Following Clemson’s 18-13 victory over Syracuse last Saturday, head coach Dabo Swinney praised transfer defensive tackle Kourtney Kelly for making a major impact after fighting his way back from a torn ACL suffered during spring practice.

After making his long-awaited Clemson debut on Oct. 17 vs. Charleston Southern, Kelly logged 20 snaps in the loss to Virginia Tech the following week and then contributed a couple of tackles in the win at Florida State a week later.

While Kelly has been back in the fold over the last few weeks, the 6-foot-3, 290-pound junior really made his presence felt in the win at Syracuse.

He posted three tackles (one for loss), his first sack as a Tiger and a forced fumble against the Orange. It was his forced fumble that Jahiem Lawson scooped up and returned 22 yards for a touchdown, which was ultimately the difference in the game, leading to the Tigers’ only touchdown.

“Kourtney is a high motor guy. He cares. He’s still kind of playing his way back into real football shape, etcetera. But that was a big, big, big play [on Saturday vs. Syracuse],” Swinney said during his Sunday evening teleconference. “… Kourtney just kept working and finally got in there and got to [the quarterback].”

Swinney is happy for Kelly and glad to have him back in the rotation at defensive tackle.

With Kelly going down early in the spring with his ACL injury and fellow defensive tackle Markus Strong getting injured in the season opener against LSU, Swinney’s Tigers were down two of their biggest transfer additions. Kelly’s return helps offset the absence of Strong after both players were lost for a good portion of the season.

“It’s great to get him back. I’m really happy for him,” Swinney said of Kelly. “It’s a tough thing to get hurt in spring and know you’re going to miss some time, and obviously he’s a kid just coming in here. We forget about Markus Strong. He played a half of the LSU game. That was a big signee for us. So, to not have both of those guys for a good bit of the season was a loss for us.”

Kelly was one of many transfer portal acquisitions for Clemson on the defensive side of the ball this past offseason. He spent his first two college seasons at West Georgia, where he was credited with 17 tackles (seven for loss), four sacks and a fumble recovery in 11 games in 2025 after appearing in one game while redshirting in 2024.

Kelly and the Tigers (6-3, 4-2 ACC) return to the field this Saturday when they host Georgia Tech at Clemson’s Memorial Stadium (12:30 p.m., The CW).