CLEMSON – Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney was asked about the status of senior defensive tackle Markus Strong in his weekly press conference Tuesday.

Strong suffered a severe lower-leg injury in the Tigers’ season-opener against LSU back in September, and Swinney initially announced that he would most likely be out for the remainder of the season.

However, on Tuesday, the Tigers’ leader  provided a different answer after alluding to Strong’s progress in a report last week. Around two months after the initial injury, Swinney believes the defensive lineman could make it back for the end of Clemson’s season.

“Yeah, I think there’s a chance,” Swinney said. “He’s progressing well, so that’d be another shot in the arm.”

Strong finished with one tackle in the LSU game– his first contest in a Clemson uniform. Before joining the Tigers this offseason, he played three years under Brent Venables at Oklahoma, notching 10 tackles and three sacks in 11 games played. At 6-foot-3, 295 pounds, Clemson’s staff believed that his size could help a team that lost two NFL-caliber defensive tackles from last year.

In turn, Clemson’s staff went out and recruited three transfer portal defensive tackles, including Strong. However, all three of those linemen have battled injuries in their first respective years in Upstate South Carolina.

In the spring, University of West Georgia transfer Kourtney Kelly suffered an ACL tear, while Texas State transfer Devarrick Woods also missed several weeks after a mid-October injury. Additionally, returner Vic Burley missed some time after being suspended and underclassman Hevin Brown-Shuler is out for the season after fighting a cancer diagnosis.

Now, entering the final month of the regular season, Kelly is back in the rotation, while Woods was fully available for the first time in the Tigers’ most recent 36-24 win over Florida State. Burley is also back in the fray.

“Devarrick, that’s the first game really that he was healthy, and he looked like he looked before he got hurt,” Swinney said. “I mean, he’s explosive. He’s twitchy. He plays with some desperation, and it shows up on tape. So you know, getting 92, getting Kourtney, I mean, defensively we’re in a pretty good spot.”

While the Tigers are battling injuries on the other side of the ball, the defensive side is slowly working into its most healthy shape so far this season. With a tough ACC slate and rivalry game against South Carolina still to come this season, Swinney believes it is coming at the right time.

“Defensive line wise, We’ve held up pretty good so far,” Swinney said.

The Tigers leader will provide more injury updates throughout the week as Clemson gets ready to head to Syracuse, New York, to take on the Orange at the JMA Wireless Dome this Saturday.

Kickoff is set for noon.