GREER, S.C. — Since winning a national championship and earning Freshman All-America honors for the 2018 season, Clemson defensive end Xavier Thomas has dealt with adversity.
In 2020, Thomas dealt with COVID and strep throat which affected his conditioning. He was only going to play four games that season and take a redshirt but ended up seeing action in seven contests. With the NCAA pausing the eligibility clocks for athletes due to the COVID year, Thomas was given an extra year.
In 2022, he was ready for what he expected to be his final season in Orange but Thomas was set back with a broken foot suffered in preseason camp. He would re-injure the foot later in the year during practice prior to the Notre Dame game. Surgery would follow and that would mark the end of his season.
But with preseason practice set to kick off Friday, Thomas will be there and for the second year in a row, he comes to camp in what he calls “the best shape of my life”.
This will be Thomas’ sixth season in a Tiger uniform, a beneficiary of the NCAA’s COVID year and with plenty to prove, Thomas hopes his final season of competition will see him post an All-America year at defensive end.
The Florence native was at the Hyundai of Greer on Saturday for an appearance at a “Back to School Blitz” which featured autographs and pictures with Thomas and free school supplies for area youngsters.
The 6-2 Thomas is noticeably lighter from his previous years at Clemson and that has him in a good frame of mind as he prepares for his final August in Orange.