Swinney Names Three Tigers Who Will ‘Fill the Void’ with McCloud Out

A trio of talented young Clemson linebackers will be asked to step up in the absence of reserve linebacker Kobe McCloud.

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney announced Monday evening that McCloud, a redshirt sophomore who has played in 15 career games, is out for the season and will have to undergo knee surgery.

Swinney said during Monday’s Zoom conference call that three players – true freshman Sammy Brown, redshirt freshman Dee Crayton and sophomore Jamal Anderson – will fill the void left by McCloud’s injury and step into the main backup role at linebacker behind Barrett Carter and Wade Woodaz.

“It’ll be Sammy and Dee and Jamal – those three guys,” Swinney said. “All of them played a lot the other night (vs. App State), so again, that’s a really good thing that they all got that amount of experience. So those three guys will step up and fill the void.”

Brown, a former five-star prospect from Georgia, made his college debut on special teams in Clemson’s Aug. 31 season opener against UGA and then led the Tigers with 11 tackles, including two special teams stops, in last Saturday’s game vs. Appalachian State.

Like Brown, Crayton and Anderson are Peach State products, with Crayton being a former three-star prospect and Anderson a former four-star recruit. Each of them saw playing time on special teams against Georgia, and they recorded two tackles apiece vs. App State.

Swinney also mentioned true freshmen Drew Woodaz and C.J. Kubah-Taylor as two linebackers who could potentially see more action with McCloud sidelined, though the Tigers would ideally like to redshirt Woodaz and Kubah-Taylor this season.

“We’ve got Drew Woodaz and C.J. Kubah-Taylor that we’re hoping to hold this year, but we’ll have to see how it goes,” Swinney said. “But hopefully those three guys (Brown, Crayton, Anderson) can step up and fill that void.”