The Clemson Tigers have lost so many key defensive players this offseason.
On Sunday, yet another Clemson Tigers defensive player declared for the NFL Draft, with linebacker Wade Woodaz announcing his intentions to depart Clemson.
Woodaz has been a key piece for the Tigers for years and is coming off of a 2025 campaign in which he registered 70 tackles, seven tackles for loss and three passes defended.
The 21-year-old will join defensive tackles Peter Woods and DeMonte Capehart, edge rusher T.J. Parker and cornerback Avieon Terrell as key Clemson defenders who will be making the jump to the NFL, and on top of that, breakout safety Ricardo Jones — who racked up six interceptions in 2025 — has entered the transfer portal.
This creates a massive problem that Dabo Swinney may not be able to repair in 2026.
The gravity of these losses has not really hit just yet. Woods, Parker and Terrell might all be first-round picks, and while Capehart and Woodaz are likely Day 3 selections, they are still integral contributors who will be sorely missed.
Swinney has failed to properly utilize the transfer portal for years now, and while he seems to be acting a bit more aggressively in the portal this time around, can anyone fully trust him to make the right decisions this winter?
Clemson Tigers coach Dabo Swinney. Credit: Ken Ruinard / USA Today Network South Carolina / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images.Not that Swinney isn't a great coach. He is. After all, he led the Tigers to four National Championship Games and two titles between 2015 and 2019. But when it comes to the transfer portal, it's not absurd to say that he is very out of his element.
Swinney isn't Ryan Day or Lane Kiffin in this regard. Heck, he isn't even Manny Diaz. He is someone who has been stubborn in his ways and has largely refused to adapt, and it resulted in Clemson having a 7-6 season in 2025.
But now, Swinney is really left without much of a choice, especially after seeing a massive swath of his defense bolting for the NFL.
It seems hard to imagine that Swinney will be able to plug all of these holes within the next several months. It's more likely that he will have to chip away over these next couple of seasons to get the Tigers back to where they want to be on both sides of the ball.
On the bright side, unheralded stars like Will Heldt and Sammy Brown are returning to the defense in 2026, and cornerback Ashton Hampton could be a breakout player next season. Swinney also may be on the verge of landing former Florida State safety Edwin Joseph.
But it's going to be very difficult for Clemson to recover from this mass defensive exodus.