CLEMSON — When DeAndre McDaniel intercepted Christian Ponder’s pass and raced down the far sideline, he pointed to the Florida State quarterback, as if telling him to “come on and try to tackle me.”

The moment became iconic in Clemson lore, as several photojournalists captured McDaniel pointing to Ponder. It’s one of the more famous images in Clemson Football history.

“I definitely still hear about it to this day,” McDaniel said.

McDaniel, who will be inducted into Clemson’s Athletic Hall of Fame this weekend, did not score a touchdown on the play in the 2009 contest against the Seminoles. Instead, he lowered his shoulder and laid a blow to the Seminoles’ signal-caller. Ponder’s attempt at the touchdown-saving-tackle proved to be a bad idea.

McDaniel’s hit ended up knocking Ponder out of the game. On the Tigers’ ensuing possession, running back C.J. Spiller, now Clemson’s running backs coach, skirted around the left side for a touchdown, as Clemson rolled to a 40-24 victory at Memorial Stadium.

The victory allowed Clemson to gain control of the ACC’s Atlantic Division. The Tigers beat NC State the following week in Raleigh and then came home to clinch their first berth in the ACC Championship Game with a win over Virginia.

Though McDaniel is famous for his hit on Ponder, he admitted to The Clemson Insider in an exclusive interview that it was not his intention. Instead, he was trying to act like he was pointing to someone to come over and block Ponder, though there was no one there.

“I am trying to throw the quarterback off, so this does not have to happen,” said McDaniel, who is now a Senior Defensive Assistant on Dabo Swinney’s staff at Clemson. “If you look at it, he actually tried to bring the hit to me, but I knew once we got to that moment, I was about to try and roll him.”

And that is what McDaniel did.

“I wanted to score. People asked me why I did not cut back, but I was not thinking about cutting back. I wanted the quarterback to stop,” the Hall of Famer said. “He came, and I delivered the blow.”

And he delivered one of the most iconic moments in Clemson history.

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