On the list of things that Dabo Swinney probably didn’t expect to deal with regarding Clemson football in 2020, one of his starters giving up the sport unexpectedly probably isn’t one of them.
In an announcement posted to social media on Thursday, Tigers defensive end Logan Rudolph confirmed a number reports that he was giving up football and will leave the school upon graduation in May.
All She Wrote.
— Logan Rudolph (@Logan4Rudolph) January 30, 2020
Thank You, Clemson. pic.twitter.com/MEJ2jnoEvj
Rudolph developed into a regular starter for the ACC champions last season, trotting out with the first-team for nine of their 15 games in 2019. While he was part of the team’s deep rotation up front, he still managed to record a sack, five tackles for loss and 26 total tackles as a redshirt sophomore.
Though he is graduating at the conclusion of the spring semester, Rudolph still has two seasons of eligibility left -- including a potential starting gig for a team many see as No. 1 in the 2020 preseason polls. While the move is surprising on so many levels, TigerIllustrated reports that the South Carolina native “eventually plans to move to California to chase his dream of becoming an actor.”
If there is a silver lining for Dabo and company though, it’s at least that the departure can be mitigated by the amount of talent still on the roster along the defensive line. Xavier Thomas and Justin Foster also had over 400 snaps at defensive end last season and have already brought five-star Myles Murphy on campus as part of their top ranked recruiting class.
Still, it’s not often that you hear of a player leaving a program perfectly capable of winning another national title with two years left to play all to eventually pursue an even more difficult career than having one on the gridiron.
