As NFLL waiwaits,ts, ClemsClemson popoised to have a

The mmoment the f inal shoe dropped — when Chri s t i a n Wilkins wwas the last defensive lineman iin the group message to text thathat he, too, was coming back to Clemson — the hype bebegan to boil. Three stud linemen had said thanks, but no thanksh to the NFL draft, aa nn d instead reunited witwith a fourth underclassmanman to reassemble a dominantnant unit. ThThey knew some of what was coming, based on what they had done on the way to the co l l e ge fo o t ba l l plaplayoffs months earlier, but it was only the tip of the iceberg. It culminated witwith a Sports Illustrated covcover that dubbed them, “CleClemson’s D-Line: The Best Ever.”

“You understand it’s going to bring a lot of hype, bring a lot of attention to yourself, which I can’t really be like ‘Dang, I wasn’t expecting this,” redshirt junior defensive end Clelin Ferrell told reporters at the start of training camp. “But at the same time, it don’t mean I can’t get annoyed by it.”

While the defensive line shrugs off the coronations, the anticipation is real.

The No. 2 Tigers boasted one of the most fearsome defenses in the country last year, allowing the second-fewest points per game (13.6) and fourth-fewest yards per game (277). Of the 11 starters from that unit, eight are back, and they return with more experience, hunger and even health.

The four most heralded pieces of that defense work in the trenches. Ferrell, Wilkins and Austin Bryant were all drafteligible last year — and likely to be picked early on — but each chose to return to Clemson for another season: f irst Ferrell, then Bryant and finally Wilkins, just before the deadline to declare.

That was welcome news for Dexter

Lawrence, the fourth and f inal piece of the terrorizing line.

“When they all announced, I was just like, ‘ Thank you,’ ” Lawrence said with a big grin earlier this month. “It took a lot of pressure off me.”

The 6-foot-4, 350-pound junior defensive tackle was already planning on being better in 2018. He estimated he played at “45-50 percent last season” due to complications with an offseason toe surgery. Defensive coordinator Brent Venables said Lawrence was playing on one leg.

Now Lawrence is back to full health with three fellow All-Americans beside him, making it a conundrum for opposing offenses when deciding which workhorse to double-team.

“I’d probably say a nightmare,” Bryant, a senior, said when asked what difference a healthy Lawrence could make. “He’s a freaky dude, to be that big and to be that fast and nimble on his feet, it’s really, really impressive.”

So is the rest of the group also known as the Power Rangers (for a past Halloween costume idea).

Wilkins, a senior two-time All-American (at both defensive tackle and defensive end) measuring in at 6-4 and 315 pounds, has recorded 193 career tackles, 26 for loss. Ferrell, standing at 6-4 and 265 pounds, led the Tigers last year with 18 tackles for loss and 9.5 sacks. The 6-6, 280-pound Bryant, who plays the other end, was close behind with 15.5 tackles for loss and 8.5 sacks. And the hobbled Lawrence has often been tabbed as the best pro prospect of them all.

“We came back with a goal in mind,” Wilkins said.

Alabama robbed them of a shot at backto-back national championships in January, but if Clemson’s front four has anything to do with it — and logic says they very much will — there may be yet another chapter to write in the powerhouses’ postseason rivalry this winter.

“Hopefully [the hype] won’t really matter come game day,” Wilkins said. “We’ll just go out there and focus on the goals we set for ourselves. Hopefully it’ll overexceed anybody’s expectations that they had for us.”