CLEMSON — Tom Allen is a guy who listened to his father. He especially listened when his dad, a former high school football coach, gave him coaching advice.
As he was watching his secondary get sliced and diced by just about everyone in 2025, he thought about the advice his dad gave him when he was just starting as a football coach.
“My dad taught me this a long, long time ago when I was a young coach,” the younger Allen recalled. “He said, ‘That is the one position, if you miss back there, it’s immediate points.’ He is right. I understood why (he said that).”
Allen definitely understood it last year.
Clemson’s passing defense ranked 11th in the ACC overall. The Tigers gave up 18 touchdowns and had just nine interceptions. The Tigers ranked near the bottom of the ACC in passing plays of 40, 50, 60 and 70 yards allowed.
At times, it was embarrassing. Like when Duke had a wide receiver running wide open downfield or a tight end so open on a seam route, he rumbled 45 yards before being stopped.
As Clemson stumbled to a 3-5 start the secondary played a huge part, with one busted coverage after another.
“He said you have to have a great defensive backs coach, when I became a young head coach,” Allen said about his conversation with his dad.
Allen fixed his secondary the best he could to close the 2025 season. He got his son, Thomas Allen, to coach the secondary and at the end of the year, he parted ways with long-time Clemson assistant Mickey Conn, who coached the safeties and was the passing game coordinator on defense.
Tom Allen then replaced Richardo Jones and Khalil Barnes at safety with more experienced players from the transfer portal like Jerome Carter III and Corey Myrick. At cornerback, Allen brought in Elliot Washington II from Penn State and Donovan Star from Auburn.
All four were hand-picked and are the kind of players Allen prefers in his system.
“We are doing some things that I think will help us a lot big picture wise,” he said. “It’s about getting the right guys and getting guys better that are already here.”
One of those guys that have improved is safety Ronan Hanafin. The senior struggled at times last year, but Allen saw a lot of improvement this past spring.
“I saw it in flashes (last year), but I thought we just needed to get more reps at the position, so he is playing at a higher level, with knowledge and the ability to finish. The effort, the toughness and the speed, that was always there.”
Allen is hopeful, that with improved coaching, addition of new players and the progression of the guys that were here, that Clemson’s pass defense will be much better in 2026.