KYLE YOUNGCenter 2000,01Among the most decorated players in Clemson history in any sport All-American on the field and off in both 2000 and 2001, joining PGA Tour professional Jonathan Byrd as the only athletes in Clemson history to be named All-American on the field and in the classroom in the same year in two different seasons third-team All-American in 2001 by Sporting News and Football News first-team Academic All-American three times; he became just the second offensive lineman in college football history to do that and just second ACC player winner of the National Football Foundation Scholarship, the first Tiger to do that since 1978 (Steve Fuller); he was honored in New York as one of just 18 Division I players winner of the Jim Tatum Award as the outstanding scholar athlete football player in the ACC winner of a Weaver-James-Corrigan Scholarship from the ACC for excellence on and off the field had 168 knockdown blocks in 2001 had 18 knockdown blocks in the bowl win over Louisiana Tech named to Sports Illustrateds All-Bowl team in 2001 had an average grade of 90.5 percent in 2001, best on the team one of top 24 candidates for the Outland Trophy at midseason finalist for the Dave Rimington Award, one of five for that honor prime reason Clemson averaged 432 yards a game of total offense started every game at center his final three years and 40 in a row over four years tied the school record for starts by a center in a career with 36; he started four games at guard as a freshman big reason Woodrow Dantzler broke 53 Clemson records in his career three-time first-team All-ACC pick by Football News played over 3,000 snaps in his career had a record-tying 21 knockdown blocks against NC State in 100 snaps had just six missed assignments in 845 snaps by the coaches grading system big reason Clemson averaged a school-record 446 yards per game and set school records for touchdowns and points in 2000 earned his degree in secondary education with a minor in economics in May of 2001; he was a graduate student during the 2001 season had a 3.98 GPA in his undergraduate career; he made just one B and the rest were As named assistant athletic director at Clemson in 2007. The 2023 NFL Draft presented every team in the league the chance to . Way-too-early college football preseason top 25 for the 2023 season CARLOS WATKINSDefensive Tackle 2016First-team All-American in 2016 by CBS Sports second-team All-American in 2016 by Associated Press established Clemson record for sacks by a defensive interior lineman in 2016 with 10.5 named to 2016 All-Bowl Team by ESPN selected for the Senior Bowl fourth-round draft choice of Houston Texans first-team All-ACC graduated from Clemson in December 2016 finished career with 53 games, 30 as a starter had 191 tackles, 26 tackles for loss, including 14 sacks, one interception and seven passes broken up had at least one sack in nine games in 2016. He was selected with the nineteenth overall pick in the first round of the 1982 NFL draft. 27 overall pick) by the Houston Texans one of 10 semifinalists for the Biletnikoff Award Maxwell Award Watch List member second-team All-American by Athlon, CBSSports.com, Lindys, Phil Steele and Scout.com third-team All-American by AP First-Team All-ACC selection (media, coaches) had 82 receptions for 1,405 yards and an ACC-record 18 touchdowns in 738 snaps over 13 games (13 starts) had 206 receptions for 3,020 yards and 27 touchdowns in his career named to the NFL All-Rookie team in 2014 with the Houston Texans. Spiller was third in the nation as a rushing duo ACC Offensive Lineman-of-the-Week in Clemsons win over No. He is most well known for the catch, where in the closing moments of the 1977 South Carolina game, a reception that gave the Tigers a 31-27 win over the Gamecocks. 2016 Clemson (14-1) CFP result: Beat Ohio State 31-0; beat Alabama 35-31. RAY-RAY McCLOUDPunt Returner 2017Second-team All-American as a punt returner by Pro Football Focus in 2017 Honorable Mention All-ACC as a specialist and all-purpose player in 2017 10th in the nation in punt return average (12.1) had game-changing 77-yard punt return for a touchdown at NC State first Tiger with a punt return for a touchdown on the road since 2000 had 49 receptions for 503 yards drafted in the sixth round by the Bills. 