Dietrick Pennington injury update: Dabo Swinney confirms severity of Clemson lineman's injury
Clemson offensive lineman Dietrick Pennington is out for the season, Dabo Swinney announced during his press conference on Tuesday.
Pennington is dealing with an ACL issue that will keep him sidelined for the rest of the year.
The veteran played on special teams in the opener against Georgia and played 31 snaps on offense in Week 2 against Appalachian State.
“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.”
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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.”
More Clemson injury updates from Dabo Swinney
In addition to an update on Dietrick Pennington, Dabo Swinney also offered updates on several other players.
Walk-on safety Caleb Nix and sophomore linebacker Kobe McCloud both had surgery recently after suffering knee injuries that will keep them out for the season.
“Caleb Nix had his surgery last week, as well as Kobe. So a couple of tough breaks for us there, but hopefully some of these other guys we’ll be getting back in here full-go as well soon,” Swinney said.
He added that veteran offensive lineman Trent Howard is back healthy. The senior has played in 23 games and made three starts during his career.
“Trent’s back. So we do have him back. So that’s a positive,” Swinney said. “He was one of those guys that the off week was good. That’s a huge shot in the arm for us getting a real veteran guy back that can snap and play guard for us. … We’re fortunate. We’ve got more depth there than we’ve had in a while, and we’ve got some guys that bring a lot of versatility.”