Boulware's "Meathead University" an awesome experience for Sammy Brown

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Linebacker Sammy Brown is coming off an impressive rookie season as he became the fourth Clemson player to win ACC Freshman Defensive Player of the Year.

He registered a total of 80 tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss, five sacks and three pass breakups to earn freshman All-American honors.

Unfortunately, Clemson’s defense as a whole did not play to its standard, leading to a change in defensive coordinator from Wes Goodwin to Tom Allen. Now getting to work on the field with his new coach, Brown was immediately taken with how motivational Allen is and how he explains his defense well to his players.

“It’s been great,” Brown said after a recent spring practice. “It’s funny, he kind of acts a lot like my dad and the things that he says. He’s a motivator. He says a lot of the (right) things. We get out of the segment meeting with him and I’m like, ‘Golly, I want to run through a brick wall right now.’ So, it’s been really good. He’s really intelligent.

"He explains all of the reasoning for what he does really well. So, it’s just been really good.”

The addition of Allen was not the only change in the defensive coaching staff. Clemson also moved Ben Boulware into a role working with the linebackers as a more hands-on coach.

Brown said Boulware has already started to challenge them, although he is also an incredibly relatable person to talk to.

“It’s been awesome,” Brown said. “He’s just a meathead. That’s all I can say. I think our group chat for the linebackers is called, ‘Meathead University.’ I mean, he’s going to push us as hard as he can.

"He’s dragging us out into deep water and when we come out, we’re going to be men. So, it’s been really fun."

During his collegiate career, Boulware played four years at linebacker with the Tigers from 2013 to 2016. He finished his career with 259 tackles and 8.5 sacks. The final game of his collegiate career was a National Championship win against Alabama in the 2016 season.

Clemson’s season opener is in Death Valley for the first time since 2019 as they take on the LSU Tigers on Sat. Aug. 30. It will be a difficult challenge for the Tiger defense, but a good way to put Allen’s defense to the test early.

Thus, this game will serve as a good test of Allen’s passing defense. While the Tigers' weaknesses on defense were in the running game, there certainly is room for improvement as they allowed 213.5 passing yards per game as compared to Allen’s defense, which allowed 192.9 passing yards per game. Clemson has the talent to perform like the Nittany Lions defense did last year. Sammy Brown should also be put in position to show his growth from his rookie season to year two in the opener.

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