By Will Vandervort.

By Will Vandervort

CLEMSON — While Wake Forest is getting healthy for the first time in a long while, No. 13 Clemson comes into tonight’s 7:30 p.m. matchup a little banged up.

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney announced Wednesday cornerback Bashaud Breeland did not make the trip to Winston-Salem, N.C. after suffering an abdominal strain in practice earlier this week. Breeland is the second regular starter at cornerback to go down in the last week to injury.

Swinney said earlier in the week Darius Robinson is going to be out until the bowl game after suffering a broken ankle in the first quarter of last week’s win over Virginia Tech. Though the Tigers are healthy pretty everywhere else on their team, the one position they could not afford multiple injuries was at cornerback where they were already down one starter in Martin Jenkins who suffered an injured hip during fall practice.

“We’re very thin, there’s no doubt about that, but it’s an opportunity for a couple of those young guys to get their first significant chance,” Swinney said during the ACC Coaches teleconference. “A guy like Cortez Davis, who has been getting better, but hasn’t gotten a lot of reps, will have a chance. But now that we’re very thin, he’s getting a lot of practice time, and that’s what he needs to improve.

“You could see a guy like him get an opportunity pretty soon.”

Davis, a redshirt freshman, will be one of the young players asked to fill in at cornerback, along with sophomore Dante Stewart. Senior Xavier Brewer will move over to corner fulltime to replace Breeland, while sophomore Garry Peters will be the starter in Robinson’s place. Peters started the Georgia Tech game following an interception and pass broken up in the Tigers win at Boston College on Sept. 29. He then lost the job to Robinson in the two weeks leading up to the Virginia Tech game before subbing again when Robinson was injured.

Clemson (6-1, 3-1 ACC) could also use wide receiver Adam Humphries tonight should someone else go down with an injury. Swinney said Wednesday that Humphries will only be used in case there is an emergency. It doesn’t help that reserve corner Jerrod Williams went down with a broken leg for the second time in two years. He is out for the year.

Wake Forest (4-3, 2-3 ACC) on the other hand will be the strongest it has been in over a month. Due to suspensions and injuries the Demon Deacons should be able to give Clemson its best shot and that will come at the one place where the Tigers are vulnerable.

After missing the last two-and-half games due to a broken right hand, wide receiver Michael Campanaro, the Deacons best offensive player, will play tonight against Clemson according to the Winston-Salem Journal.

“I think he’s going to play,” Wake Forest head coach Jim Grobe said. “We didn’t do much with him. I really was just laughing about it a couple of days ago. We started him out catching tennis balls. I didn’t know if he could catch a football because his hand is still pretty tender. But last night he looked so much better. We put him in practice.”

Though he has missed the last two and half games, Campanaro still leads the Demons Deacons, by a wide margin, with 38 catches for 429 yards and three scores. The closest receiver has 19 catches.

“We were still careful with him,” Grobe said. “We tried not to do too much with him. He didn’t seem to have any problems. I think they’ve got the padding right. He caught the ball well last night. I think he’s going to play. How much he plays and how well he plays is yet to be determined. But I think if we get him out there, he knocks the rust off pretty quick, starts playing good, we’d be more apt to give him more work.

“I would say he’ll definitely play (tonight).”

The Demon Deacons also welcome back wide receiver Sherman Ragland, who missed last week’s Virginia game with an abdominal pain of his own. Nose tackle Nikita Whitlock, who had a torn ankle ligament is also back as is cornerback Merrill Noel, linebacker Mike Olson, safety Daniel Mack, guard Frank Souza and running back Deandre Martin after serving a suspension.