Four Tigers make ESPN's top players for 2023 ranking

Will Shipley is among three Tigers in the Top 34 of the ESPN ranking of college football's best this season, along with linebackers Barrett Carter and Jeremiah Trotter Jr.

by TigerNet Staff - Tue Aug 15 09:05:23 GMT-04:00 2023

ESPN ranked the Top 100 players in college football and four Tigers made the list, with three in the first 34 ranked.

That's led by 2022 All-American Jeremiah Trotter Jr. at No. 21.

"Trotter is all business, head coach Dabo Swinney said, and business was good in 2022. He led the Tigers with 89 tackles (50 solo) to go with 6.5 sacks, 13.5 TFL, five PBUs and four QB hurries. Pro Football Focus graded Trotter as the ACC's top-graded linebacker and the second best among all returning Power 5 LBs," said an ESPN staff writer.

Five spots behind him is running back Will Shipley at No. 26.

"How big was Shipley's impact last season? He made the 2022 All-ACC team three times -- as a tailback, all-purpose player and return man. Shipley ran for 1,182 yards, caught 38 balls for 242 more yards and had 324 yards in kickoff returns, scoring 15 times total. With new OC Garrett Riley calling plays in 2023, he could be in for even bigger things," said ESPN.

The top Clemson linebacker duo in the top third is completed at No. 34 with Barrett Carter.

"Swinney calls Carter one of the most dynamic players he's coached -- a guy who's dominant at linebacker but could easily play safety, corner, edge rusher or even tailback, Swinney said. The numbers back up the claim. Carter finished 2022 with 73 tackles (10 for a loss), 5.5 sacks, 2 picks, 2 forced fumbles, 7 pass break-ups and 25 QB pressures. No other FBS player has done all that in the same season in the past five years," said ESPN.

Tyler Davis completes the Clemson quartet at No. 66 overall, coming off of an All-American campaign himself and going into a fifth season in the Tiger defense.

ESPN says fellow Clemson D-line member and freshman Peter Woods could find his way on the list as well by year's end.

"Clemson defensive tackle Peter Woods has already established himself as something of a Paul Bunyan-esque character for the Tigers," said ESPN's David Hale. "He's 6-2, 315 pounds and does things tackles coach Nick Eason said he's never seen anyone that size do on a football field. In other words, Woods is basically a legend before he's played his first snap. And sure, Clemson has a couple of talented interior D-linemen atop the depth chart already, but it's hard to see a scenario in which Woods doesn't get ample snaps this season, and the Tigers have a long history -- from Christian Wilkins to Dexter Lawrence to Tyler Davis to Bryan Bresee -- of freshmen DTs making a huge impact right off the bat."

Four on the list is one up from last season, where the Tigers had three total in the Top 38.

Pro Football Focus ranked only the Top 50 for this year and had just the two Tiger linebackers Trotter and Carter.

Reigning Heisman winner Caleb Williams at USC leads the ESPN list. Clemson is scheduled to face No. 5 again in UNC quarterback Drake Maye this November in Death Valley, as well as two more Top 10 foes in September at home with Florida State QB Jordan Travis (8) and defensive end Jared Verse (9).