Clemson kicker out according to Dabo Swinney

Today on Off Campus with Mark Packer Dabo Swinney confirmed what we were hearing about Clemson's Greg Huegel.  Swinney said, "You may have heard we lost Greg Huegel at practice this week. He tore his ACL, which is just disappointing. He's had a heck of a career- earned a scholarship. Fortunately, he has another year so he will come back for us." 

“It was a freak accident on the last play of practice on Wednesday," said Head Coach Dabo Swinney. “We were in the two-minute drill, which we do at the end of every Wednesday practice.   A defensive player rolled into him after his kick.  He walked off the practice field and we hoped it was just a strain or a bruise, but the tests revealed a torn ACL." 

As we understand it, during a field goal attempt, another player was attempting to block a kick and took out Huegel's plant leg. Huegel walked off the field on his own power.

“It is a big loss, we are talking about a two-time all-conference kicker. But, I have confidence in our kickers.  Alex Spence will move up.  He is in his fourth year with our program and has shown great improvement this year.  He really had a good August camp.”   

Losing Huegel is a big blow for Clemson even though this season didn't start out as well as he would have liked. This season, he's 2-4 on field goal attempts and 14-15 on extra points with a career long 49-yard kick last weekend against Louisville. 

Huegel, a Blythwood native, was a Lou Groza Award semifinalist last season and second-team All-ACC. Huegel made 14-19 field goals and set a Clemson single-season record 71 extra points for 113 total points eight games.