Minnesota Football: Gophers land Clemson grad transfer Nyles Pinckney

PJ Fleck added a significant addition to his Gopher defensive line as DT - Nyles Pinckney announced that he is leaving Clemson and will play his final season for Minnesota.

Pinckney has played in 55 games over 4 seasons for Clemson, starting 13. In 2019 he earned 3rd team All-ACC honors and ended his Tiger career with 3 tackles in the team’s loss to Ohio State in the national semi-final last week. Not to mention his experience gained in 2 national championships.

This addition gives the DT rotation some serious size and experience.

Expected starters were going to be Micah Dew-Treadway (Sr) and De’Angelo Carter. Along with Keonte Schad (Sr), Rashad Cheney and another grad transfer Val Martin (Sr, from NC State) being part of the rotation. Add in Pinckney and this unit is very experienced and they should be able to consistently rotate fresh bodies in to the game.

A really nice addition to the defense for 2021.