Clemson defensive tackle could be 'game-wrecker' for Tigers in 2024 (2024)

CLEMSON — As DeMonte Capehart shrugged off questions about his NFL future, he leaned up against the bricks of Clemson’s football facility.

Those walls have provided a much-needed buffer through the years — a blockade from outside influences that could have made a top-50 national recruit restless as he sat behind Bryan Bresee, Tyler Davis, and Ruke Orhorhoro on the Tigers’ defensive tackle depth chart.

Now, it’s protection against the hype being generated ahead of his fifth and final season. The 6-foot-5, 320-pounder was a rotational player in 2023, but Capehart rag-dolled a Notre Dame center and a North Carolina guard so forcefully that Senior Bowl director Jim Nagy noted the plays on film.

Nagy thinks Capehart could transform from a nearly forgotten player to someone who is in the first-round conversation ahead of the 2025 NFL Draft.

“I focus on this building, my technique,” Capehart said after a fall camp practice last week. “The outcome will be the outcome.”

He’s been patiently waiting within Clemson’s walls for years, which is remarkable in an era where more snaps — and more name, image, and likeness (NIL) dollars — can quickly be found in the transfer portal.

But Capehart isn’t keen on dramatizing his rise, or what’s to come. He doesn’t recall any memorable turning points in his journey; he just saw Bresee, Davis, and Orhorhoro having successes, and he wanted the same.

He can’t overly articulate what technical changes he made to unlock his power potential midway through last season. He was just coached harder, and just kept working — and what happened, happened.

Offensive linemen went flying.

“He’s a game-changer, game-wrecker, whatever you want to call it,” teammate Peter Woods said. “He has something that you really just can’t teach, the heavy handedness of a defensive lineman that everybody desires.”

This is the season where Capehart is expected to announce himself to the college football world at large. From what Woods and his counterparts have seen in practice, they expect “Big Cutty” to establish himself as an every-down force.

For whatever reason, he wasn’t ready early in his career, logging just 20 snaps apiece in his first two seasons. He lost confidence, but he was encouraged by his coaches to just ignore the outside world and go to work.

“I’d say the thing from then to now is I’m more hungry now than I was back then,” Capehart said. “I see it, and I wanna eat it.”

Capehart’s confidence multiplied, and so did his snaps. They more than doubled from 83 as a redshirt sophom*ore to 179 last season. He had just four tackles for loss in his first three years, but the Hartsville native collected five TFLs during the 2023 campaign.

His output could take another jump in 2024, because Capehart and Payton Page are taking Davis and Orhorhoro’s slots atop the depth chart. Meanwhile, Woods is expected to play more at defensive end, and all over the line, opening up snaps for Tré Williams, Vic Burley, and Stephiylan Green inside.

Sharing the load is something Clemson defensive tackles have just become accustomed to. In the Tigers’ national championship years, the interior was manned by Christian Wilkins, Dexter Lawrence, and Carlos Watkins. Then it was Bresee, Davis, and Orhorhoro in the early 2020s.

Capehart never saw his teammates as rivals.

“We’re brothers, man,” Capehart said. “We’re ready to work, we got each other’s back. That’s like if I got a little brother, nobody can mess with my little brother but me. I feel like that’s how it is in our room.”

While Clemson’s claim to “WRU” may have softened in recent years, the Tigers feel like “DLU” is going strong.

Just because Davis and Orhorhoro have left, that doesn’t mean Clemson should suffer a drop-off in the trenches.

“I feel like we’ve always been deep,” Williams said. “But as far as comparing it to the other teams, I feel like we’re right on par with everybody else.”

For that reason, Williams sees no reason why Clemson, the No. 8 total defense in the country last season, can’t be No. 1 this season.

A veteran linebacking corps is led by All-ACC returnee Barrett Carter. Star freshmen like Woods and T.J. Parker are now sophom*ores on the D-line, along with Avieon Terrell and Khalil Barnes in the secondary.

Capehart has a chance to be a uniquely disruptive force in the middle.

“He can truly, this year, tear up games. Like, literally,” Woods said. “That’s what we’re starting to see out there. Just the way that he’s locked in and really committed to wanting to do that every single down, every single play of every single game. Y’all are going to see.”

The respect Woods offers, Capehart can dish it back. He calls the 319-pound sophom*ore a “freak of nature,” a player who can be “legendary” at Clemson.

Capehart, though, won’t indulge in a conversation about what others are saying about him. He never transferred, because he endeavored to not care what people outside of Clemson’s walls were saying.

“My coaching staff is the best in the country,” Capehart said. “I’m gonna trust them until the end.”