6 Tennessee in a Peach Bowl win, and 148 return yards in an overtime win over No. Clemson football: Ranking the best CFP teams of all time KEITH ADAMSLinebacker 1999,00Two-time first-team All-American first-team All-American by Sporting News in 1999 and 2000 AP Second-Team All-American in 1999 and a first-team selection in 2000 one of three finalists for the Butkus Award in 2000 one of five finalists for the National Defensive Player of the Year by Football News one of three finalists for the Bednarik Award in 2000 first-team All-American by Walter Camp, Football News and Gannett News Service in 2000 ACC Defensive Player of the Year in 1999; he was runner-up for the honor as a senior set 14 Clemson records, including sacks in a game and season, and tackles for loss in a game and season led the nation in tackles (186) and tackles for loss (35) in 1999 First-Team All-ACC selection as a sophomore and junior had 54 career sacks entered the NFL draft after his junior year and was a seventh-round pick of the Titans fourth sophomore in Clemson history to earn All-America honors when he was named in 1999 five-time ACC Defensive Player-of-the-Week in 1999 won the Banks McFadden Award in 1999 as the top college player in the state of South Carolina First-Team All-ACC selection as a sophomore and junior one of five finalists for National Defensive Player of the Year in 1999 and 2000 had a school-record 27 tackles against South Carolina in 1999 had six tackles for loss and four sacks against Duke in 1999 ended his career sixth in school history in tackles (379), including 54 tackles for loss and 23 sacks played the 2001 season with the Cowboys then with the Eagles from 2002-04 played in the 2005 Super Bowl with the Eagles inducted into the Clemson Hall of Fame in 2011 his son, running back Keith Adams Jr., signed in Clemsons 2022 recruiting class. 11 gridder of all-time by a panel of historians in 1999 named to the ACC 50-Year Anniversary team in 2002. Twitter reacts: New Orleans drafts Clemson DT Bryan Bresee Atlantic Division champion Clemson leads the 2022 All-ACC Football Teams, which were announced on Tuesday. He is currently ranked second in school history in receptions, first in receptions per game (6.7), first in receiving yards, first in receiving yards per game (94.2), first in 100-yard receiving games (15), tied for first in receiving touchdowns, second in all-purpose yards (5,129), and fifth in kickoff return yards. Winsipedia - Database and infographics of Clemson Tigers (ACC) football all-time record, national championships, conference championships, bowl games, wins, bowl record, All-Americans, Heisman winners, and NFL Draft picks MACKENSIE ALEXANDERCornerback 2015Semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe Award second-team All-American by the Associated Press honorable mention All-American by Sports Illustrated first-team All-ACC (media, coaches) had 30 tackles, six pass breakups and two tackles for loss in 733 snaps over 14 games allowed just 12 completions in 47 attempts in coverage all year selected in the second round (No. List of Clemson Tigers football seasons - Wikipedia 23 overall) of the Chiefs in 1979 played for the Super Bowl Champion Bears in 1985 named to the state of South Carolina Hall of Fame (1991) Clemson Athletic Hall of Fame inductee (1985) and one of three original inductees to the Clemson Ring of Honor (1994) quarterback on Clemsons Centennial Team (1996) Clemsons No. Weve got you covered! ANTHONY SIMMONSLinebacker 1995-97Just the second ACC player in history to be named an AP All-American three different years left Clemson after his junior year with a chance to become just the second four-time AP All-American in college football history earned third-team All-America honors as a freshman and sophomore, and he was first-team as a junior AP and Playboy First-Team All-American in 1997, Clemsons first defensive player named to the first team since 1982 finished his career second in Tiger history in career tackles (486) led the ACC in tackles in 1996 and 1997 one of 10 semifinalists for the 1997 Butkus Award First-Team All-ACC selection three straight years had 52 tackles for loss in his career had 25 tackles for loss in 1997 to lead the ACC Clemsons top tackler in 