CLEMSON – When Shaq Lawson suited up for his first game with Clemson, he weighed a staggering 270 pounds, at least 10-pounds heavier than any other defensive rookie

With an imposing 6-foot-3 frame, the defensive end racked up 10 tackles for loss and four sacks as a true freshman, clearly physically ready to play at the collegiate level upon his graduation from nearby D.W. Daniel High School in 2013. 

Lawson went on to one of the most prolific defensive careers in Tiger football history in his abbreviated three-year stint, earning first-team All-American honors, and was taken with the No.19 pick in the 2015 NFL Draft by the Buffalo Bills at the conclusion of his junior season.

Eight years after his selection into the professional ranks, Lawson’s younger brother, Jahiem Lawson, arrived on Clemson’s campus, also set to play defensive end for head coach Dabo Swinney and the Tigers. 

The brothers may have played the same position at the same high school and stood at similar heights, but there was one major difference from an eye–and scale–test. Jahiem was 62 pounds lighter than his brother was when he got to Clemson–a chasmal gap in the defensive line realm.

It was said, Jahiem was allergic to the weight room, and training.

“I looked like a receiver,” the younger Lawson said four years later, with a laugh. 

To some, the former college basketball hopeful may have seemed like an odd-man out as the lowest-ranked defensive prospect in the class and as one of the final commitments to join Swinney’s squad.

“(Lawson’s) a local kid,” defensive ends coach Chris Rumph said. “He was one of the last guys to sign. He gets here and he’s probably like 190 pounds when he first got here. So, everybody says, okay, you know, he’s just a guy we gave a scholarship to, felt bad for him and he’s Shaq’s little brother. So, I think he’s been living behind that shadow and now he’s getting a chance to really step out and show people, you know, that I’m Jahiem.”

The process of carving out recognition for his first name, apart from his surname, did not start on the field. Not at first. The immediate step upon Lawson’s arrival was to head to the kitchen, specifically, the P.A.W Bistro, Clemson football’s nutrition center.

“I’ll be honest with you guys, when I was at Daniel High School, I had the right people telling me, ‘You got to eat, you got to eat, you got to eat,’” Lawson said. “But I was a youngin’. I was hardheaded. I wasn’t listening. So I really learned once I got here, eating, nutrition, all that’s just a big part of your body.

“So, I feel like I didn’t take nutrition seriously until I got to Clemson because when I got to Clemson I was probably like 208. I ended up gaining like twenty pounds in the first two months I was here.”

Quickly, Lawson learned why his diet, and that 20-pound bump in size, was so important. As a freshman, the Central, S.C., native sat behind a stacked list of D-ends, including future NFL Draft picks Xavier Thomas and K.J. Henry, both of which were listed as nearly 40 pounds heavier than the younger Lawson, though they were not as large as his brother.

The undersized freshman watched as the Tigers went on to play in the Orange Bowl his first year, on the back of defensive success. He watched as Henry and Thomas were taken in the respective 2023 and 2024 drafts. He welcomed in freshman T.J. Parker in 2023, who became a permanent starter above him.

Through the changing rotation, and through mismatched successes and failures from Clemson’s defenses in the following years, Lawson got better. He continued to add weight. He appeared in one game as a freshman, then in four the next season. He flashed with 24 tackles in 14 games as a junior.

Then, as a senior, (formerly a redshirt junior) it started to come together for the product of Swinney’s famed “Crockpot” development system. In 2025, Lawson registered 6.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks in 11 games before suffering a season-ending injury.

“(Lawson) started to kind of see some life last year, took a big leap, and now he’s 251 pounds, and he is a freaking brickhouse, and will get drafted next year,” Swinney said.

In five arduous years, the younger Lawson has developed from a scrawny freshman buried on the depth chart, to one of the most sure pieces on Clemson’s 2026 roster. He’s poised to be a starter for the first time in his career, opposite senior Will Heldt, another Draft hopeful.

Though he is still smaller than his brother, which he makes up for with violent strength, Jahiem knows that his brother is proud of his progress.

“My brother, I think he’s happy for me,” Lawson said. “He’s really happy for what we’re going to do this upcoming season. He’s excited for us.”

Lawson and the Tigers will have their first chance to prove Shaq’s predictions correct on Sept. 5, when Clemson opens its season against LSU at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La.