{"id":339680,"date":"2025-12-10T15:33:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T15:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/339680\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T15:33:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T15:33:08","slug":"clemson-tigers-star-edge-rusher-declares-for-nfl-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/339680\/","title":{"rendered":"Clemson Tigers Star Edge Rusher Declares for NFL Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

With Clemson Tigers<\/a> cornerback Avieon Terrell<\/a> and defensive tackle Peter Woods<\/a> declaring for the NFL Draft yesterday, the Tigers saw another one of the program’s top players make his decision later in the night.<\/p>\n

In a post made to his Instagram account, Tigers edge rusher T.J. Parker<\/a> declared for the 2026 NFL Draft. He has not announced whether he will play in the Pinstripe Bowl against Penn State on Dec. 27, but it’s likely he won’t.<\/p>\n

“Thank you, Clemson, for taking in a young kid with big dreams and helping shape me into the man and player I am today. This program, this school and this community will always have my heart,” Parker wrote in his announcement.<\/p>\n

The 6-foot-3 defensive end began his career at Clemson in 2023 as the second-highest recruit<\/a> in his respective class.<\/p>\n

Parker was a borderline five-star, ranking as the 43rd-best player<\/a> in the nation and lived up to the heavy expectations, starting in 29 games while totaling 126 tackles<\/a>, 41.5 for a loss, 21.5 sacks and six forced fumbles \u2014 all of which came in his junior year.<\/p>\n

After an 11-sack campaign last year, the Alabama native entered the season as the No. 2 overall prospect on Pro Football Focus’ NFL Draft Big Board<\/a> \u2014 one spot ahead of Woods \u2014 and was an ESPN Preseason All-American<\/a> heading into the season alongside Woods and quarterback Cade Klubnik<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But, the broad edge rusher didn’t quite live up to the lofty expectations, recording 37 total tackles, 9.5 for a loss, five sacks \u2014 three of which came in his final game \u2014 three fumble recoveries and one pass deflection.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Parker’s potential and upside at the next level remain undeniable.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a scouting report written by CBS Sports’ Ryan Wilson<\/a> last week, he praised Parker for his high motor and ability to reach the backfield with both his power and finesse moves.<\/p>\n

“Parker is an explosive, high-motor edge rusher with the juice to both collapse pockets with a bull rush and the bend to win around the corner,” Wilson explained. “He’s stout and disciplined against the run, from setting the edge to blowing up plays in the backfield with his quickness.”<\/p>\n

Parker is still expected to be a first-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft \u2014 which begins on April 23 \u2014 projected to be selected in the mid-to-late first-round picks on most mock drafts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With Clemson Tigers cornerback Avieon Terrell and defensive tackle Peter Woods declaring for the NFL Draft yesterday, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":339681,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,593,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-339680","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}