Dabo Swinney shares what forced Mason Trotter into retirement

Clemson will be without one of its offensive linemen for the rest of the season after Dabo Swinney revealed Wednesday that a bizarre back injury forced Mason Trotter into retirement.

Trotter had been out for undisclosed reasons but came to Swinney a few weeks ago after he woke up one morning and had trouble walking.

“It was crazy. Honestly he got out of bed and couldn’t walk,” Swinney said. “He’s never had a back problem. It was the weirdest thing ever. He literally got up one morning, came in and had a back issue. Never has had that, so he ended up, they tried everything, so they ended up having to do surgery on him.”

Trotter was a junior who joined the program in 2019, taking a redshirt in his first season on campus before contributing more in 2020 and 2021.

He was mostly a reserve in 2020 before becoming a much bigger part of the offensive line in 2021. He started seven games a year ago for Clemson before injuries derailed his 2022 campaign and the unexpected back issue ultimately forced Mason Trotter into retirement.

“Guess he came to me probably about, couple weeks ago, two or three weeks ago and let me know where he was medically and what the doctors were saying,” Swinney said. “It’s just best for his future to not play. I don’t disagree with that, so just a crazy kind of a freak thing.

“That’s all he told us. Literally did not have one issue then he got up out of bed and he couldn’t hardly walk. They had to go in and fix it, pretty serious situation. That’s how we found out.”

Clemson looking to close strong, make playoff push

At 9-1 on the season and with a spot in the ACC Championship Game already locked up, Clemson will be looking to close out the regular season strong.

For Swinney, that’s about all that matters at the moment.

“It’s all about the finish. It’s all about finishing,” Swinney said. “That’s what everybody remembers, right? That’s what they say, they remember November. You go lose these next two games everybody forgets that you are 9-1 quick. You know, if you lose one early, we got some teams in the playoffs that have lost one early, bad, and now all everybody talks about is what they’re doing right now. So, you’ve got to finish, and that’s a mentality, that’s a mindset.”

The Tigers might be on the outside looking in when it comes to the playoff, though, sitting at No. 9 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings.

All Clemson can do is win and hope. The Tigers will be back in action this weekend with a game against Miami that kicks off at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.