CLEMSON — Clemson announced in a release Thursday afternoon that senior safety Rashard Hall will not participate in spring practice after undergoing knee surgery.

Hall played the entire season with a knee injury originally sustained in the season opener against Troy. He missed the following week against Wofford, but played in each of the next 12 games knowing he’d need postseason surgery. He is expected to return for summer workouts.

Hall has not specified the exact nature of his knee injury, calling it a “knee defect.”

He played well despite the injury, playing 799 snaps with 89 tackles (leading Clemson), three tackles for loss, a sack, two interceptions and 58 “first hits.”

He had at least eight tackles in each of the Tigers’ last five games; he will enter 2012 as the Tigers’ active leader in interceptions and turnovers.

“It took some time to adjust to the knee brace, but it’s grown on me and I’m starting to play speed,” he said before the Orange Bowl.

Hall already has his undergraduate degree and played last fall as a graduate student; he’ll continue towards his graduate degree this summer and fall.