‘We’ve never practiced that play before’: Swinney draws up game-sealing touchdown
By: samneumann October 2, 2022

D.J. Uiagalelei has never run a bootleg before.

Check that. Had never.

So, it was only fitting that the touchdown that Clemson scored to seal the team’s 30-20 win against N.C. State on Saturday at Memorial Stadium was a play that the Tigers had never practiced.

“We’ve never practiced that play before,” sophomore tight end Jake Briningstool said following the win. “We just pulled it out and scored, honestly. That’s Coach Swinney’s juice, I guess. We were all fired up. That kind of put the dagger in ‘em and put the game away.”

Briningstool said that Clemson coach Dabo Swinney drew the play in question in the huddle during a timeout. It’s a play that the Tigers have in their playbook, but Swinney decided to tweak it a little bit.

“It was awesome,” offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter said. “Coach Swinney called that play and it was awesome. It was something that we just felt like they were really, really pursuing the ball hard, especially in that situation, we didn’t want to risk a pass and it stop the clock…Coach Swinney had a great thought there and man, the guys just went out there and executed it.”

It was all about Uiagalelei selling the fake and finishing there in the endzone. 

“I’ve been waiting my whole life for that,” Uiagalelei quipped. “Honestly, Coach Swinney just called it on the spot. He just told me to keep it. I’ve seen a couple of videos. I’ve seen Peyton Manning do it. I’ve seen Tom Brady do it. I never had the chance to do it, so I’m happy it worked out.

“I didn’t know if it was gonna work out. I thought they might keep the safety there. I thought I might get killed, but it ended up working out. I guess the fake did a good job.”

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