Harris Sewell needs surgery as Clemson's injuries pile up

The win was the easy part. The bill came on Monday morning, and Clemson's beat writer Larry Williams laid out exactly where Sewell got hurt.

Larry Williams

@LarryWilliamsTI

Harris Sewell's right leg was rolled in pass pro late in third quarter against Florida State. More info on that and the other injuries here: t.co/afMUmIBxFi

Sewell is the center, and he went down in pass protection late in the 3rd quarter. Dabo Swinney said after the game that Sewell came back out to snap the victory formation, and he was seen in a walking boot afterward. The news since then is worse. Swinney now says Sewell is out for a few weeks and needs a minor surgery, and the hope is to have him back later in November. Losing your center for any stretch hurts. Losing him with the season this far along hurts more.

The scariest moment of the night wasn't Sewell's, though. Guard Elyjah Thurmon took a helmet-to-helmet hit while blocking on a running play early in the 2nd quarter. He was taken off on a stretcher and sent to a hospital in Tallahassee. He gave the crowd a thumbs up on his way off, which mattered for everyone watching. Clemson staff said Sunday that Thurmon had been discharged and was headed home. The neck injury is still expected to keep him out for a long time.

That's 2 starters gone from the same offensive line in 1 game. Running back Gideon Davidson also got hurt and is expected to miss Syracuse, and linebacker Kobe McCloud is out for a couple of weeks with his own injury from the FSU game. On a night when Clemson led 23-10 at halftime and won by 12, the injury list is the part that's going to stick around.

The fill-ins are already named. Freshman Grant Wise takes over at center, and Swinney is backing him: "He's played in big games. He's played on the road. He's not a freshman anymore." Jarvis Green moves into the starting running back job, with SMU transfer Chris Johnson Jr. and Jay Haynes behind him. Former walk-on Fletcher Cothran should get more snaps at linebacker while McCloud is out.

Syracuse is up next, a noon kickoff on ESPN2 at the JMA Wireless Dome. A rebuilt interior line on the road, a backup running back carrying the load and a young center making the calls is a lot of new parts at once. If Wise holds up and Sewell's surgery goes the way Clemson hopes, they can survive this. If either of those goes wrong, the trip to Tallahassee is going to cost a lot more than it looked like on Saturday night.