Clemson Disrespect Just Reached a New Level Before Fall Camp

The Clemson Tigers are looking to wash the taste of a miserable 2025 campaign out of their mouths, but not a whole lot of people seem to believe in them heading into 2026.

On the surface, it's hard to blame the detractors.

Clemson went just 7-6 last season and lost to Penn State in the Pinstripe Bowl. It watched as a handful of its best players — including quarterback Cade Klubnik — were selected in the NFL Draft, and many feel that Dabo Swinney has lost some of his luster.

There are a whole lot of question marks surrounding the Tigers going into fall camp, which should begin within the next month.

Clearly, Pro Football Focus does not view Clemson very favorably right now, as it did not include a single Tigers player in its top 50 rankings for 2026.

While there is reason to doubt Clemson, I'm not so sure it makes sense to not include a single Tigers player on that list.

Linebacker Sammy Brown looks like a stud, and edge rusher Will Heldt could be one of the best pass rushers in the nation this coming fall. Then, there is wide receiver T.J. Moore, an athletic freak who is coming off of a terrific sophomore campaign and could be a first-round pick in next year's NFL Draft.

In fact, all of Brown, Heldt and Moore could come off the board on Day 1 of the draft next spring, so to omit all of them seems like a miss.

The Tigers are almost certainly not going to make anyone's preseason top 25 as a collective unit, and that's understandable. But do they really not have one of the best 50 players in the country?

Clemson is a program that regularly churns out impressive NFL talent. We just saw that this past April when Klubnik, Blake Miller, Peter Woods, Avieon Terrell, Antonio Williams, Adam Randall and DeMonte Capehart were all picked in the draft.

Taking that into consideration, there has to be at least one player on the roster who is deserving.

There is no question that the Tigers have fallen over the last few years, but the disrespect of Swinney's squad has now reached new levels.

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