During his weekly Sunday evening conference call with the media, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney explained why starting right guard Walker Parks did not start, or play much at all, in Saturday’s 38-10 win over North Carolina.

According to Swinney, Parks was ready to play against the Tar Heels after getting injured in the Syracuse game on Sept. 20, but the Tigers opted to hold him out vs. UNC due to how the game went.

“Walker was ready,” Swinney said. “He got hurt in the Syracuse game. So, he’d been dealing with an injury. So, he was ready to play, but really not fully ready until probably Wednesday of last week. So, he was ready to play, and then how the game went, we just held him. I think he played one snap in kind of our heavy package. If we had needed him, we would have used him. But really more just him battling an injury from the Syracuse game. So, it worked out good.”

Swinney added that Parks will be “ready to roll” in this Saturday’s game at Boston College (7:30 p.m., ACC Network).

“He’s doing great, and ready to roll,” Swinney said.

Parks, a sixth-year veteran, entered the 2025 season already standing as one of 28 players on record in school history to play 2,500 career snaps from scrimmage. An ESPN Freshman All-American as a reserve in 2020, Parks earned the starting right tackle role entering his sophomore year in 2021 and transitioned to guard during fall camp in 2022. He entered 2025 having played 2,810 career snaps over 53 games (42 starts).

Despite losing two years to injury, Parks entered his sixth season at Clemson in 2025 already ranking 12th on-record in school history in career snaps from scrimmage. The 6-foot-5, 310-pounder was a 2024 All-ACC selection and is a three-time All-ACC Academic Team selection.