CLEMSON – Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney had just a few, mighty words for sophomore defensive lineman Hevin Brown-Shuler as the pair wrapped in a hug Thursday morning.

“I love you buddy,” Swinney repeated inside a light-streaked corridor of Greenville, S.C.’s Prisma Health Cancer Institute.

Swinney was far from the first to bestow a similar message, and was just one of over a dozen grateful friends and family members gathered to celebrate a milestone very few 21-year-olds ever have to imagine. 

Some supporters wore purple-stained shirts that read “Hevy Duty, Built for the Battle.” Others donned various pieces of Clemson football merchandise. But all wore a smile as Brown-Shuler went to ring a bell, marking the end of his treatment from Hodgkin Lymphoma after a seven-month long battle with the disease.

The joyful, echoing ‘dings’ brought on by the 6-foot-3 athlete’s waving arm marked the end of an era and the start of a healthy beginning. Despite his best efforts, emotions found their way out of Brown-Shuler with every ring.

“I promised myself I wasn’t going to cry, but obviously that didn’t happen,” Brown-Shuler said after ringing the bell. “All the frustrations from the past seven months just kind of came out and it was like a weight that got lifted off my shoulders.”

For the first time in months, his family got to cry happy tears.

After starting workouts or “mat drills” with his team back in the spring, Brown-Shuler started noticing concerning symptoms and was eventually referred to doctors who then diagnosed his cancer. The sophomore defensive lineman started chemotherapy treatments last May.

As he told media members on Tuesday, Swinney vividly recalls speaking with Brown-Shuler’s mother, Meek Brown, directly after the diagnosis.

“It’s one of the worst days ever talking to his mom in the car just trying to talk her down,” Swinney said. “She was hysterical. You know this is her son and she can’t even wrap her mind around it. She’s flying up the road trying to get here. And that was a tough day. That’s a tough call. And here’s a big, strong, healthy kid and now you’re talking to the doctor and the only thing I could hear was cancer. You know you couldn’t really process anything past that.”

As Brown-Shuler’s “rock” through this situation, Brown shut down her Atlanta, Ga., business to help her son navigate his varying appointments and symptoms. Her payoff came Thursday morning.

“I’m just thankful, thankful and grateful,” Brown said outside of the hospital. “I don’t know if there’s a better word than thankful and grateful, if there were I would use them. But right now, it’s just probably one of the best days of my life.”

To celebrate Brown-Shuler’s graduation from his “first slice of real life,” as defensive tackles coach Nick Eason put it, was a slice of Clemson’s football team. Tiger players bore grins wider than Memorial Stadium’s uprights as their teammate walked out of treatment and into the crisp October air.

And much like the fall of late-October leaves, a new season of life is upon Brown-Shuler.

 “There’s a lot of bad that people are dealing with with cancer,” Swinney said. “But there’s so much good too. And this is a win. And the reason this is a win is because there’s amazing doctors and nurses. There’s been unbelievable breakthroughs in research and medicines and treatments and all this stuff over the last 40 years. So a guy like Hevin can have great treatment and hopefully be able to be cancer-free and go live a great healthy life, and so that’s an unbelievable, positive thing.”

Now, with more adversity under his belt than most, Brown-Shuler can get back to what most college athletes are thinking about on a daily basis– his return to the football field.

Still exercising through this period, the underclassman believes playing football for Clemson next season is firmly in his sights. 

“Football is next,” the survivor said with a smile.

And after beating a much more formidable opponent than any offensive lineman or quarterback, Brown-Shuler’s return to the field seems to be imminent.