It was just a matter of when it would happen, not if.
Brian Dawkins, who was a second-team All-American for Clemson in 1995, became the first former Tiger to be named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Dawkins was named to the Class of 2018 Saturday night in Minneapolis, Minn., as the league gets ready to host Super Bowl LII tonight.
Dawkins’ former team, the Philadelphia Eagles, play the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. Dawkins and the Eagles played against Tom Brady and the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXIX at the end of the 2004 season.
“This is an honor for me, my teammates and the Philadelphia Eagles fans,” Dawkins said to the media covering the Super Bowl. “We are going to celebrate this together”
However Saturday was all about Dawkins, who earned the most prestigious honor a football player can receive, and he did it in just his second year of eligibility.
“Brian Dawkins has represented this football program, this University, with distinction for over 25 years,” Clemson Head Coach Dabo Swinney said in a statement. “He had a terrific career at Clemson, and then had an even better career in the NFL with Philadelphia and Denver.”
Dawkins lettered at Clemson from 1992-95 as a safety. He was named a second-team All-American by the Associated Press and The Sporting News after his senior year. He also earned second-team All-ACC honors in 1993 and ’94, and then earned first-team honors in 1995.
During the 1995 season, Dawkins had 89 tackles, including 60 first hits, in starting all 12 games for a Clemson team that went on to the Gator Bowl that year. He had six interceptions to lead the ACC and ranked eighth nationally, including one for a touchdown.
Dawkins also had nine passes broken up to lead a Clemson defense that finished 10th in the nation in scoring defense and 16th in pass defense.
Against Duke that season, Dawkins tied a Clemson record with three interceptions. All three of the thefts came in one quarter, still the only Clemson player to have three thefts in a quarter. He was named National Defensive Player of the Week by Sports Illustrated for that performance against the Blue Devils.
The Clemson graduate finished his career with 15 takeaways, still tied for fifth in school history, as he had 11 interceptions and four fumble recoveries. He finished with 251 total tackles in 46 games, 35 as a starter.
Dawkins had four fumble recoveries, four forced fumbles and three blocked kicks. He had two sacks and nine tackles for loss to go with 23 passes broken up and 34 total passes defended.
In 1996, Dawkins was drafted in the second round, 61st overall, but the Eagles in the 1996 NFL Draft. He went on to play 16 years in the NFL from 1996-2011. He played with the Eagles from 1996-‘08 and with the Denver Broncos from 2009-‘11. His No. 20 jersey has been retired by the Eagles, one of just nine players in the 80 years of that franchise so honored.
“It was not just his accomplishments on the field, it is his character, his leadership, the respect that people have for him, that standout,” Swinney said. “For years I have dealt with NFL scouts, coaches, and general managers and I can’t tell you how many times they have told me stories of Brian Dawkins.
“Now with his selection, he is the first former Clemson football player to be inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame. It is a fitting honor.”
In his 16 years in the NFL, Dawkins was named to the Pro Bowl nine times, more than any other former Clemson player history. In fact his nine selections to a professional all-star game are more than any former Clemson athlete in any sport.
Dawkins was named to the NFL All-Rookie Team in 1996 and was an All-Pro selection in 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2009. He finished his NFL career with 1,131 tackles 37 interceptions, 26 sacks, 120 pass deflections, 36 forced fumbles and 19 fumble recoveries in 224 career games. He started an amazing 221 of those games.
The native of Jacksonville, Fla., Dawkins is one of just six players in NFL history with 25 sacks and 25 interceptions in his career. He’s the only player in NFL history to record a sack, interception, fumble recovery and touchdown catch in the same game, which he did against the Houston Texans in 2002.
Dawkins was selected as a first-team member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame All-Decade Team in the 2000s. He will go into the Hall as a Philadelphia Eagle.