With Clemson missing close to 30 total players due to a combination of injuries, opt-outs and transfers, are there any players in particular who have stood out to head coach Dabo Swinney with the extra reps in bowl practice?<\/p>\n
Swinney was asked that question Friday when he met with the media ahead of Saturday\u2019s Pinstripe Bowl matchup vs. Penn State at Yankee Stadium in New York (noon, ABC).<\/p>\n
Swinney named several players who have stuck out to him during bowl prep. The first name he mentioned is true freshman wide receiver Juju Preston, who enrolled at Clemson this past summer after a prolific prep career.<\/p>\n
Preston has played in just one game this season. The 6-foot, 155-pounder made his college debut vs. Furman on Nov. 22, catching a 4-yard pass and returning a punt for 10 yards.<\/p>\n
A former three-star prospect, Preston was credited with 185 receptions for 3,700 yards and 67 touchdowns during his prep career. He is the all-time receiving touchdown leader in Virginia state history.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne guy in particular is Juju, who we\u2019ve talked a lot about,\u201d Swinney said. \u201cHe\u2019s a guy that has really taken advantage of it. We\u2019ve been able to move him around. It\u2019s been fun to be able to experiment with him a little bit, of his skillset, and can he play inside, can he play outside, can he play in the boundary? That\u2019s been really good. I think his development has shot through the roof. He\u2019s one of those guys.\u201d<\/p>\n
Swinney also pointed out a couple of defensive linemen \u2013 redshirt freshman Darien Mayo and redshirt junior Caden Story.<\/p>\n
Story has played 33 defensive snaps over four games this season, tallying two total tackles, while Mayo has played 43 defensive snaps across six games this season and made one tackle. Story entered the 2025 season credited with four tackles in 119 defensive snaps over 19 career games from 2022-24, and Mayo came into this season following a redshirt campaign in 2024 during which he collected four tackles (0.5 for loss) in 33 defensive snaps over three games.<\/p>\n
Both are former four-star and former top-150 national prospects.<\/p>\n
\u201cA guy like Darien Mayo at defensive end, who we see a lot of promise in,\u201d Swinney said. \u201cNow all of a sudden, hey, he\u2019s second-team reps the whole way. He\u2019s getting a ton of work. So, it\u2019s created a lot more opportunity for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cA guy like Caden Story, who hasn\u2019t played a ton, but is a guy that we have always seen the flashes and the potential. He just hasn\u2019t really put it all together. Now he\u2019s getting a huge opportunity. He\u2019s a guy that you hope will step up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Continuing on players who\u2019ve stood out to him in bowl prep, Swinney singled out redshirt sophomore cornerback Branden Strozier as well.<\/p>\n
Strozier has accumulated 262 defensive snaps over 11 games this season while registering 14 total tackles and five pass breakups. He finished the regular season in strong fashion, notching four tackles and two pass breakups vs. Furman before racking up six tackles and two pass breakups at South Carolina.<\/p>\n
A former four-star recruit, Strozier entered 2025 credited with four tackles in 80 defensive snaps over 10 career games in his first two seasons from 2023-24.<\/p>\n
\u201cBranden Strozier is a guy that has grown immensely throughout the year,\u201d Swinney said. \u201cWith [cornerback Avieon Terrell] out, it\u2019s been good to see him. I think he\u2019s been one of those guys that has stood out to me throughout the bowl prep.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With Clemson missing close to 30 total players due to a combination of injuries, opt-outs and transfers, are…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":475351,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[19416,1318,19419,7130,1317,1315,1316,19417,62,19418,67,132,68,15613],"class_list":{"0":"post-475350","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-clemson-insider-podcast","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-gymnastics","11":"tag-hero","12":"tag-ncaa","13":"tag-ncaa-football","14":"tag-ncaafootball","15":"tag-noonan","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-track-and-field","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-wednesday"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115792667278489437","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}