Clemson injury updates: Tigers without defensive star vs. NC State
Clemson has released its availability report for Saturday’s game against NC State. The Tigers have announced that star defensive lineman Peter Woods is out for the game.
Woods has 6 tackles and a team-high 2.5 tackles for loss on the season. He was banged up in the win over Appalachian State in Week 2.
In addition to Woods, Clemson will also be without cornerback Corian Gipson, offensive lineman Dietrick Pennington and offensive lineman Collin Sadler against the Wolfpack.
Gipson has appeared in two games this season, mostly on special teams. Pennington played 31 snaps against Appalachian State, but Dabo Swinney announced earlier this week that he is out for the season with a torn ACL. Sadler played 36 snaps in the opener against Georgia and started the following week against App. State.
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In addition to the players announced as out, Clemson could also be without starting receiver Tyler Brown. The sophomore reportedly was not running routes during pregame.
Brown has four catches for 23 yards on the season. He led Clemson in receiving last season with 52 catches for 531 yards.
While the Tigers have multiple players banged up, NC State also has some injuries. That includes starting quarterback Grayson McCall, who will miss Saturday’s game with an undisclosed injury.
With McCall out, true freshman CJ Bailey will get the start at quarterback for NC State against Clemson.
More on Clemson OL Dietrick Pennington being out for the season
Dabo Swinney announced during his press conference earlier this week that Dietrick Pennington is out for the season.
“Do have some bad news. We did lose Dietrick Pennington. He’s gotta have his ACL repaired,” Swinney said. “He had kind of what they call, it wasn’t fully torn, but I think it’s one of those deals where it’s not going to heal back up, so they’ve gotta fix it. So really I hate that for that kid.”
Dietrick Pennington is a redshirt junior who signed with Clemson in the class of 2021. He was ranked as a four-star recruit out of Tennessee.
Even though he is lost for the season, the hope is that he will get this year back and still have two years of eligibility remaining.
“Hopefully our plan is to get the year back, so that he’ll still have a couple of years,” Swinney said. “Because he really was starting to come on. Just a setback for him, but he’s in a good place mentally and knows what he’s gotta do. But that’s another tough loss for us, for sure.”
Swinney added that the injury to Dietrick Pennington occurred during the App. State game.
“It swelled up on him and then somehow in that game he felt it again,” Swinney said. “Just got him back and did the MRI and all that stuff. It wasn’t a full tear, but they said they’ve gotta repair it anyway because of the type of injury. So hate that for him. I really do. That’s a tough loss for us, but long term we’ll try to get the year back and see if we can reset with him.”