Back in April, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney felt his team would be okay if the coronavirus pandemic interrupted workouts or made preparing for the 2020 football season more difficult than normal.

It has done both.

After Clemson broke for spring break on March 12, the university closed the campus through the rest of the spring semester and the ACC canceled all organized activities for the rest of the 2019-’20 academic year. Players were not allowed back on campus until June 1 and they could not begin voluntary workouts until the week of June 8.

Since then, Clemson has reported 37 football players have tested positive for the virus. To date, there have been no hospitalizations related to COVID-19 for any individual within Clemson Athletics, and more than half of the positive cases have been asymptomatic. All individuals who had previously tested positive have completed CDC-recommended isolation and are either back in activity or awaiting final medical clearance.

Led by quarterback Trevor Lawrence and two-time ACC Player of the Year Travis Etienne at running back, Clemson has one of the more experienced teams in not just the ACC, but in the entire country. Though the Tigers bring back just 11 starters combined on offense and defense, they return 52 lettermen overall.

“We have a lot to do, but this whole ordeal we are going through right now has created a unique challenge for us as a football team,” Swinney said at the time. “I will tell you. I knew that we had great people, but to see everyone rise up and adapt and find a way to still be great, it has been really special to be a part of it.”

ESPN’s College Game Day crew agrees with Swinney. During Tuesday’s College Football Live Show on ESPN2, analyst Joey Galloway and David Pollack said Clemson is one of the few teams in college football that is built for the disruption the COVID-19 pandemic has caused.

Galloway likes teams like Clemson because of the veteran presence it has at quarterback with Lawrence.

“I think it is going to come down to one of these teams that has a veteran quarterback that has played a lot of football like a Clemson, like an Ohio State and Justin Fields,” he said. “I think even if you go further and go down to Texas and Sam Ehlinger. They have a lot of starters coming back.

“I think veterans on your football team, and that always starts with your quarterback position. If you have a leader at quarterback that has won a lot of football games and played a lot of good football, a lot of guys can follow that guy. Because this isn’t normal, we are not out practicing like we normally do. So, you look at the teams that have veterans and great playmakers.”

Pollack says he is looking at depth in this situation, which he explains favors teams like Clemson, Ohio State, Alabama and Georgia the most.

“You are talking about a pandemic. You are talking about testing. You are talking about quarantine rules that we are going to have in place. You better have depth at every position because you never know this year who you are going to lose,” he said. “So, who does that benefit? The same ole same. The same teams we talk about every year.

“Let’s go down the list. Clemson has so much depth. Ohio State, Alabama, Georgia, those are the teams every single year we see that when somebody gets hurt they are okay because they have recruited at such a high level over the last several years that they have multiple guys at multiple positions, especially in a year like this.”

A great gift for any Tiger fan. Just one of many great items available from Clemson Variety & Frame