dig up another defensive tackle for the rotation. That might not be fair to Thompson, who is entering his third year in the program, but it’s time for him to make a move. He has 7 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, and a sack in his 143 snaps of college football. There was some scuttlebutt about Thompson transferring in January, but it appears Thompson decided to stick it out. He needs to make the regular rotation this year; if he doesn’t, he should have transferred because he would have been a hot commodity in the portal. He’s another talented player who needs to show what he can do on the field.
That brings me to Vic Burley and Caden Story. Sometimes you can put something in the crock pot for too long. I forgot about some chili one time, left for the weekend, and returned to something so foul I made an executive decision and threw out the crock pot liner it was fused to. Burley and Story must really love to practice, because they haven’t done much on game day. The highlight of both their careers to date has been National Signing Day. Burley was a consensus 4* player, a top 100 player in the 2o23 recruiting class. 247 Sports went so far as to give him a 5th star, but he missed the entirety of his first season with a knee injury and hasn’t found any traction in the previous two seasons. He had 15 tackles and half a tackle for loss in 175 snaps last season. It’s now or never for the former Georgia AAAAA Defensive Player of the Year. If Burley has designs on playing, he’s going to have to outwork some of the new guys, because his talent alone hasn’t gotten him very far in college football to date.
The same goes with Caden Story. He was Coach Eason’s first big recruiting win, but he’s heading into his fifth college football season, and he’s only amassed nine tackles, half a tackle for loss, and half a sack. I assumed he’d transfer after only playing 71 snaps last season, and he did flirt with transferring, but in the end, he decided to come back and give it one more try at Clemson. The former 4* recruit, in theory, is still talented, but I’m not sure how he fits into this rotation. He may truly be overcooked at this point, but maybe the idea of spending his fifth season of college football holding down a bench, as he did in the previous four seasons, has him motivated for a big push in fall camp. Folks, I’m nothing if not optimistic.
Finally, we come to Makhi Williams Lee and Kam Cody. Lee is a member of the 2025 recruiting class but missed most of his first season rehabbing a high school injury. Kam Cody is a 3-star member of the 2026 recruiting class who probably does need a year in the crock pot but needs to be careful not to stick to the bottom like some of the players I’ve mentioned above. Recruiting developmental players and then never developing them is a waste of resources and a luxury Clemson can’t afford.
At the end of the day, it’s hard not to see the players Clemson brought into the program from the portal as a direct indictment of the players currently on the roster, and possibly Coach Nick Eason. The guys they brought in from outside the program fall into the “chip on their shoulders, something to prove” camp. It’s a shame the coaches had to look outside the program for that mentality.
I like Coach Eason; he’s a thoughtful, engaging guy, but if he can’t figure out a way to turn this collection of talent into a better unit than last season, maybe he wasn’t the home run hire I thought. I hope the defensive tackles show up, show out, and shut me up by the end of the season. This is a huge prove it year and if they don’t, Dabo will have some tough decisions to make this offseason.
