Clemson still hasn’t handed out starting jobs, but Dabo Swinney says the linebacker picture is starting to come into focus.
On Tuesday afternoon, Swinney made it clear the Tigers are still sorting through a crowded competition. “Everybody’s just working there.
A bunch of nobodies,” he said. “We’ll see if anybody becomes somebody as we play some games.”
The biggest attention has been on the linebacker group, where Sammy Brown remains the anchor but plenty of questions linger around him. Wade Woodaz is gone, and the Luke Ferrelli situation did not work out for Clemson, leaving the room with more uncertainty than certainty entering camp.
Swinney said last week that the players around Brown need to show they can hold up without him on the field. Now, after continued competition, he says two upperclassmen have started to create separation.
“Yeah, I’m not disappointed. Again, I’d say the same thing I did about the running backs: it’s a better room than people think.
The two guys who have probably separated [themselves] a little bit are Jeremiah [Alexander] and Kobe [McCloud],” he stated. “Those two guys have really, you know, given us confidence that, ‘Hey, okay.’
We’ve kind of got a top three, if you will, that we feel really good about, and those guys can play multiple positions.”
Alexander arrived from Alabama before the 2025 season after barely seeing the field in his first three years with the Crimson Tide. He gave Clemson a useful backup role last season behind Brown and Woodaz, finishing with 36 tackles, 1.5 for a loss, three pass deflections and one sack in 219 defensive snaps.
McCloud’s path has been just as uneven. He spent part of his first three seasons redshirting and then had his 2024 season cut short by a season-ending injury. Last year, though, he put together career-best numbers with 26 tackles, 2.5 for a loss, four pass deflections and one sack while working behind Brown and Alexander.
That pair still leaves Clemson with plenty to sort out for the 2026 season, but Swinney’s comments suggest the staff already feels good about the top of the depth chart just a week into fall camp.
He also pushed back on the idea that the room lacks answers behind them. Swinney pointed to a group that includes Fletcher Cothran, C.J. Kubah-Taylor, Drew Woodaz, Logan Anderson and Brayden Reilly.
“But it’s that group behind them. It’s Fletcher [Cothran], it’s [C.J.
Kubah-Taylor], it’s [Drew] Woodaz - Woodaz flashed today, had a nice play - it’s Logan [Anderson],” Swinney raved. “We got the young Brayden Reilly in here, you know, he’s got a lot on his plate.
But, you know, the room is competing. Ben [Boulware’s] doing a great job, along with Tom [Allen], and again, we’ve just got to keep going.”
The camp is still young, and there’s plenty left to settle, but Clemson’s linebacker room is beginning to sort itself out as the Tigers work toward a season that they hope looks a lot better than the last.
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