Dabo Swinney announces three key reserves are expected to miss full 2024 season with injuries

Dabo Swinney announced on Thursday that three Clemson football players are out for the season with injuries.

Offensive linemen Ian Reed and Watson Young will miss the 2024 college football season, as will defensive back Myles Oliver, according to Chapel Fowler.

“Dabo Swinney says three Clemson football players will be out for the year: reserve OLs Watson Young and Ian Reed and reserve CB Myles Oliver,” Fowler posted on Twitter. “Reed hurt his knee. Young and Oliver have lingering injuries. Nobody else will be out for an ‘extended period of time.'”

Of the three losses, Ian Reed might be the biggest. The former four-star recruit appeared in one game last season while redshirting, but he’s a player the coaching staff has said in the past that it is excited about.

Reed was rated as the No. 16 interior offensive lineman in the country for the class of 2023, per the On3 Industry rankings.

As for Watson Young, he just signed with Clemson this past recruiting class. The local product was rated as a three-star recruit in the class of 2024, per the On3 Industry rankings.

Finally, Myles Oliver is the final Clemson player set to miss the 2024 season. Oliver is another local product who signed with the Tigers for the class of 2022 but has been limited with injuries since arriving on campus.

Cade Klubnik reveals biggest difference in Clemson offense this year

Despite the injuries, expectations are high for Clemson entering the 2024 season, particularly if the offense can improve.

Clemson returned 79% of its offensive production from the 2023 season — the 13th most in the country — according to ESPN’s Bill Connelly, and that’s making a big difference for third-year quarterback Cade Klubnik and the unit he’s piloting.

Actually, Klubnik said it’s the biggest difference between this year and last year.

“I think we’ve just had a really good mindset, more than anything,” Klubnik said Tuesday. “We were a really young team last year, and it’s a team that’s [now] just a lot smarter.

“Guys have got a little bit more experience, kind of all over. When it comes to receivers, offensive line, quarterback, running back, just a lot of guys that have played a lot of ball now and a lot of returning starters. So I’d say that’s one of the biggest things is just getting to come back in the same offense again is huge — not having to have your first fall camp in a new offense and kind of getting to run things you’ve already been running.”

Klubnik reiterated: “It’s huge.”

Clemson is No. 14 in the preseason AP Top 25. That’s after head coach Dabo Swinney’s squad finished the 2023 campaign No. 20, its lowest final AP ranking since 2011. The Tigers won nine games, their fewest in a single season since 2010.