On Senior and Military Appreciation Day, the seniors ran down the Hill for the last time to break a Clemson record for the number of wins recorded by a senior class. The 43rd victory came when the top-ranked Tigers defeated Wake Forest 33-13 in Death Valley.
After winning 14 consecutive games, Clemson now holds the longest active winning streak in college football.
Here is what we heard after the game:
The whole team was playing in honor of the accomplished senior class.
“This was a game for them, and like coach Swinney said, all the undergraduates, the freshmen, juniors and sophomores, we just go out there and play for those guys. Send them out on a good note,” wide receiver Germone Hopper said.
Head coach Dabo Swinney is tremendously thankful for his group of seniors. The leadership qualities they possess as well as their talent have helped Clemson progress to the level that they are at now.
“That’s a direct reflection of the leadership from the seniors that we have on this team,” Swinney said. “They got their forty-third win today. The reason we have had success … and a lot of people had questions about our team this year, especially defensively, but we have tremendous leadership. Every week we hear, ‘When are you going to get distracted’ and every game has been a trap game every week all year long, but our leadership on this team and the culture we have on this team is what drives the behavior.”
For senior defensive tackle D.J. Reader, it is an honor to break the record, and he hopes that it continues to get broken.
“I hope this is a record that gets broken every year, year after year it keeps getting broken until we go undefeated so many times that it can’t be broken. I just think that it’s a blessing to be on a team like this after all I went through this year, to get back and be on a team like this and guys being so great and unselfish, its just fun,” Reader said.
The last Saturday in the Valley was a special game for many reasons, but it was especially special for senior offensive lineman Daniel Stone. After his last run, Stone proposed to his girlfriend, Morgan, and she said yes.
“For the past couple of weeks I have been trying to come up with ideas to make this really special,” Stone said. “So I figured the whole senior day, and we were going to come down one at a time and receive special recognition. I thought to myself what better way to show off how special the Clemson family is. So how special would it be that I started my own family in Death Valley?”
It was evident how much the senior class means to each and every player on the team, especially to Hopper. Although he played the best game of his career, he could not stop complimenting his senior mentor, Charone Peake.
“I tell that dude I love him every chance I get. He is one of those dudes that has my back through whatever, and every time I’m in my down points in my career, he’s right beside me giving me encouraging words,” Hopper said. “He’s a great guy. I can’t harp on him enough.”