28 of his 36 games had a streak of 17 straight games with at least one tackle for loss to end his career two-time recipient of the Banks McFadden Award as the top college player in South Carolina set the Clemson single-season tackle record (178) in 1996 ACC Rookie-of-the-Year in 1995 National Freshman-of-the-Year by UPI in 1995; he was the first defensive player in history to win the award four-time ACC Rookie-of-the-Week and two-time ACC Player-of-the-Week in 1995 first-round draft pick (No. Clemson lands in the top choices for a highly touted offensive line recruit. TigerNet All-Time Clemson Football Teams: #4 by John Greene - Correspondent - 2000-08-25 18:14:49.0 Follow us: 1950 (9-0-1, 3-0-1, 2nd In So. HARRY OLSZEWSKIOffensive Guard 1967First-team consensus All-American only unanimous choice to the 1967 All-ACC team; it was his second straight year on the team named to the Silver Anniversary All-ACC team in 1977 played in the East-West Shrine Bowl and the Senior Bowl scored a 12-yard touchdown against South Carolina his junior year playing offensive guard; no Clemson offensive lineman has scored since won the ACC and state of South Carolina Jacobs Blocking Trophy in 1967 started 30-straight games drafted in the third round by the Cleveland Browns played for Montreal Alouettes in 1969,70 Clemson Hall of Fame inductee in 1980; he made it into the South Carolina Hall of Fame in 1990 named to Clemsons Centennial team in 1996 passed away in the spring of 1998 Clemsons No. We present them here for purely educational purposes. 11 in 1958 and 1959, respectively played in two 1959 bowl games (Sugar Bowl, Bluebonnet Bowl) right-fielder in the College World Series for the Tigers in 1959 first-round draft pick in both the NFL and AFL; he was chosen by the Giants in the NFL and Bills in the AFL No. Ben Boulware totaled 261 tackles, eight sacks and had 26.5 tackles for loss . Since taking over for the Tigers back in 2008, Clemson has become a perennial powerhouse across the college football landscape. 15 Auburn had eight tackles and three sacks against Maryland to earn ACC Defensive Lineman-of-the-Week honors; he was the first Tiger to record three sacks in a game since 2001 had his ninth straight game involved in a sack at Wake Forest when he had two sacks. DONALD IGWEBUIKEPlacekicker 1984AP Third-Team All-American who booted the longest field goal in the ACC each of his last three seasons led the nation and ACC in field-goal percentage with a 94.1 mark as a senior came to Clemson to play soccer and played in two NCAA tournaments (1980,81) tied for 13th in the nation as a senior in kick-scoring (8.1) 43-of-43 on PATs in his career and made 32-of-43 field goals only Tiger to boot at least one 50-yard field goal in four straight seasons had five career field goals of 50 or more yards to set a Clemson record later broken by B.T. When the news broke that USC and UCLA were joining the Big Ten, the future of the college football landscape immediately put Clemsons status in the ACC on the hot seat. As a matter of policy, Sports Reference only reports the results of games as played on the field. A first-team All-American in 1959, Cordileone won two ACC championships with the Tigers. SAMMY WATKINSWide Receiver 2011,12,13National freshman-of-the-year by Columbus (Ohio) Touchdown Club, Rivals.com and Sporting News in 2011 national offensive freshman-of-the-year by CollegeFootballNews.com in 2011 first-team All-American by Pro Football Weekly and Rivals.com in 2011; he became Clemsons first freshman to be named a first-team All-American first-team All-American (all-purpose) by AP and FoxSports.com; he became the first freshman in ACC history to be an AP First-Team All-American; he became just the fourth first-year freshman in NCAA history to earn AP First-Team All-America honors, joining Herschel Walker (1980) of Georgia, Marshall Faulk (1991) of San Diego State and Adrian Peterson (2004) of Oklahoma ACC Rookie-of-the-Year first-team freshman All-American by CBSSports.com, CollegeFootballNews.com, Football Writers Association, Phil Steele, Rivals.com and Sporting News one of 15 semifinalists for the 2011 Walter Camp Player of the Year Award; he was the only freshman or sophomore among the semifinalists one of 10 semifinalists for the 2011 