Clemson's depth chart reveals a drastically altered roster for the Pinstripe Bowl, with 27 opt-outs forcing significant new opportunities.
The 2025 season has come to end for the Clemson Tigers, who missed the College Football Playoff.
But there's still one more game left to play for the postseason, and that's the Pinstripe Bowl matchup against the Nittany Lions.
One of the biggest storylines ahead of the contest is the sheer number of opt-outs, particularly on Clemson's side. Players electing to opt out due to avoid injury ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft is typical, but for the Tigers, their roster looks almost entirely different.
Compared to the four Nittany Lions who have opted out, Clemson has lost a whopping 27 of its scholarship players. That number almost matches the number of NFL teams in existence...
Of those 27 players not participating, some 14 of those are on the defensive side of the ball. Seven of those included in that number are defensive starters.
Here's a look at the depth chart released ahead of the bowl game, which may include some names even the most involved Clemson fans may not recognize.
Penn State's team is obviously much more intact, but it is important to note the Nittany Lions do not actually release a depth chart. They instead simply provided a list of starters from the team's most recent outing -- their narrow, 40-36 victory over Rutgers.
Here's a list of players who reside at the top of their position groups who previously did not ahead of the opt-outs:
- Ronan Hanafin (rover)
- Kobe McCloud (weakside LB)
- Branden Strozier (CB)
- Cade Denhoff (DE)
- Stephiylan Green (DT)
- Champ Thompson/Vic Burley (DT)
- Tyler Brown (slot WR)
- Ronan O'Connell/Dietrick Pennington (LG)
That's quite a bit of shakeup. While Clemson is playing this game to win and stay hot on a five-game winning streak against the odds with so many losses here, one added benefit that is also something of a silver lining is that the Tigers will get to learn plenty about their depth and what some things next year could look like.
It will be interesting to see how things ultimately play out when the Tigers and the Lions kick off at noon ET in Yankee Stadium on Dec. 27.