After last season’s secondary woes, Dabo Swinney made improving the Clemson pass defense a point of emphasis over the offseason.

Not only did the longtime head coach replace veteran safeties coach Mickey Conn with Nolan Turner, he also hit the portal harder than he ever has, with several additions coming on the backend of the Tigers’ defense.

One of those players was Corey Myrick, who spent last season roaming the secondary at Southern Miss. His 92 tackles were third-most on the team last season and he also recorded 4.5 tackles for loss, two interceptions and a forced fumble. That production earned him a grade of 87.3 from PFF, which is by far the highest among all returning safeties in the ACC. The next closest is Pitt’s Cruce Brookings, who graded out at 80.9.

According to PFF, Myrick allowed only one touchdown in 384 coverage snaps last season, with a 53.7 passer rating.

Now Myrick looks to bring that production to a Clemson defense that absolutely needs to be better in the secondary during the coming season.

“Learning the scheme, it was kind of difficult at first, but just going through the summer and meeting with the safeties kind of made it comfortable,” Myrick said during fall camp.

“We’ve got a lot of guys, and I feel like if we continue to keep doing what we are doing, just building that chemistry in the secondary, we have got a chance to be pretty good.”

Myrick joins a safety room that includes fellow transfer Jerome Carter III, along with veteran Ronan Hanafin. Kylon Griffin also returns for a fifth season, and has logged right at 600 snaps during his career. With Ashton Hampton, Elliot Washington and Branden Strozier manning the corner spots and Corian Gipson at the nickel, the Tigers look to have the pieces in place to be much better on the backend.