Biletnikoff Award First-Team All-ACC selection (media) as a wide receiver and Second-Team All-ACC selection (media) as a specialist in 2011; he became the first Tiger freshman to earn First-Team All-ACC honors since 1995 (Anthony Simmons) and the first-ever Tiger freshman wide receiver to earn First-Team All-ACC honors had 82 receptions for 1,219 yards and 12 touchdowns, 231 yards on 32 carries and 33 kickoff returns for 826 yards and one touchdown for 2,288 all-purpose yards in 656 snaps over 13 games (10 starts) in 2011 first-team All-American by Pro Football Weekly in 2012 Honorable Mention All-ACC selection (media, coaches) in 2011 had 57 receptions for 708 yards and three touchdowns, 97 yards on 14 carries and one touchdown, three punt returns for 11 yards and 13 kickoff returns for 257 yards in 403 snaps over 10 games (seven starts) in 2011 drafted in the first round (No. Fantasy Land: Building Clemson's All-Time football team - Sports TAJH BOYDQuarterback 2012One of 10 finalists for the Manning Award one of 15 players on the Walter Camp Player of the Year Watch List one of 16 semifinalists for the Davey OBrien National Quarterback Award one of 15 candidates for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award first-team All-American by AFCA, becoming the first Tiger quarterback in history to earn first-team All-America honors ACC Player of the Year (media, coaches) ACC Offensive Player of the Year (media, coaches) First-Team All-ACC selection (media, coaches) was 287-of-427 passing for 3,896 yards and an ACC-record 36 touchdowns against 13 interceptions in 959 snaps over 13 games (13 starts) completed 67.2 percent of his passes and had a 165.6 pass efficiency rating had 514 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns had 4,410 total yards and was responsible for an ACC-record 46 touchdowns. Former Clemson defensive tackle Bryan Bresee got drafted by the New Orleans Saints at No. He started 32 games in a Clemson uniform. The teams have combined to win 24 ACC football titles since 1991. JOHN PHILLIPSOffensive Guard 1986,87First-team All-American as a junior and second-team All-American as a senior All-ACC selection for two consecutive years captured the Jacobs Blocking Trophy for South Carolina two years in a row set the single-season Tiger record of 103 knockdown blocks as a junior and concluded his career with 245 knockdown blocks had a pair of 100-knockdown block seasons; he had 100 in 1986 and 103 in 1987 started 32 games and played 47 in his career co-captain of Clemsons 1987 team with Michael Dean Perry graduate assistant coach at Clemson in 1990,91 inducted into the Clemson Hall of Fame in 1999. 5 Greatest Clemson Football Players Of All Time, Ranked The 1979 Clemson University football season was a special one in many respects. . College Football at Sports-Reference.com Blog and Articles. UK Women's Football. He led the Tigers to a national championship win his true freshman season, becoming the first freshman to do so since 1985. 11 Maryland in College Park, to finish the regular season 10-1 (the best season in school history at the time). DESHAUN WATSONQuarterback 2015, 16Two-time Heisman Trophy finalist, he finished third in 2015 and second in 2016 consensus first-team All-American quarterback in 2015 and second-team in 2016 his second team selections included Associated Press, Football Coaches Association, Walter Camp Foundation, Sporting News and USA Today winner of the 2016 Bobby Bowden Award winner of the Manning Award in 2015 and 2016, the first two-time winner of that honor winner of the Davey OBrien Award in 2015 and 2016 winner of the Johnny Unitas Award in 2016 won the ESPN as the top male college athlete in 2017 won Chic Harley Award in 2016 led Clemson to the National Championship game in 2015 and 2016, the Tigers won the championship his final year in 2016 completed two-yard scoring pass to Hunter Renfrow with just one second left to give Clemson 35-31 victory over Alabama in the 2016 season national title game winner of the Archie Griffin Award from the Columbus Touchdown Club in 2015 season finished is Clemson career ranked second in passing yards (10,163), third in completions (814), first in completion percentage (.674), first in passing efficiency (157.5), second