CLEMSON – In 2025, Clemson’s defense recorded its fewest interceptions since 1998, a season in which the Tigers went 3-8, won only one ACC game and fired its heaf coach.

Under head coach Dabo Swinney, who took the reins midway through the 2008 season, the Tigers have had at least 12 interceptions in each year, except for 2025, in which they had nine. Not only was it the fewest interceptions recorded by the Tigers in the 21st century, it was the only the eighth time Clemson has notched single-digit picks since 1962.

Clemson did force 10 fumbles last season, which tied for fourth in the ACC but was the lowest since 2021, when the Tigers had three more interceptions to make up for it. In all, 2025 marked the first time since 2004, the Tigers did not force at least 20 turnovers in a season.

Ahead of the 2026 season, Clemson’s staff has worked to prioritize forcing more turnovers, or as they like to say– generating takeaways.

“It’s in our DNA,” defensive pass game coordinator Thomas Allen said of takeaways. “We preach about it every day. It’s accountability. If you don’t get it, you don’t get into the practice. So that’s big for us. You got to emphasize it.”

Last season, the Tigers did manage to win the turnover margin, forcing 17 turnovers and only losing 15. This marked three consecutive Clemson seasons with a positive margin. Still, more takeaways could have benefitted a team that finished with a 7-6 record and lost three games by a combined 11 points.

In defensive coordinator Tom Allen’s first season, turnovers were emphasized consistently in practice, along with tackling and toughness. Still, outside of safety Ricardo Jones, who is now playing at Vanderbilt, the Tigers struggled to force turnovers.

Clemson only had three interceptions last season by someone not named Jones, who had six. Though the Tigers finished with 70 pass breakups. Clemson players were getting hands on the ball last season. At times, however, they could not hold on.

“I think takeaways are a weird deal,” Thomas Allen said. “I think you’ve emphasized them almost the same every year, and sometimes you get a bunch of them, sometimes you don’t. But they change games. It’s an offensive league. It gets kind of set up for offenses to score points. So you got to do a great job of stopping drives, and that’s a big way to do it.”

To Allen’s point, only three ACC offenses in 2020 finished their season with more than 5000 total yards, while 10 completed the feat in 2025. Only six Big 10 teams, nine Southeastern Conference teams and nine Big 12 teams finished over 5000 total yards last season.

This means that in the modern ACC, players that can shut down these long offensive drives against conference opponents are paramount to defensive success and ultimately winning close, high-scoring games.

The Tigers believe they got a few of those players in transfer safeties Corey Myrick and Jerome Carter III, as well as cornerback Elliott Washington II, all of which joined the program this offseason.

These players bring in 10 combined interceptions from their previous schools, and nine from last season. This means that alone, those three players– led by Carter’s six picks– would have tied Clemson’s total interceptions last season on their own.

“Watching them do that on the film, watching them create takeaways, watching them play the ball, attack the ball, have great range and have length and have all those qualities you’re looking for,” Tom Allen said of the transfers.

“So those guys stuck out in those areas and obviously they’re here now and they’ve proven to be great fits for Clemson,” he added.

This season, the Tigers will face five of CBSSports.com’s top-10 ACC quarterbacks, including Miami signal-caller Darien Mensah, who hung 361 passing yards on Clemson’s defense last season for Duke, and Syracuse’s Steve Angeli, who threw for 244 yards and two touchdowns before suffering an injury.

The Tigers did not get any takeaways in those home losses, but they did force two fumbles against LSU in a season-opening loss.

Clemson will have another chance to generate more takeaways in another season-opening rematch against the Tigers of Baton Rouge on Sept. 5, when the pair of teams will match up in Tiger Stadium.

A Clemson interception would be the second in a five-game history against LSU. The first came from Travis Blanks in 2012, Clemson’s last win against the Tigers in the Peach Bowl.