LOUISVILLE, Ky. — When he became Clemson’s defensive coordinator in 2012, Brent Venables was not impressed with Kevin Dodd as a college football, much less as a defensive end on his defense.

“I didn’t think he was a North Texas guy when I first got here, and I told him that, too, back when I hated myself,” Venables said following ninth-ranked Clemson’s 20-17 victory over Louisville on Thursday night.

But Venables feelings have since changed on the Tigers’ junior defensive end. That happens when the 6-foot-5, 275-pound Taylors, S.C., native grabs the opposing quarterback’s shoulder with one hand and slams him to the ground in what was perhaps the biggest play of all the plays the Clemson defense made in Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium.

At the time Louisville had no timeouts and there were just 26 seconds left when time quickly started ticking off the clock.

“I just knew I had to get the ball on that last play,” Dodd said. “It was let’s get it and let’s go home. I just knew I had to make the play.”

Dodd made a lot of plays for the Tigers in the win over Louisville. He recorded five tackles and had 1.5 sacks. Along with fellow defensive end Shaq Lawson, who also was credited with five tackles and 1.5 sacks, Dodd and company sacked Louisville quarterback Kyle Bolin five times and harassed him all night long.

On the last play of the game, Dodd said he could not even recall what happened because he was just fighting.

“I was just trying to get off the field and was trying to find a way to end the game,” he said. “I was just going hard.”

Since his conversation with Venables back in 2012, Dodd worked hard for that moment when he made the play that helped his team win a game.

“I just continued to work,” he said. “I knew where I stood. I had very little football experience up under my belt so I mean it was not a shock to me. At that point, I was not football focused. I did not want to play football. I was just going through the motions pretty much and after that first full year of getting some experience under my belt I just started taking the game more serious and started working on my craft.”

And now, instead of being just known as the guy who plays on the opposite side of Shaq Lawson, he is getting respected for his ability to play in his own right, and no one is prouder than the same guy who told him he could not play at North Texas when he was a freshman.

“He is a self-made guy,” Venables said. “Obviously, Marion (Hobby) has done an incredible job getting him to learn how to be a defensive end, but the guy has really put a lot of work into his body, understanding his technique and is the ultimate guy in regards to paying the price and waiting for his time.”