Typical of a national championship team, the 2018 Clemson Tigers were stacked with talent at every position on the depth chart. While the five-star recruits manning the tops of statistical leaderboards and finding themselves on watch lists for prestigious awards because of it were certainly integral members of Clemson’s squad, several players with less notable résumés were also highly important contributors to the Tigers’ march to the title. Coming into the season rather unheralded, these playmakers continuously made positive differences for the Tigers throughout the 2018 season, becoming household names and garnering reputations as certified impact players in the process.
At the start of the 2018 slate, redshirt freshman Chase Brice was Clemson’s third-string quarterback and relegated to scout-team duties behind Kelly Bryant and Trevor Lawrence.
However, following Bryant’s in-season exit from the program, which enabled Lawrence to take over as the full-fledged starter, Brice was elevated on the depth chart. While an increase in playing time was expected for Brice, being ushered into the spotlight in his first game as the second-string quarterback was an unexpected development for the young passer.
With Lawrence being forced from Clemson’s September matchup against the Syracuse Orange because of a head injury, Brice was handed the reins to the offense and did not disappoint. Despite not blowing up the stat sheet, Brice was the superstar of the epic comeback manufactured by Clemson to maintain its undefeated season.
En route to helping Clemson pull off the 27-23 come-from-behind victory, Brice completed a pivotal fourth-down pass to wideout Tee Higgins and also rumbled his way downfield for a hard-fought 17-yard carry. All of that and more made up the game-winning drive that Brice commandeered, which transformed the former three-star recruit into a Clemson legend.
On the opposite side of the ball, sophomore cornerback A.J. Terrell also experienced a breakout performance for the Tigers in the thrilling contest versus Syracuse. Inciting the comeback with a third-quarter interception that sent Death Valley into a frenzy, Terrell set up a Clemson field goal with the 20-yard return that followed his first of three interceptions on the season. Amazingly, Terrell managed to top that special feat by making perhaps the most important play of his football career with a 44-yard interception return for a touchdown that opened the scoring action against the Alabama Crimson Tide in the National Championship Game.
Reading Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s throw perfectly, Terrell picked off the pass and put Clemson ahead by a touchdown early on, thereby setting the stage for the Tigers’ dominant 44-16 beatdown of the Crimson Tide. Terrell fared well in his first season in the starting lineup for Clemson, earning third-team All-ACC honors to show for it.
An athletic defensive back with a knack for disrupting passes, Terrell is the impact player that a Clemson secondary fresh off losing multiple starters to the NFL Draft needed this season. After starting the year off as an unproven underclassman, Terrell went on to grow into a lockdown corner and tally two of the most critical interceptions in Clemson football history.
While freshman wide receiver Justyn Ross, who was widely regarded as one of the top recruits at the wideout position in the buildup to him committing to the Tigers, was not an unknown when the 2018 season began, he certainly was not expected to make as significant an impact as he did in his debut Clemson campaign.
Gradually garnering additional playing time as the season progressed, Ross, who caught nine receiving touchdowns and amassed 1,000 receiving yards on 46 receptions as a freshman, churned out circus catch after circus catch while establishing himself as a key cog in the Clemson offense.
A native of Phenix City, Alabama, Ross opted to join the Tigers over the Crimson Tide, and, adding to that interesting narrative, he later burned Alabama again by serving as the leading receiver in the College Football Playoff title game. Tabbing six catches for 153 yards, Ross scorched the Alabama secondary on a 74-yard receiving touchdown that marked Clemson’s longest pass play of the season.
Furthermore, Ross miraculously hauled in a couple of jaw-dropping catches while toeing the sideline to steal the show and make it known that he is poised to be the next superstar pass catcher to come out of “Wide Receiver U.”
Needless to say, the likes of quarterback Trevor Lawrence, running back Travis Etienne Jr. and defensive tackle Christian Wilkins were at the crux of the 15-0 Clemson squad that will go down in history as one of the most talented college football teams of all time. With that being said, the lesser-known impact players that earned the adoration of the Clemson faithful during the course of the season were just as vital to Clemson’s success.
Breakout stars have been constants of the Tiger squads coached by Dabo Swinney, who was, at one point in time, a breakout star in the coaching profession. Therefore, Brice, Terrell and Ross, as well as the countless other impact players who suited up for the national champion Clemson Tigers, carried on the tradition of Clemson’s all-in approach to winning during a season to remember in Tigertown.
