Top Clemson defensive end leaving school early for 2026 NFL Draft
Clemson defensive end T.J. Parker is off to the NFL.
Parker is leaving Clemson one year early and declaring for the 2026 NFL Draft, the true junior announced late Tuesday on social media.
Parker did not specify whether he will play in Clemson’s upcoming bowl game. The Tigers will play Penn State in the Pinstripe Bowl in New York City on Dec. 27.
In recent years, Clemson players who’ve declared for the NFL Draft ahead of the team’s bowl game have opted out and not participated in the bowl game.
Parker is widely considered a top two rounds prospect by national draft analysts. He was projected as a mid-to-late first round pick in two recent CBS Sports mock drafts and ESPN’s Mel Kiper wrote that Parker is a “fringe Round 1 player.”
There was some thought that Parker could either return to school at Clemson or hit the transfer portal and play somewhere else in 2026 to improve his draft stock after a noticeable statistical drop-off in 2025, but he’s going pro.
Parker said in an Instagram post that he made Tuesday’s decision “after a lot of prayer and conversations with the people closest to me.
“Thank you, Clemson, for taking in a young kid with big dreams and helping shape me into the man and player I am today,” Parker wrote. “This program, this school, and this community will always have my heart.”
T.J. Parker’s Clemson career, stats
Parker (6-3, 260) was dominant as a sophomore for coach Dabo Swinney and the Tigers. His 19.5 tackles for loss and 11.0 sacks were the most by a Clemson player since 2018, and he forced a school-record six fumbles in 2024.
Parker had just two sacks across his first 11 games for Clemson in 2025 before racking up three in the regular-season finale at South Carolina (and recovering a fumble). Parker has 37 total tackles and 9.5 tackles for loss this season.
In his 39-game Clemson career, the former Penn State commit and four-star recruit has recorded 41.5 TFLs, 21.5 sacks and 12 forced fumbles/recoveries.
Redshirt junior WR Antonio Williams, junior CB Avieon Terrell and junior DT Peter Woods have already announced they’ll be leaving Clemson after this season and going to the NFL Draft. With Parker’s decision, Clemson’s only other pending NFL decision will come from junior DE Will Heldt (a Purdue transfer).
This story was originally published December 9, 2025 at 10:04 PM with the headline "Top Clemson defensive end leaving school early for 2026 NFL Draft."
