The 2025 season has been everything that wasn’t expected for the Clemson Tigers.

After dropping two of the first three games, Dabo Swinney’s team looked on the verge of rebounding after back-to-back blowout wins on the road over North Carolina and Boston College. However, after returning home, the Tigers dropped two more to SMU and Duke and were suddenly sitting at 3-5.

A team that was picked in the preseason to win the ACC and one many were projecting to make a deep run in the College Football Playoff was completely out of the discussion before September had ended.

Those types of seasons tend to lead to massive changes, and while that is what is expected at Clemson once the season concludes, today, we look at some of the smaller changes that have occurred during the season.

Swinney has always prided his program on being a developmental one, and while that development doesn’t always come at the pace many fans would like, several players on this year’s team have made a lot of progress in that regard.

Running back Gideon Davidson has been one of the biggest examples on the offensive side of the ball. The true freshman has seen his time on the field increase drastically in recent weeks. After logging just nine snaps over the first four games, Davidson has played 118 since. While the first-year back is still looking for the first touchdown of his career, he is averaging close to five yards per carry and has given the Tigers a viable option behind starter Adam Randall.

At the same time, redshirt freshman David Eziomume has seen the little playing he was getting early in the season evaporate with the emergence of Davidson. After averaging six snaps per contest over the first six games, Eziomume has not seen the field in the past three.

Offensive lineman Brayden Jacobs is another first-year player who was coming along quite nicely before suffering a season-ending injury while celebrating last week’s win over Louisville. Jacobs played eight snaps across the first month, but has logged 360 since, which included making four consecutive starts.

Transfer wideout Tristan Smith has seen his time on the field take a big jump. The senior played 29 snaps over the first four games. He is now at 217 for the season, having started each of the last three games with Bryant Wesco out injured. However, Smith’s playing time was already increasing even before Wesco’s injury.

Another receiver has seen his playing time decrease in recent weeks. Redshirt sophomore Tyler Brown has been on the field for just 36 snaps over the past four games. Brown had eight snaps against Louisville and a season-low 7 against Florida State. His previous season low was 19 in the blowout win at North Carolina. He’s currently at 266 for the season.

On the other side of the ball, Corian Gipson has really started to shine in recent weeks. The redshirt freshman began the season at corner, but was moved to nickel after Shelton Lewis announced he was sitting out the rest of the season with intentions of entering the transfer portal. Gipson registered 26 snaps in the win over Florida State before making his first career start at Louisville.

With Gipson playing more, the odd man out was Ronan Hanafin. The junior has been a staple on the backend of the defense for much of the season, but saw his playing time reduced to just nine snaps last time out.

Kylon Griffin has been another safety to see his playing time decrease. The redshirt junior played a big role in the Clemson secondary last season, recording 360 snaps. However, he has just 47 this year and has only been on the field for two snaps over the last four games.

Another veteran in the secondary who has seen his playing time cut dramatically is cornerback Jeadyn Lukus. Over the past four games, the senior has not logged a single defensive snap, after playing 141 over the first six games, including making one start.

Defensive tackle Amare Adams has also become a part of the rotation after logging only seven snaps across the first two games. The true freshman is now routinely seeing double-digit snap counts.

With Adams seeing the field more, redshirt freshman Champ Thompson has played less. Thompson has played just one snap over the past four games.

Photo by Bart Boatwright