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Rex Brown

Clemson's Jarvis Jenkins sacks Duke quarterback Zack Asack during the Tigers' 31-7 victory last Saturday at Memorial Stadium in Clemson.

CLEMSON — Despite a rash of injuries, Clemson interim head coach Dabo Swinney feels plenty good about the job his interior defensive linemen have done this season.

The Tigers (5-5, 3-4 ACC) were expected to have one of the top defensive lines in the ACC this season, thanks in large part to the play of senior defensive tackles Rashaad Jackson and Dorell Scott, who are hoping to line up next to each other for just the third time this season at Virginia on Saturday.

Scott is on the mend following a knee injury in the Tigers’ loss at Florida State two weeks ago, while Jackson is just now beginning to fall back in line following a torn quadriceps muscle in his right leg prior to the season.

Jackson returned to the lineup three weeks ago at Boston College, and while he isn’t ready to resume his starting role, his presence was felt well in the Tigers’ win against Duke last Saturday.

“He’s really started to look like Rashaad out there,” Swinney said. “He’s very active, and he had a big hit on a screen in the ballgame, so he’s been a nice shot in the arm.”

His absence, in addition to a season-ending injury to Jamie Cumbie, has opened the door for some of Clemson’s young talent up front to shine, particularly sophomore Jarvis Jenkins and true freshman Brandon Thompson.

Jenkins, a Daniel High School product, has been one of the Tigers’ most pleasant surprises this season, as he has started nine of Clemson’s 10 games this season, and is tied for the team lead in sacks (2) and ranks second on the team in tackles for loss (9 for 36 yards.)

“Jarvis has got as much talent as anybody that we’ve had here,” Swinney said. “We’ve just got to reel him in a little bit fundamentally and technically and get him to be a little more disciplined, but he’s a really good player.”

Thompson, ranked as the No. 39 player in the country regardless of position coming out of high school, made his first career start in the win against Duke, and has five tackles for loss this season after he was expected to sit behind a wealth of veteran talent along the defensive line.

“He was a guy we were going to redshirt, and we’ve had really good production from him,” Swinney said. “He still doesn’t know what he’s doing all the times.”

Thompson will likely resume his role of coming off the bench for the Tigers on Saturday with the likely return of Scott, but for now, Swinney is taking a wait-and-see approach with the senior lineman.

“Dorell moved around pretty good today, but we won’t really know till tomorrow when we get the pads on and beat him around a little bit,” Swinney said.

Korn limited. Clemson backup quarterback Willy Korn hasn’t impressed during his time on the field in recent weeks, and it comes with good reason.

Clemson quarterbacks coach Billy Napier told reporters on Monday the freshman signal caller is having a hard time bouncing back from a shoulder injury Korn suffered during the Tigers’ game against Georgia Tech a month ago, but is still able to play.

Korn also suffered through a shoulder injury last season, which allowed him to receive a medical redshirt, and the injury suffered against Georgia Tech set him back even further.

Napier, who suffered a similar injury as a quarterback at Furman, said the injury Korn has sustained takes a significant amount of time to fully recover from, but won’t prevent him from playing.