Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney delivered some bad injury news during his Sunday evening teleconference with the media.

Swinney said that starting nickelback Donovan Starr will “probably be out for the season” after suffering an injury in Saturday’s 18-13 victory at Syracuse.

Starr went down on the field midway through the second quarter. He dropped down after a big Syracuse pass play and did not return to the contest.

Swinney said that Starr suffered an ankle injury. Swinney did say there’s a chance Star could return for the postseason.

“He’ll probably be out for the season,” Swinney said. “So, tough break for us there at a position of need for us with Corian Gipson already being out. So, I hate that for Donovan because he was making a lot of progress and growing.”

“Maybe he’s back for the postseason. We’ll see,” Swinney added. “But for sure will be out these next few games.”

Starr finished Saturday’s game with two tackles, a pass breakup and a quarterback hurry.

The 5-foot-11, 185-pound sophomore has appeared in all nine games this season, with two starts. He has tallied 12 total tackles and three pass breakups.

A former Mr. Football winner in Tennessee, Starr transferred to Clemson in 2026 after one season at Auburn, where he played nine games in his freshman season.