OVERVIEW Coaches University Traditions Players Review Opponents records
Clemson's Football Heritage Academic Excellence • Clemson has had 56 players in the last 11 seasons who have played for the Tigers after they earned their undergraduate degree. Fourteen Clemson graduates suited up for 2012 Orange Bowl. In two of the last six years, every senior on the roster earned his degree. • Clemson’s football program was #7 in the nation with a 983 APR score in 2012. Head Coach Dabo Swinney’s personal APR score was 991, fifth-highest among active FBS coaches. • Five Clemson football players, four of whom return as active squad members for the 2012 season, were named to the 2011 All-ACC Academic team. Four of the five were starters for the ACC Champions in 2011 and four of the five are from the state of South Carolina. Only Duke had more selections than Clemson. It marked the fifth consecutive year that Clemson had at least five players selected to the All-ACC Academic team. • In the last six years, 105 of the 116 players (91 percent) who have stayed at Clemson until their final year have graduated. That includes a graduation rate of 88 percent (80-91) for scholarship football players who have stayed until their senior season. • Chad Carson and Kyle Young were first-team Academic All-Americans in 2000 and 2001. Clemson was the only Division I school in the nation with two first-team picks each year. Young was a first-team Academic All-American from 1999-01 and became just the second ACC player in history to be a three-time first-team selection. He is one of just two offensive linemen in college football history to be a three-time, first-team Academic AllAmerican. He is currently an associate athletic director in the Clemson Athletic Department.
All-Star Selections • Clemson has a history of decorated football players. The program boasts 66 All-Americans in its history, including three members of the 2011 team. It marked the second time in the last three years that Clemson had three players earn All-America honors in the same year. • In 2011, Dwayne Allen and Sammy Watkins were both AP First-Team All-Americans. It marked the first time that Clemson had two AP First-Team All-Americans in the same year. Watkins made it as a first-year freshman all-purpose player. He joined Georgia’s Herschel Walker (1980), San Diego State’s Marshall Faulk (1991), and Oklahoma’s Adrian Peterson (2004) as the only first-year freshmen in history to earn AP First-Team All-America honors. • Andre Branch joined Dwayne Allen and Sammy Watkins as All-Americans in 2011, giving Clemson an All-America
DEFENSIVE END Da’QUAN BOWERS WON THE 2010 BRONKO NAGURSKI AWARD AS THE TOP DEFENSIVE PLAYER IN THE NATION.
defensive lineman for the third time in the last six years. Branch was a finalist for the Ted Hendricks Award, giving Clemson a finalist for that honor each of the last two years. • Clemson has had a national position award winner each of the last two years. Dwayne Allen won the John Mackey Award as the nation’s top tight end in 2011 and Da’Quan Bowers won the Bronko Nagurski Award as the top defensive player in 2010. Bowers also won the Ted Hendricks Award in 2010. • Clemson has had an AP First-Team All-American each of the last three years, joining Michigan State, Oklahoma State, and Stanford in that category. C.J. Spiller was a unanimous All-American in 2009 and Da’Quan Bowers was a unanimous selection in 2010. • Clemson has had at least one All-American in 32 of the last 35 years. • Clemson has had at least one First-Team All-ACC player each of the last 35 years, the longest active streak and the longest overall streak in ACC history. In 2011, Clemson had five first-team selections in Dwayne Allen, Tajh Boyd, Andre Branch, Dalton Freeman, and Sammy Watkins. • Clemson had nine players named to the ACC’s 50-Year Anniversary team, more than any other school. The list of honorees shows the balance of the program over the years, as every area of a football team (by position) was
represented. The nine players are Joe Bostic, Jerry Butler, Bennie Cunningham, Jeff Davis, Steve Fuller, Terry Kinard, Michael Dean Perry, William Perry, and Anthony Simmons. All nine players were All-Americans during at least one season at Clemson and played in the NFL.
Bowl History • Clemson’s victory in the 2009 Music City Bowl was its 16th bowl win, 18th-most in FBS history. Clemson has played in 34 bowl games over the years, 17th-most in FBS history. • Clemson’s first bowl game was a 6-3 victory over Boston College and Frank Leahy in the 1940 Cotton Bowl. Leahy is still second in college football history in winning percentage. • Clemson won five straight bowl games between the 1986 and 1990 seasons, tied for the eighth-longest winning streak in college football history in consecutive seasons. Clemson defeated Stanford, Penn State, Oklahoma, West Virginia, and Illinois during its bowl winning streak. • Clemson has defeated some of the top coaches in college football history in bowl competition. Among the list of celebrated head coaches who have lost to Clemson in bowl games since the ACC was founded are Joe Paterno (winningest coach in Division I history on a totalvictories basis), Barry Switzer (#4-winningest Division I coach on a winning percentage basis), and Tom Osborne (#7-winningest Division I coach on a winning percentage basis). • Hall of Fame Head Coach Woody Hayes suffered his final defeat against the Tigers in the 1978 Gator Bowl. Overall, Clemson has defeated nine head coaches in bowl games who are enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame. • The Tigers have been to a bowl game in 12 of the last 13 seasons and have been bowl-eligible 13 straight seasons.
ClemsonTigers.com
Championship Tradition
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CENTER DALTON FREEMAN RECEIVED HIS DEGREE IN COMMUNICATION STUDIES IN DECEMBER, 2011. HE IS A BIG REASON CLEMSON’S FOOTBALL PROGRAM WAS #7 IN THE COUNTRY WITH A 983 APR SCORE IN 2012.
2012 Clemson Football
• The Tigers were named National Champions by every service in 1981, as they were the only school in the nation with a perfect record (12-0). The year included three wins over top-10 teams (Georgia, Nebraska, North Carolina), the only team in college football to beat three top10 teams in 1981. It was just the second national title for an ACC school. • The 1981 team had five All-Americans on its roster, including first-team selections Jeff Davis, Terry Kinard, and Perry Tuttle. Thirty-one players on the 1981 squad were eventually drafted by the NFL and 22 players eventually played in the NFL. Twenty-three different players on the 1981 roster were First-Team All-ACC selections at one time during their careers.