CLEMSON – Five years ago, Nolan Turner and Thomas Allen were living parallel lives.
Turner, then a safety at Clemson, was playing his sixth and final season with the Tigers, capping off a prolific career that included three College Football Playoff appearances, two National Championship wins and an All-American nod.
Several hours north, Thomas Allen was playing linebacker at Indiana, entering his fifth and final season with the Hoosiers under his father, head coach Tom Allen. The younger Allen would go on to play eight games and win the team’s Ted Verlihay Mental Attitude award that season.
The Tigers and Hoosiers never played each other from 2017-2021, when both players were at the respective schools, or at any point in history. Half a decade later, however, Turner and Allen are no longer living parallel lives. Instead, they are on a joint mission to reshape Clemson’s secondary.
“Obviously, he came in last year and we never knew each other, never met each other and have developed into obviously close friends and colleagues,” Turner said of Allen. “We’ve spent a ton of time up there in the office with each other just finding ways to improve.”
After Turner wrapped up his career at Clemson, in which he finished with seven interceptions in 65 career games, he played a season in the NFL with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers–Allen’s hometown–and then returned to Clemson as an assistant safeties coach and defensive analyst in 2024.
In the meantime, Allen served as an assistant under his father at Indiana and Penn State for three years before the duo joined Clemson’s staff ahead of the 2025 season.
Upon arrival, neither coach took long to make their mark.
After Clemson’s secondary struggled in consecutive losses against SMU and Duke, giving up a combined 651 passing yards in two games, Allen was removed from his initial job as a defensive analyst and assistant linebackers coach and thrust into the defensive backs room, leading meetings with the safeties and cornerbacks as one unit.
The secondary quickly improved with streamlined communication, and the Tigers went on to win four consecutive games to close out the regular season.
“I didn’t really know Thomas other than he was Tom’s son coming in here, but let me tell you this, he will be a coordinator in the SEC, Big Ten, ACC or Big 12 before he’s 30,” head coach Dabo Swinney said of Allen. He did a really great job when we empowered him this way as the season wore on.”
With that success, Allen was promoted to defensive pass game coordinator in the offseason, meaning that he will call the pass defense plays and teach secondary members his father’s scheme. Simultaneously, Turner, who was in those meetings with Allen and also helped turn the defense around, started to get calls about other job opportunities outside of Clemson.
He took them to Swinney.
“I spoke with Coach Swinney about it and he had other plans,” Turner said. “He brought me up there to his office and we talked about it and kind of what that looked like here and he ultimately offered me a job here and it’s truly a blessing.”
Turner was promoted to safeties coach at Clemson, in charge of the unit he once led as a player. Quickly, the newly promoted pair of 27-year-olds got to work.
They scoured the transfer portal for players that brought in length, speed and toughness. They reached out to countless coaches, asking about character and work ethic. They watched hours of film and made countless calls, manning the offices in Clemson’s expansive football facility at all hours.
In a short period of time, Turner and Allen brought in safeties Corey Myrick from Southern Miss and Jerome Carter III from Old Dominion University–their top picks–for official visits and eventually secured commitments from both. At the same time, the Tigers also added corners Elliott Washington II and Donovan Starr.
“It takes a lot of time, takes a lot of effort, a lot of Nolan and myself doing a good job of sitting in the same room and really diving into what we needed to help this safety room kind of flip it,” Allen said. “So, and I felt like we did that, and we’re excited about what they’ll do this season.”
Those four players, handpicked by the former collegiate defenders, earned high marks of praise from Swinney and Tom Allen in spring practice, and are poised to lead the Tigers’ back-five this year. What started as a film study could end up becoming the crown jewel of Clemson’s defense in 2026.
The pair did not stop and bask in their portal success, however. In the next few months, they hit the recruiting trail, each looking for rangy, quick players that can help bring the Tigers’ back to the defensive success they enjoyed during Turner’s tenure.
“Now that Nolan can be on the road, he handles safeties, so I can just go find, go kind of look at all our DBs, which is a lot of fun,” Allen said.
While this season in Clemson will be the first for Turner and Allen in their new roles, they bring in a combined decade of college football experience as players, and the praises of Swinney, one of the most decorated coaches in the sport’s history.
Their first chance to see their hard work in action will be on Sept. 5, when Clemson will open its season against LSU in Baton Rouge, La.
