Clemson WR Troy Stellato to have surgery, out for season

by Tony Crumpton - Assoc. Editor - Nov 19, 2024, 12:25 PM

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney shared an update on some of the injuries on his team including the news that redshirt junior receiver Troy Stellato is out for the season with a thumb injury.

"He tore his thumb and got to have surgery on it on Thursday," Swinney said about Stellato. "So he's going to be done. Tough break there."

Swinney said he had been battling the thumb issue for a few weeks and was in a lot of pain.

"He has been a great player for us. I think he has played the third-most snaps at receiver for us," Swinney said. "He has battled a lot of injuries but kept getting up. Just kept getting up. I hate it for him, but it is just another part of his story."

Stellato has 25 catches for 264 yards and a touchdown this season.

Swinney shared that junior linebacker Wade Woodaz is improving but still dealing with a problematic bruise issue as he tried to get healthy enough for Saturday's game against The Citadel.

"It’s left his thigh, and now it’s down in his calf, where everything’s draining for him," Swinney said. "It was a nasty, nasty bruise-contusion. He's much improved, and hopefully, it will continue in that direction."

Woodaz is currently labeled day-to-day.

He has 61 tackles, including 6.5 for loss, two sacks, three forced fumbles, four pass deflections, and one interception this season.

Swinney said that defensive tackle DeMonte Capehart won't play this week against The Citadel but is now "day-to-day."

He shared that starting safety R.J. Mickens is "limited" at practice this week and questionable for Saturday's game.

Tyle Brown will be out for the remainder of the regular season, according to Swinney. However, he should be able to go during postseason play.

He also said that his offensive line is the walking wounded, with nine of them not practicing yet this week due to injuries.

“I mean just we have what we have. We have to make it work,” Swinney said. “You're going to see some - we have guys like Will Boggs, y'all are going to be looking up in your media guide, trying to figure out, you're going see some guys maybe playing out of position, but we have to find a way. We have to do what we have to do to get it done. And hopefully again, we've got some guys trending in a good direction. But as we sit right now on Tuesday, we're trying to figure out how we're going to practice today.”

At the end of his press conference, he joked about whether any media members had any eligibility left to play offensive line.

"Anybody wanna play offensive line today?" Swinney asked.