With the departure of Mike Jones Jr. to the transfer portal during the offseason, the SAM linebacker spot in the Brent Venables-schemed Clemson defense came open, and more than halfway through the season, Trenton Simpson, a 6-3 225-pound sophomore from North Carolina, has proved to be more than capable of filling those shoes.
Last season Simpson showed signs as a true freshman that he was a stud in the making, recording 28 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss and four sacks. His four sacks matched fellow freshmen Bryan Bresee and Myles Murphy for third-most sacks all-time by a true freshman in Clemson history.