in touchdown passes (90), second in touchdown responsibility 9116) second in total offense (12,094) MVP of the ACC as a sophomore in 2015 in 2016 ranked third in he nation in touchdown passes with 41, third in passing yards (4,593), third in points responsible (304), fifth in total offense/game (348.1), sixth in completions and 10th in completion percentage 12th in the nation in passing efficiency in 2015 MVP of the ACC Championship Game, the Fiesta Bowl and the National Championship game in 2016 MVP of the 2015 ACC Championship game and Orange Bowl finished career with 32-3 record, tying the record for most wins by starting quarterback and setting mark for winning percentage semifinalist for the Sullivan Award in 2015 finalist for the Walter Camp Award in 2015 and 2016 first-round draft choice of the Houston Texans Academic All-ACC in 2014 and 2016 named to AFCA Good Works Team in 2016 South Carolina Hall of Fame College Player of the Year in 2015 and 2016 recipient of ACC Weaver-James-Corrigan Honorary Postgrad Scholarship ACC Athlete of the Year in 2015-16 and 2016-17, first two time selection since Charlie Ward, 1992-93 and 1993-94. Murphy played in all but one game during his time at Clemson, opting out of the 2022 bowl game. Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. . With the honorable mentions out of the way, here are the top five Clemson football players of all time. JOEL WELLSBack 1955Third-team All-American in 1955 broke the ACC rushing record as a junior second-round draft pick (No. DORIAN ODANIELLinebacker 2017First-team All-American by Sports Illustrated and Bleacher Report in 2017 second-team All-American by AP and AFCA Butkus Award finalist Bowden Award finalist ACC Linebacker-of-the-Week against Auburn and Virginia Tech permanent team co-captain leading tackler the 2017 team national defensive player-of-the-week against at Tech had a team-high 14 tackles, one sack and a 22-yard interception return for a touchdown played in 50 victories in his career. Joining Cunningham on the third team was former wide receiver Sammy Watkins as an All-Purpose Player, defensive tackle Michael Dean Perry and defensive end Vic Beasley. JEFF BRYANTDefensive Tackle 1981Second-team All-American on the 1981 National Championship team had 19 tackles for loss in 1981 led the National Championship team in sacks and tackles for loss First-Team All-ACC in 1981 among the all-time leaders in Clemson history in career sacks and tackles for loss will always be remembered for his recovered fumble at North Carolina in 1981 late in the game of the 10-8 win that kept the national title hopes alive first-round draft pick (No. DeANDRE HOPKINSWide Receiver 2012Drafted in the first round (No. Clemson football: Ranking the best CFP teams of all time Ranking every Clemson playoff team among all 36 teams that have made the College Football Playoff Share this article 147. 15 overall) by the Seahawks in 1997 leading tackler for Seattle in both 2000 and 2001 named to the ACC 50-Year Anniversary team in 2002 inducted into the Clemson Hall of Fame in 2008. JUSTIN MILLERKick Returner 2004Set the NCAA single-game record for kickoff return yards (282) at Florida State in 2004; he also had two kickoff returns for scores in that game to set a school record and tie an NCAA record three-year starter at cornerback as one of the greatest kick returners in Clemson history among the final 12 for the Thorpe Award in 2004 concluded his career third in Clemson history in career interceptions (13) had 30.7-yard kickoff return average in his career, best in ACC history and fourth-best in NCAA history had 50 kickoff returns for 1,534 yards in his career, as that 30.7 average was best in NCAA history given a minimum of 50 returns; he was second in Clemson history in that category behind former teammate Derrick Hamilton; he was just 18 yards short of Hamiltons total led the nation in kickoff returns in 2004 with a 33.1-yard average on 20 returns had a 13.0-yard average in punt returns to finish in the top 25 in the nation; he also had a punt return for a score against Wake Forest; that gave him a Tiger record three kick returns for touchdowns in the same season and a career standard of five (three kickoff, two punt) had seven tackles in the 2003 win over No.