When the team buses came over the hill on Press Box Road next to Clemson Memorial Stadium on Sunday, safety Jadar Johnson could not believe what he was seeing.

Despite the cold temperatures and drizzling rain, more than 2,000 fans greeted the Tigers as they returned from Glendale, Arizona less than 24 hours from their Fiesta Bowl victory over No. 3 Ohio State.

Fans chanted “THIRTY-ONE-NOTHING! THIRTY-ONE-NOTHING!” over and over again as the players and coaches unloaded their luggage and made their way into the WestZone.

“It is crazy,” said Johnson, who recorded four tackles in the Fiesta Bowl. “It just shows the support we have behind this team. No matter win or lose, I’m sure there still would have been this many people out here.

“That just gives us extra motivation to go out there and play harder.”

Of course the Tigers (13-1) will need all of that motivation and then some as they try to take down top-ranked Alabama in the College Football National Championship Game on Jan. 9 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.

Alabama knocked off the Tigers in last year’s title game, 45-40, one which has been called the best played national championship game ever.

However, on Sunday night, around 8:15 p.m., it was about the Tigers connecting with their fans. Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney got off the bus and greeted those fans that stood in the rain for several hours just so they could congratulate their Tigers.

Swinney also went up to the top of the WestZone and yelled down to the other fans he could not get to and thanked them for being here. He signed off with a GO TIGERS!

As for Johnson, who graduated two weeks ago, this is why he loves Clemson.

“I was really shocked. I did not think that many people were going to be out here in the rain waiting for us,” he said. “That definitely made me happy, knowing all of these people were behind us and had our back the whole way.”

—Photo by Olivia Garrison