Clemson’s bringing back basically its entire front 7 in 2018, which should terrify all offenses

The Tigers will be back next season with what should be a dominating defense.

Who knows what Dabo Swinney told them to convince them to stay, but after announcing that two key defensive linemen were returning for another season on Saturday, the Tigers added the final piece to the puzzle.

Monday, the Tigers announced that Christian Wilkins will return for his senior season.

Along with Clelin Ferrell, Austin Bryant, and rising junior Dexter Lawrence, this is a big deal.

That Wilkins was even considering staying for his senior season was a surprise. When Wilkins arrived at Clemson QT said we should only expect to see Wilkins at Clemson for 3 years. And even heading into the start of the 2017 season it seemed like Wilkins was certainly going to the NFL after the year ended.

Clemson’s defense was already one of the nation’s best. Now its entire front four is coming back and the entire starting front seven besides graduating linebacker Dorian O’Daniel is returning to Death Valley too. Combine that with the savant-like defensive mind running the show in coordinator Brent Venables and the Tigers are a lock to be preseason top-two in the rankings.

Oh, and if returning a DL that had each member at least honorably mentioned on our All-America team, the Tigers signed two of the nation’s top-three defensive linemen in their 2018 recruiting class.