Projection from nine players given promotion (5)
I believe the answer is:
tenon
'projection' is the definition.
(tenon is a kind of projection)
'nine players given promotion' is the wordplay.
'nine players' becomes 'nonet' (group of nine people playing music).
'given promotion' says the letters should be written backwards (in a down clue, letters go up).
'nonet' backwards is 'TENON'.
'from' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for tenon that I've seen before include "Mortise extension" , "Saw; joint" , "piece of carpentry?" , "Part of wood joint" , "Type of small saw" .)