Humphries Suffers Torn ACL, Out for the Year

Oct. 23, 2008

Clemson, SC–Clemson offensive guard Barry Humphries suffered a torn ACL during practice on Thursday and will be lost for the rest of the season. Humphries, a red-shirt junior from Anderson, SC, had played in just two games so far this year due to an injury to the same knee.

During the season opening game against Alabama in the Georgia Dome on August 30, Humphries started, but suffered a partially torn ACL on his 19th play of the game. He missed the next five games due to the injury before returning against Georgia Tech this past Saturday. He played 23 snaps and had six knockdown blocks, all in the second half. He was slated to start at guard on November 1 at Boston College, but now will miss the rest of the season.

“Barry Humphries really played well against Georgia Tech last week,” said Clemson coach Dabo Swinney after practice. ” He was giving it his all in practice because he wanted to test it. But, it unfortunately gave out.”

Swinney hopes to get David Smith, back in the lineup at guard. He has missed the last three games due to a high ankle sprain.

Through seven games this year Clemson has had eight different starters miss 26 combined games due to injury. Four different offensive linemen have missed playing time at one time or another due to injury, leading to five different offensive line starting combinations in the first seven games. Last year the Tigers had just three starters, regardless of position, miss a combine seven games due to injury.

Humphries started seven games at center or guard in 2007 when he helped the Tigers to a 9-4 record and a first-place ranking in the ACC in scoring offense. He was second on the 2007 team in knockdown blocks with 86.5.