Clemson football: 5 bold predictions for 2020
Bold predictions for Clemson football in the 2020 college football season.
Dabo Swinney has made Clemson football a bonafide force. Year after year, the Tigers are competing for the College Football Playoff and, more often than not, slicing through the ACC like a hot knife through butter. And as he enters his third season with Trevor Lawrence as his quarterback and with running back Travis Etienne returning, the hopes remain extremely high.
As we enter a pandemic-shortened 2020 season, though, there are questions about what football will look like as a whole but also what Clemson’s roster will shape up like. With several NFL departures at key spots, they have holes to fill. Yet, after making the National Championship Game and falling short, the Tigers are the favorites to win it all this year.
Will they do it? Who will be their breakout star along the way? And what will be their biggest game? Let’s dive into all this and more as we make five bold predictions for Clemson football in 2020.
Clemson football bold prediction No. 5: Joseph Ngata becomes a star
With Trevor Lawrence throwing the football, it’s no shock that there have been some productive wide receivers recently for the Tigers. And over the past two years, we’ve seen Tee Higgins and Justyn Ross emerge as real stars in the program. They led the team last year in terms of receptions, yards and scores, combining for 125 receptions, 2,032 yards and 21 touchdowns as a pair.
However, Higgins is now a member of the Cincinnati Bengals after being the first pick of the second round in this year’s draft while Ross was ruled out for the 2020 season due to a neck injury that required surgery. And while Amari Rodgers returns, someone like Joseph Ngata is a much better candidate to step into the vacancies left by last year’s leaders and be a star on offense.
The No. 9 wide receiver in the 2019 recruiting class, Ngata is a matchup nightmare for opposing defenses with his 6-foot-3, 215-pound frame. He showcased it in limited work last season as he came up with 17 catches for 240 yards and three touchdowns. And now that he isn’t behind Higgins and Ross, he could be even better.
This Tigers offense is going to be lethal given the quarterback-running back combo that they possess. However, if Ngata can step into the hole on the outside at wide receiver and live up to his obvious potential, the offense not only could be unstoppable but the young player could also establish himself as a national star.