Xavier Thomas injured in Clemson football scrimmage, reports say

One of Clemson football’s top defensive linemen suffered an injury during the program’s Saturday scrimmage, according to multiple media outlets.

The Clemson Insider and Clemson Sports, citing sources, reported that fifth-year defensive end Xavier Thomas limped off the field Saturday with an injury. Thomas later left Memorial Stadium on a golf cart with a trainer by his side.

“Life really isn’t fair man. It really isn’t,” Thomas tweeted at 1:29 p.m. Saturday, adding in a follow-up tweet with a heart emoji: “Small thing to a GIANT. The work does not stop! (I’ll) be right back. God got the kid.”

Clemson had no immediate update on Thomas’ status or immediate timeline for providing an update, a team spokesperson told The State on Saturday.

After battling injuries and lingering coronavirus symptoms over the past three seasons, Thomas, the No. 3 overall recruit in his high school class, was primed for a big 2022 with the Tigers.

The starting defensive end entered preseason camp at 6-foot-2 and 254 pounds; he also tweeted last month he was down to 15% body fat, the lowest since his 2018 true freshman season.

Thomas burst onto the scene that fall for Clemson with 43 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks in 15 games. He was a near-unanimous Freshman All-America pick as the Tigers defeated Alabama in the College Football Playoff national championship game.

Thomas’ next two seasons were slowed by a concussion in 2019 and lingering COVID-19 symptoms in 2020, which derailed his conditioning and limited him to 119 snaps in seven games. Still, Thomas earned third-team All-ACC honors in 2019 and in 2021 and was projected as a third-round NFL Draft pick.

He opted to return to Clemson for a fifth season and entered 2022 with 112 tackles, 27.5 tackles for loss, 12.5 sacks, five pass breakups, four forced fumbles and a fumble recovery across 1,333 career snaps and 46 career games (19 starts).

Depending on the severity of Thomas’ Saturday injury, Justin Mascoll, Greg Williams and Kevin Swint could see more reps at defensive end behind standouts Myles Murphy and KJ Henry.

Clemson opens its season on Monday Sept. 5 against Georgia Tech in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game (8 p.m., ESPN). The game will be played in Mercedes-Benz Stadium.