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CLEMSON'S FOOTBALL HERITAGE • Jeff Davis was the second member of Clemson’s National Championship team to be enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame. Terry Kinard was inducted in 2001 in New York City. Both Davis and Kinard are also members of the Clemson Ring of Honor. • Clemson had a special night in New York City on Dec. 11, 2001. That evening, Terry Kinard was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame and Kyle Young was a recipient of a National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete Award. Clemson was the only school in the nation with one of each in 2001. • Terry Kinard was the first Tiger gridder to win a national individual award. He was named 1982 national defensive player-of-the-year by CBS. That year (his senior season), he was a unanimous first-team AllAmerican, the first unanimous All-American in Clemson football history. He was named to the ACC’s 50Year Anniversary team in 2002, and he was also listed among the top-50 athletes in the history of the ACC, regardless of sport. • Three former Clemson coaches are in the College Football Hall of Fame. The list includes John Heisman (1900-03), Jess Neely (1931-39) and Frank Howard (1940-69). • Banks McFadden, Clemson’s greatest all-around athlete in history and an AP First-Team All-American in 1939, was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1959.
NFL DRAFT PICKS • With five players drafted in 2014, it marked the sixth consecutive season that Clemson had at least four players selected in the NFL draft. The five selections tied for seventh-most nationally and second-most in the ACC. • Clemson has had a wide receiver taken in the first round of the NFL draft each of the last two years, the only FBS team that can make that claim since 2007. Sammy Watkins was taken as the No. 4 selection of the Buffalo Bills in 2014, tied for the highest selection by a Tiger in history. Wideout DeAndre Hopkins was the No. 27 overall pick of the first round by the Houston Texans in 2013. • Only Alabama had more draft picks than Clemson (4) among the first 115 players taken in the 2012 NFL draft. The Crimson Tide had five, followed by Clem-
son, Illinois, Louisiana State, Miami (Fla.), Oklahoma and Stanford with four apiece. • Since Dabo Swinney became Clemson’s head coach, the Tigers have had 24 players drafted, the most in a five-year period since the 1990-93 era. • Being a top-100 selection is a good sign for Clemson players, as 58 of the last 60 Tigers taken within the first 100 picks of the draft have gone on to play in the NFL. Each of the last 26 Tigers drafted has gone on to play in the NFL. • C.J. Spiller was the No. 9 overall selection of the 2010 NFL draft and the first ACC player chosen. In just his third year, he made the Pro Bowl. • Clemson had 10 players drafted in 1983, secondmost in ACC history for one draft.
NFL INFLUENCE • Twenty-four former Tigers have combined to win 32 Super Bowl Championship rings. That includes the 2013 season when Byron Maxwell started in the Super Bowl for the victorious Seattle Seahawks. Clemson’s leader is Jeff Bostic, who started on three Super Bowl Championship teams with the Washington Redskins. • Clemson has had a former player on a Super Bowl Championship team in eight of the last 16 years. • Two former Tigers were named to NFL All-Rookie teams in 2013. DeAndre Hopkins (Texans) and Andre Ellington (Cardinals) were both named to various teams. Hopkins had 50 receptions and Ellington led the league in yards per carry among running backs. • Brian Dawkins retired in 2011 as one of the great safeties in the history of the game and is an odds-onfavorite to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. A 1996 Clemson graduate, Dawkins was an All-American on Clemson’s 1995 team when he finished the season 10th in the nation in interceptions. He became the first player in NFL history in 2002 to register a sack, interception, recovered fumble and receiving touchdown in the same game. He was named to the Pro Bowl nine times in his career, including the 2012 Pro Bowl after his final season. He was named to the Pro Bowl more than any other former Tiger. • Levon Kirkland was named to the NFL All-Decade team (1990s) for his play with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Brian Dawkins was named to the NFL All-Decade
AFTER THE TIGERS DEFEATED NO. 6 OHIO STATE IN THE 2014 ORANGE BOWL, THEY WERE RANKED IN THE TOP 25 FOR THE 46TH CONSECUTIVE POLL.
JOHN HEISMAN (1900-03) IS ONE OF THREE FORMER CLEMSON HEAD COACHES IN THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME.
team for the 2000s for his play with the Philadelphia Eagles. • Twenty-seven former Tigers were on NFL rosters in 2013. • In the summer of 2014, the Buffalo Bills had six former Clemson players on its roster. The list included C.J. Spiller and Sammy Watkins, the two most productive all-purpose players in Clemson history.
POLL PRESENCE • The 2013 season marked the 27th year that Clemson was ranked in the final AP poll. It was the sixth time in the last eight years that Clemson was ranked in the final poll, the third consecutive season. The Tigers’ highest ranking is No. 1, a mark achieved on Nov. 30, 1981 and in the final poll that season. • Clemson was ranked in all 16 polls of the 2013 season and has a streak of 46 straight top-25 rankings entering the 2014 season. • Clemson had a streak of 50 consecutive weeks ranked in at least one poll in the 1980s. • Clemson was in the top 20 of all the final polls from 1986-91, a six-year streak. The Tigers had exactly two losses in each of those six seasons. • Clemson was ranked in the final top 20 of the AP poll six times in the 1980s. The Tigers were fifth in the nation in winning percentage during that decade. • Beating ranked opponents has been a hallmark of Clemson’s success. The Tigers have beaten an APranked opponent 24 of last 28 years, including 20 top-25 victories in the last 11 years. Head Coach Dabo Swinney has recorded eight top-25 wins in the last three years, tied for seventh-most in the nation. • Clemson defeated four top-25 teams in 2011, including No. 3 Virginia Tech, tied for the highest-ranked team Clemson has defeated. The Tigers defeated three AP top-25 teams in succession when they downed Auburn, Florida State and Virginia Tech on consecutive Saturdays, the first ACC team to do that. • Clemson has 10 top-10 wins in the last 11 years, including a win over No. 5 Georgia to open 2013 and a win over No. 6 Ohio State in the 2014 Orange Bowl.
2014 FOOTBALL MEDIA GUIDE
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