Dabo Swinney, Hevin Brown-Shuler lay out the road ahead after Hodgkin lymphoma diagnosis

CLEMSON — Dabo Swinney and Hevin Brown-Shuler met with the media late this morning to discuss the recent news that Brown-Shuler has been diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma and is expected to miss the 2026 season.

Brown-Shuler is a redshirt sophomore defensive tackle for the Tigers.

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Here are the more notable items from the press conference:

— Brown-Shuler said the news could’ve been a lot worse, and there are plenty others who don’t have the type of support he has and will have.

— Today is the team’s first day of mandatory training. Dabo and Hevin were talking about what it’s going to look like a year from now on this day, and this gives him great perspective.

“This time next year we’re going to be having a big celebration,” Swinney said.

— Swinney said they’re going to apply for a medical redshirt for Brown-Shuler. If it is granted he’ll have three years of eligibility remaining.

— They didn’t know about Brown-Shuler’s condition as of the spring game and the individual player exit meetings that followed. They were feeling really good about his trajectory.

“And then, man I get a tough call,” Swinney said. “A really tough call to let me know what was going on.”

Brown-Shuler hadn’t been feeling well and was vomiting and couldn’t get through workouts.

Soon thereafter a mass was discovered.

“We have amazing doctors and he’s got an amazing family,” Swinney said. “This is not news that anybody wants to get. They probably went about three weeks without the news getting out. The team knew, and the whole staff knew, and it never leaked out.

“Then we added another D-tackle and people started asking questions.”

They wanted Brown-Shuler to be able to get through the process of attacking it and knowing what he needs to do before the news got out.

He underwent his first day of chemo treatment 11 days ago. He has six months of that “and then we’ll go from there,” Swinney said.

“He has a long year ahead of him. We’re all going to be a part of the journey with him. We just need prayers. He’s got great support.”

— Brown-Shuler’s mother is closing down her business, a nail salon in Atlanta, so she can help give her son the support he needs. She has been driving to the Clemson area for every appointment and every treatment, Brown-Shuler said.

“We’re optimistic about the path forward,” Swinney said, “but that doesn’t make the path easy.”

— Brown-Shuler: “I just want everybody to know that I am OK and I will be back. I’m going to come back with a vengeance.”

— Brown-Shuler said it started with a cough during workouts and he thought he just had a cold or was dealing with the change of seasons. But then he couldn’t get through workouts and he knew something was wrong because that’s never remotely been an issue with him.

“I’m a 20-year-old kid being told you have cancer. But the worst part was knowing I couldn’t be out there with my football team.”

— Swinney mentioned former Pitt running back James Conner and former Boston College linebacker Mark Herzlich as examples that bring a lot of hope.

— Brown-Shuler said his great grandmother died from breast cancer so this is something that has affected the family before. He said he and his family have achieved wisdom and perspective through prayer.

He said one of the best things he heard was his mother telling him she’s not going to treat him any differently.

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— Brown-Shuler said position coach Nick Eason told him in the hospital that he’s 20 years old but this is his first experience with the real world beyond football. Eason told him he’d be better for it and he’d have the wisdom to develop as a man.

— Dabo pointed out that Brown-Shuler and Stephen Garcia (also recently diagnosed with cancer) have developed a relationship recently.

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“That’s what football does. We all compete and you wear certain logos, but football is a family. That’s been kind of a neat thing is seeing Stephen reaching out and encouraging Hevin and giving him confidence.”

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