Dabo Swinney gives an injury update on defensive tackle Tre Williams
Dabo Swinney held a press conference Thursday and updated the media on the status of veteran defensive tackle Tre Williams.
Williams has been dealing with a shoulder injury that he injured in high school and had fixed this spring, resulting in him missing some time. According to Swinney, while he isn’t ready to play yet, Williams is trending in the right direction.
“He’s doing good. He’s not ready to play,” Swinney said. “He’s doing really good, though. He’s going to be ready to play, and we’re going to kind of see how it goes with him.”
The young defensive tackle has dealt with injuries throughout his time with the program. He had a season-ending injury as a true freshman and has dealt with problems with his foot, shoulder, and knee since then.
“As y’all know, he’s been here, and Lord have mercy, he’s had both shoulders, he’s had knees, he’s had a little bit of everything on his body he’s dealt with,” the head coach said.
If his health remains an issue, there is a chance Williams is redshirt this season. The Tigers have strong depth on the defensive line, and if needed, it could be an option.
“We’re going to really try to kind of take it slow with him because we could get a year back with him,” Swinney said. “A lot of that depends on how we perform if we can stay healthy at the D-tackle position. We do have a little bit of depth, obviously, with TD (Tyler Davis) and Ruke (Orhorhoro) back. So, he’s going to play and will be ready to play, but we’re going to kind of see. It’s something we’ve talked about, and maybe if we can hold him as long as we can and let’s really just fortify his body and get him in a great spot, and then if we could steal a year back, that would be great for him and for us.
“But we don’t know right now, but he’s trending in the right direction. He’s doing good. He’s back in practice. He’s back in green (limited contact jersey) now.”
Right now, the Clemson coaching staff still knows more than we do. It’s anyone’s guess what happens, but hearing he is trending in the right direction is a good sign.
We’ll have to wait and see with Williams.
