Clemson will again rely on fifth-year senior linebacker James Skalski to be an anchor in the middle of the defense in 2020, especially with projected top-10 NFL Draft pick Isaiah Simmons no longer a part of the unit.
If his performance this spring is any indication, Skalski is poised to be a guy the Tigers can lean on defensively this season. According to head coach Dabo Swinney, the starting middle linebacker played at a very high level throughout the team’s nine spring practices.
“It’s almost not fair. I just wish they’d take him out,” Swinney said jokingly after Clemson’s first scrimmage of the spring on March 11, which turned out to be its last practice of the spring because of the ACC’s decision to cancel all athletic-related activities in the league through the end of the 2019-20 academic year.