Tom Allen is about to get his first taste of the Clemson-South Carolina rivalry.

It hasn’t taken long for the Tigers’ first-year defensive coordinator to fully immerse himself in it.

“First time being a part of it,” Allen said. “I think what I have learned is that it’s highly passionate and a lot of strong emotions. A lot of strong feelings, both directions, which is awesome. Been in some similar situations, so not really surprised by that. Love having the opportunity. Been in some places that didn’t have a rivalry like this. It is definitely a special thing to be a part of. If you don’t have it, you miss it.”

While the Gamecocks have won two of the past three meetings, Clemson is 7-2 against South Carolina in the last 10 years, with the two schools not facing one another in 2020 due to a cancellation because of COVID. The Tigers have won eight of the last 10 meetings overall and lead 73-44-4 in the all-time series.

After being hired last January, Allen said he learned about Gamecocks standout LaNorris Sellers “pretty quickly,” seeing as the quarterback had pretty much beaten the Tigers single-handedly a few weeks prior.

Sellers had a monster fourth-quarter in Memorial Stadium last season, including a 20-yard touchdown run that put South Carolina ahead for good with just over a minute left. Sellers finished the contest with 166 yards on the ground, and Allen knows the Tigers can’t allow that kind of production this time around.

“It’s pretty obvious, his skillset and what it is,” Allen said. “He is a tremendously gifted athlete, and you’d better have a good plan for that. Anytime you have a player on a team you are about to play that can take a game over single-handedly, with whatever skillset he has, you better do a great job of being able to address that. That is obviously going to be our focus, without question. He definitely has our attention and our respect.”

With the Gamecocks firing offensive coordinator Mike Shula earlier this month, that adds another wrinkle to this year’s rivalry game. Wide receivers coach Mike Furrey has been calling the plays since Shula’s departure, giving the Tigers one more thing to prepare for.

“Anytime you have a change like that, the first thing you go through is what does that look like on the field. Are they structurally different? Are they calling different plays — you obviously can’t change your whole system in a matter of weeks. At the same time, you could see some changes for sure. They are getting their athletes the ball in space. They have been successful doing that. That first half against A&M was impressive, and what they did last week was impressive as well. They’ve got talented players.”

Photo by Bart Boatwright