Clemson has a pair of stars at defensive tackle heading into 2023. Both Tyler Davis and Ruke Orhorhoro are true NFL talents, but elected to return for a final year as Tigers.
Orhorhoro said after practice Tuesday that he had already known he was coming back, but Davis called him and said he was doing the same. Orhorhoro’s response was “are you serious” when he got the news but it speaks to the connection those two have.
Chemistry is important at any position, but it’s invaluable in the trenches and the pair have been terrorizing offenses for some time now. Orhorhoro talked about their relationship and did so in a joking manner as he always does.
”We usually do everything together. I wish we lived together but Tyler got a girlfriend on me and kinda turned his back on me so now she a part of the family too,” Orhorhoro said. “Yeah, we do everything together. We go to church together, eat together, watch film together all the time. We’re together every single day honestly.”
The graduate senior “looked up” to Davis as he was the first to get playing time at Clemson, and Orhorhoro said the drive to always one-up the other is what helped the two gel and improve together throughout their career.
“I just follow behind his footsteps and he makes me better so everything he does, I want to do better and everything I do, he wants to do better,” Orhorhoro said. “And so, ever since then, we’ve just been close and starting in the weight room, if I benched 405, he wanted to bench 410. It was annoying at first, but it’s good competition and all it did was make us closer.”
Davis and Orhorhoro combined for 55 tackles, 17.5 for loss and 9.5 sacks during the 2022 season. While the numbers are strong alone, it’s just a small capsule of how impactful they are, and Xavier Thomas noted Monday that offenses “have to make a decision” with blocking this defensive line.
With one final year to play together, Orhorhoro said the goal is to win it all and the connection in the middle is one of the key catalysts for that to come to fruition.