Tyler Davis explains why he wanted to come back to Clemson

The Clemson Tigers are poised for yet another run at a College Football Playoff berth in their 2023 campaign.

They brought in one of the hottest young offensive coordinators in the game today in Garrett Riley, and they return a quarterback who showed tremendous flashes of promise last year as a freshman, Cade Klubnik.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Tigers return stars like Tyler Davis, who had a tough decision in deciding to return for one more season with Clemson. Recently at ACC Media Days, Davis offered up several reasons why he decided to turn down the NFL and play one more year in Death Valley.

“Me, just knowing I can maximize myself here. I got guys, me and Ruke [Orhorhoro] talked about it. We know that we got Coach Eason just got there, and we feel like we had one of our best years just being over here for one year,” the star Clemson defensive lineman began.

“Then we got our strength coach, Coach Batson, Coach Dennis Love, he prepared me. My body never felt the way it felt ever since I’ve been there,” Davis continued.

“Just knowing all those and knowing all that, I said, why not? Why not have this chance to go win a natty, knowing I got the best linebacker duo and got guys like JP, Sheridan, Nate, Wiggins, RJ Mickens, Andrew Mukuba back there in the secondary, why not just go and have one of the best defense and go win a natty?”

Davis appeared in 12 games last year for the Tigers, making 11 starts. He had 31 tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks. He has been productive every season for the Tigers, despite battling injuries.

Davis was named second-team All-ACC as a freshman in 2019 and received first-team honors each of the past two seasons. He also received second-team All-American honors from the FWAA this year.

For more on what Greg McElroy expects out of Clemson heading into the 2023 campaign, check out the article below from On3’s Peter Warren.

Greg McElroy believes Clemson will return to the Top 10

It has been a weird stretch for Clemson that last two years. After six straight College Football Playoff appearances — including two titles —  the Tigers have missed out on the final four in 2021 and 2022.

But they haven’t totally dropped off from that tier among playoff contenders. Clemson went 10-3 and then 11-3 with an ACC title mixed in as well.

Expectations for a return to the top 10 in the rankings — and even higher — are bearing down on the team from fans heading into the season. On the Always College Football with Greg McElroy podcast, Greg McElroy broke down his top 10 teams heading into the 2023 season and started the list with Clemson at No. 10.

McElroy had broadcasted the Tigers’ loss in the Orange Bowl to Tennessee, a game that he says provided him some perspective.

“We called the Orange Bowl,” McElroy said. “It was not their best performance. But I think in talking to Dabo Swinney beforehand, this was a team that had to make a quarterback switch. This was a team that had some challenges on the perimeter. This was a team that wasn’t quite as dynamic along the offensive line as they anticipated. And a team in the back end that was good, defensively good at all three levels, but for whatever reason, they just lost some close games.”

Clemson’s relative lack of success the past two seasons compared to where it has been, is funny to the former Alabama star.

“It’s just so funny. Where Clemson’s act is right now. And it’s an amazing testament to what Dabo Swinney has created. Is it not? Dabo has done an amazing job. When we looked at an 11-3 season with an ACC championship and a New Year Six bowl game invitation. Oh, what a failure,” McElroy said laughing. “That’s a good thing. So, let’s just take that with a grain of salt. I think Clemson will be back in the mix again this year in the ACC. But I think with the pieces they return, I have them actually (finishing) second in the ACC as of right now.”

On3’s Jonathan Wagner, Peter Warren, and Matt Connolly also contributed to this article.