Clemson’s Will Taylor has milestones to hit before baseball debut can come into focus

Clemson freshman Will Taylor’s recovery from an ACL tear is still ongoing, Tigers head baseball coach Monte Lee said Friday.

Taylor, who plays both football and baseball, sustained the injury during the Tigers’ football game against Boston College on Oct. 2. He’s been recovering since then, moving over to baseball for the spring.

“From the last that I was told, he’s probably about two weeks away or so, based on how it goes over the next two weeks with his rehab, with his physical therapy and weight room work to build the strength in his legs,” Lee said. “He’s about two weeks away from beginning his sprint program.”

The Tigers’ mentor added that once Taylor begins his sprint program, he’ll start a hitting program with the baseball team. After that, Lee said he’d have a better idea of how long it’ll take for Taylor to make his college baseball debut in an actual game.

“I would say by Opening Day, we will have a better idea of when Will Taylor could potentially be back in the mix,” Lee added.

Taylor was a 19th round pick in the MLB Draft last summer, but opted to go to school instead and be a two-sport athlete. He showed promise in football, appearing in five games before sustaining the season-ending injury. The Irmo native and former Dutch Fork High School star was mostly used in special teams at Clemson, where he averaged 10.7 yards on six punt returns with a 14-yard kickoff return.

Clemson held its first baseball preseason practices this week. Opening weekend Feb. 18-20, with Clemson hosting Indiana at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

Lee is hoping Taylor can provide a spark for his Tigers baseball squad once the young outfielder is healthy and ready to go.

“He’s faced that adversity where now he has to go through that rehab process,” Lee said. “This is the first time he’s had to deal with that, so he’s dealing with that. Now he’s coming over to a brand new group of guys that he hasn’t been around and he’s got to get acclimated to them. They have to get acclimated to him, and then we’ve got to get him ready to play baseball. … “He’s a wonderful young man, tremendous character, tremendous makeup. He fits right in and he’s going to be great.”