Despite facing the offseason changes typical of any blue-chip program — i.e. losing talent to the NFL — Clemson has managed to retain most of its stellar defense heading into the 2024-2025 season. The return of two veterans in particular will prove crucial to the Tiger’s success, but they’re no stranger to pressure.
Linebacker Barrett Carter and safety R.J. Mickens, who return for their final season of eligibility in Death Valley, spoke on Thursday at the ACC Kickoff in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Their decisions come after a 9-4 finish to the Tigers’ 2023-2024 season, capped off by five straight wins and a Gator Bowl victory over Kentucky. Although the defense has been Clemson’s crowning glory in recent years, Carter recalls a lot of mistakes that need to be addressed.
“With all the mistakes that we had, the mental errors and communication issues, we should’ve been higher than that (9-4),” the senior said. “We have to go out there and earn it every single day, and that’s what we have been working towards.”
The team has not reached the College Football Playoff since the 2020-2021 season. For a program whose motto is “Best is the Standard”, this brings understandable frustration — especially for veterans like Carter and Mickens. Their hunger for postseason success has never been greater.
“I don’t even know if hungry is the right word. We’re starving,” Mickens said. “I’m really excited to see the work. We need to get back to that grit, that if we let up a touchdown, the game is on us.
“I think we are trending in the right direction.”
Mickens’ core only lost one player, Jalyn Phillips, last year. Now, the responsibility of leading a young but explosive secondary falls on the shoulders of the graduate senior, who credits his teammates as both players and leaders.
“Those guys don’t really sit around and wait to be led. Shelton Lewis, Avieon Terrell, Khalil Barnes, those guys are dragging me up,” he said. “It’s really encouraging to see those guys acting like this is their fifth year, and they’re grinding.”
Likewise, Carter is expected to lead his young linebacker core, composed of the likes of Jamal Anderson, Drew Woodaz, Dee Crayton and C.J. Kubah-Taylor.
“They’ve really taken a step,” he said.
Clemson’s toughest matchup of the season comes in week one, leaving the team with no games to prepare for its meeting with the Georgia Bulldogs. For Carter, a Suwanee, Georgia, native, everything will fall into place at practice over the next couple of weeks.
“They’ve arguably been the best team in college football over the past couple of years, but it doesn’t change our mindset,” Carter said. “We just attack every day like it’s the national championship, and by doing so, we will be set up in a good position.”
Mickens, meanwhile, does not feel the pressure of the matchup due to the amount of talent that surrounds him: “I don’t feel a ton of pressure at all because I know I have playmakers all around me. I know I can count on those guys.”
What inspires the duo to work so hard in the offseason? The Netflix documentary “Untold: Swamp Kings,” which depicts the late 2000s-era Florida Gators and their dominance under then-head coach Urban Meyer, has been a major influence.
Carter and Mickens have been checking in to the football facility before morning practice to get early reps in, similar to what the Florida players did during their successes.
“We will go up to the facility, like it’s pitch black outside, and we are hitting the field, doing drills, running and doing stuff like that,” Carter said. “We like to call it ‘scary hours.’”
The results of their hard work will be seen soon, as there are just a few more weeks until the two Clemson standouts face the Bulldogs on Aug. 31 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
