Clemson starting OL Walker Parks out Saturday vs. Florida State

Clemson will be down a starting offensive lineman for Saturday’s showdown with Florida State as right guard Walker Parks will miss the matchup, a school spokesperson confirmed on Friday.

“Coach has confirmed Walker will be unavailable Saturday with his lower-body injury,” Clemson Assistant AD for Football Communications Ross Taylor said.

Parks started the first two games of the season but was injured Week 2 against Charleston Southern. He did not play last week against FAU and will also miss Saturday’s game against No. 4 Florida State.

With Parks out last week, Mitchell Mayes started at right guard against FAU and played 43 snaps in Clemson’s 48-14 win.

Walker Parks started all 13 games for Clemson in 2021 and started all 13 games he appeared in last season. He was banged up during fall camp but was healthy enough to start in the opener against Duke.

In addition to Parks, Clemson will also be without starting receiver Cole Turner, who suffered a season-ending injury last weekend against FAU. Turner had three catches for 28 yards, before being lost for the season. The redshirt freshman started the opener against Duke and last week’s game against FAU.

Clemson stats leading up to Florida State showdown

Even without Walker Parks, Clemson still has plenty of talent. Here’s a look at the stats leaders for the Tigers ahead of the game:

Linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr. has racked up 17 total tackles, to go along with five quarterback pressures and 3.5 tackles for loss. The Tigers only have four sacks in their first three games, but they have managed 31 quarterback pressures.

Clemson currently ranks 109th in the country with four sacks, which doesn’t tell the entire story, but they’ve certainly got to get more heat on the quarterback from their front seven.

The Tigers have been carried by Will Shipley on offense, and that’s nothing new. He’s carried them for much of the past few seasons. Shipley is averaging 106 total all-purpose yards per game, and he’s got one receiving touchdown. Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik had the worst game of his career against the Duke Blue Devils, and it wasn’t even close.

The turnovers in the red zone were impossible to overcome in their upset loss to Duke. Without a doubt, those will need to be avoided/limited if the Tigers want any shot of pulling it out on Saturday.

Florida State struggled with Boston College and managed to survive, but even the greatest college football teams struggle in certain weeks. That’s just the nature of the game.

Clemson will certainly have FSU’s undivided attention and vice versa.

This one will kick off on Saturday, Sept. 23rd, in what’s an absolutely loaded slate of college football games. Clemson and FSU will kickoff at noon EST. The game will be nationally televised on ABC.