Dan Brooks may be retiring, but his works will be represented in the Clemson football program for the next couple of years.

With the defending national champions returning senior Scott Pagano, along with juniors Christian Wilkins and Albert Huggins and sophomore Dexter Lawrence, Brooks’ influence will be all over a defensive front that will be considered one of, if not the best in the country next season.

With Lawrence just a rising sophomore and Nyles Pinckney a redshirt freshman, Brooks’ influence will remain intact for at least two more years. With Brooks’ tutelage, Lawrence became the ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2016 after tallying 78 tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss and seven sacks as a true freshman.

As for Pinckney (6-3, 300), all he did was dominate on the scout team this past year, winning the scout team’s defensive player of the week five times this season.

“I like Pinckney a lot,” said Brooks prior to the Tigers’ win over Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl. “From what I have seen of him on the scout team, he is making plays, which I like. That means he is over there working and getting better.”

Pinckney came to Clemson from Beaufort, South Carolina where he was rated as the No. 4 prospect in the Palmetto State coming out of high school. He chose Clemson over South Carolina.

Last summer, Pinckney was a player Swinney kept singling out during post practice reports with the media.

“I think Nyles is a guy where it will not take long in spring practice before everybody will know why we went and recruited him,” Brooks said.

Brooks admitted one of the reasons Pinckney was redshirted last season was simply due to the fact of who was playing in front of him.

“It is hard for a guy like that, but you just have to be honest with him and tell him that we have good players in front of you and it is just not fair to you to put you in for ten plays a game and have you lose a year of eligibility.

“We think he is very capable of being everything we went and recruited him to be,” Brooks said.

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