During Friday’s edition of ESPN’s College Football Live, senior college football writer/reporter Pete Thamel discussed the top-10 teams that lost in Week 1 – Texas (to Ohio State), Clemson (to LSU), Notre Dame (to Miami) and Alabama (to Florida State).

“I think the first thing we need to see is no panic,” Thamel said. “Even at Alabama – everything is still in front of these teams. This isn’t your father’s college football, where an early season loss undermines your entire season. So, I think these teams have to go back and forge an identity. That’s difficult to do when you open up with one of these blockbuster openers, which all of them did.”

Thamel then spoke about Clemson specifically – and what he wants to see from Dabo Swinney’s team in today’s game against Troy.

Thamel pointed to true freshman running back Gideon Davidson, who played just two snaps in the 17-10 loss at home to LSU last Saturday.

The 6-foot, 200-pounder did not receive any of Clemson’s 20 carries in the contest.

“I think one specific thing I want to see from Clemson is I want to see tailback Gideon Davidson,” Thamel said. “He’s a true freshman, one of the top running back recruits in the country. Dabo is always slow to work in the freshmen. He only had two snaps in the opener against LSU. If Clemson’s going to get that run game going, they need a little juice from Davidson. It’ll be interesting to see against Troy, if they start finding that identity with Davidson.”

Gideon Davidson – the No. 3 running back and No. 59 overall prospect in the 2025 recruiting class, per ESPN – generated a lot of buzz and drew plenty of praise from coaches and teammates alike over the offseason after enrolling at Clemson in January.

Of all the true freshmen on the Clemson football team, the expectations might’ve been the highest for Davidson, at least from the fan base. With very little production returning at the running back position, and Davidson being one of the highest-rated backs in the last recruiting class, many were expecting an immediate impact from him.

This past week, Swinney lent some insight into why Davidson didn’t get any carries against LSU, saying he made a blocking mistake on his first snap of the game and thus didn’t “get as much opportunity after that.”

“Gid got in there, his first play, he just missed his block on the lead block,” Swinney explained, “so he didn’t quite get as much opportunity after that.”

Davidson more than proved his worth at the high school level, helping lead his Liberty Christian (Va.) team to a state title in each of his final two seasons. In 2023, he earned MaxPreps National Junior of the Year honors. As a senior, he was named the Gatorade Player of the Year in the state of Virginia after rushing for 2,341 yards with 37 touchdowns.

Fans were excited to see Davidson bring some of that production to the field for the Tigers. While it didn’t happen in the opener, we’ll see if he gets more opportunity to show what he can do today when Clemson takes on Troy at Memorial Stadium (3:30 p.m., ACC Network).