Dabo Swinney feels fairly confident wide receiver Amari Rodgers will be ready to play at some point for Clemson in 2019. The Tigers’ coach indicated Rodgers could possibly be back by the season-opener on Aug. 29.
Swinney pointed to the example of former players Sam Cooper and Chad Kelly, who were able to return from ACL injuries the week of Clemson’s season opener at Georgia back in 2014. Both of them tore their ACL’s that April in the spring game.
“I think that spring game was later, maybe the second week of April, and they played against Georgia, like August 31, if I remember correctly,” Swinney said after Friday’s practice.
Rodgers tore his ACL during a contact drill in practice this past Monday. He is expected to have surgery this coming week. Most ACL injuries take anywhere from six to nine months after surgery.
“Everybody responds differently to those types of injuries,” Swinney said. “It was a clean injury. But a lot of it is who that person is and how they are going to grind through the rehab.”
Swinney expects Rodgers to go hard in his rehab process.
“Let me just tell you, Amari does not do anything halfway,” Swinney said. “He will pour everything he’s got into getting himself back. He’ll be better than ever. Deshaun Watson made All-Pro this year with two torn ACLs, so they are not cutting his leg off. He will be back.
“That’s unfortunate, but that is just part of his journey. You just have to own it, embrace it, he was going to grind anyway this summer, now he is just grinding to get himself back strong and healthy. We will see where he is when we get into fall camp and make a decision there.”
Swinney said they will go at Rodgers’ pace.
“We are not going to rush him back or anything. Whenever he is ready, they will put him back in there,” Clemson’s coach said. “He will do everything he can to get back as soon as possible.”
Second scrimmage better than the first. Swinney reported the second scrimmage, which was held on Wednesday at Death Valley, was much better than the Tigers’ March 13 scrimmage.
He said there was still good and bad on both sides, but overall, it was more competitive. He said there were still too many drops and too many penalties, but overall there was improvement.
“I was encouraged by both sides on some of the things that I saw,” he said. “But still, we are a long way away from being game ready or anything like that. But we are making progress and today was a gut-check-type of practice. Today was a tough practice for them.”
D-Line is getting better: Swinney said the defensive line is getting better and he has seen some real improvement from that group.
The Clemson coach indicated several guys have made some improvement, including Xavier Kelly, who Swinney said had his best day of the spring on Friday. He also said Darnell Jefferies is getting better and is encouraged by his play.
“Those guys have made a lot of progress,” Swinney said about the group as a whole. “They have a long way to go, but they’re coming. So, I am encouraged by what I have seen from those guys.”
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