Clemson defensive leader looks for his group to put together consistent effort

RJ Mickens and company look to put together a complete effort versus the struggling Florida State Seminoles.

by Ariana Pensy - Correspondent - Sat Oct 05 12:15:01 GMT-04:00 2024

CLEMSON—There have been many changes to the college football landscape, making it seem more like the NFL. But for a player like graduate safety R.J. Mickens, who has his sights set on the league, these changes will certainly help him acclimate to whatever team he lands on.

One of those changes is having instant replay on the sideline. Mickens has found this incredibly helpful, particularly when Clemson defeated Stanford 40-14 this past Saturday.

The Cardinal had not previously used the quarterback draw often but were implementing that into their game plan for the Tigers. By having instant replay, Mickens and the rest of the defense were able to visually see what Stanford was running and figure out how to best stop it.

“We have the iPads now on the sideline,” Mickens said. “So, that’s a really big help, and then you can see exactly what’s happening and where everyone should be fitting it up with the call that we have and just knowing what to expect of having a little anticipation for that, now anticipating that you’re a step behind, a step late, especially if it’s not something that you worked on and you’re not reading your keys right. So, just having anticipation for that moving forward throughout the game was huge for us.”

The season did not start out how Clemson was hoping. While they held their own in the first half against the Georgia Bulldogs, things took a turn for the worse in the second half, leading to a 34-3 score. Since then, they have been undefeated, although all three of those games were at home. Overall, Mickens says the team needs to be more disciplined the rest of the season and improve its tackling.

“We’ve done some really good things, and we’ve done some bad things too. So, we just got to be more consistent, I’d say disciplined, playing (a) full four quarters, especially late in the game if we were to sub or even starting out the game, that first half wasn’t the cleanest first half either,” Mickens said. “So, small, small things that (are) showing up like leveraging the football, being better on the perimeter tackling, and just being gap sound. There’s things that we got to clean up as a defense and then offensively, we’ve looked really good. So, I’m really confident in those guys and the work they’ve put in.”

With several veteran players on the team nearing the end of their Clemson careers, it is important for the young players on the roster to step up and learn from the veterans around them. That is exactly what true freshman linebacker Sammy Brown has done. Despite playing half the sacks other players like Mickens have, Brown leads the team in tackles for loss (5.5) and solo tackles (20) and is third in total tackles (23).

“Sammy’s a great player. He flies around (full) speed and hits people. He’s not afraid of contact. He’s smart. Being a freshman, it’s not easy to be a linebacker, especially here in our defense, all the stuff we got to know and all the checks and the calls and the front adjustments and stuff,” Mickens said. “So, it’s a lot on his plate, and he’s really handling it really well, and it shows up on Saturdays. He flies around, makes plays and he’s going to be really critical for us going forward. He’s a really valuable piece of this defense and, especially in the future years to come and this year, we’re going to need him. So, I’m excited for him.”

With the prominence of the transfer portal in college, it has become more and more likely for former teammates to go up against each other in a college game. That was supposed to happen this coming Saturday against Florida State (7 p.m. / ESPN) for No. 15 Clemson as former Tiger quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei is now with the Seminoles.

Unfortunately, he broke his finger and will not be able to play in the game. Mickens and Uiagalelei used to be roommates, and they developed an incredibly close friendship during that time. Even though they will not be facing each other on the football field, Mickens is proud of his friend for everything he has overcome to get to this point in his career.

“D.J. was one of my closest friends and (I am) still keeping in touch with him to this day, and it’s just a great relationship that me and him have just outside of football,” Mickens said. “Me and him roomed together for about three years, and I’m just proud of him and all that he’s had to deal with and overcome, just the way he’s handled himself through all this adversity he’s been facing. I know he’ll be better because of it.”