CLEMSON – This Saturday, a new group of freshmen will get to rub Howard’s Rock and run down the hill–Clemson football’s most famed tradition–for the first time when the Tigers host Georgia Southern in their home-opener at Memorial Stadium.

The tradition, dubbed “The Most Exciting 25 seconds in College Football” by legendary broadcaster Brent Musburger, is usually a rite of passage for freshmen in Clemson’s first home game every year. True to the ritual, 24 rookies will run down the hill for the first time on Saturday.

However, this season, 18 upperclassmen, a combined 15 transfers and three walk-ons, will also get to experience the entire tradition for the first time.

“I’m very excited,” transfer safety Corey Myrick said. “Great to be in front of these fans, in front of Death Valley. So, we gonna get it going.”

Usually, after freshmen experience their first run down the hill, they retreat to the sideline, hoping to get some playing time behind the veteran starters after the first kickoff. Though there have been several true freshmen that have been crucial for the Tigers in their inaugural games at Death Valley, most rookies peak with that run down the hill in their first home appearances.

However, Myrick, as well as several other defensive transfers, can not afford to sit back and take in Memorial Stadium’s scenery this Saturday. Nope, they need to get on the field and try to get the Tigers in the win column for the first time this season.

After Clemson’s season-opening 51-10 loss to LSU last weekend, Swinney praised those new defensive backs, along with veteran cornerback Ashton Hampton, for their performances in an otherwise brutal day for Clemson on both sides of the ball.

“I’ll say that it starts with me, not even in the safeties room, but throughout the whole secondary,” Myrick said. “Not just me, but Jerome (Carter), Ash (Hampton), and Elliot (Washington), all those guys just helping lead and starting with the secondary, get us all on point.

“That transfers over to the linebackers, the defensive tackles, the edges. So just getting the whole defense on the same point to know that we’re the leaders of this defense to get us together to execute.”

Washington, who had seven tackles and two breakups against LSU, has full belief that his team will be ready to bounce back in a full-fledged fashion, especially after he saw the Tigers’ mentality in practice this week.

“It started when we got off the plane,” he said. “So, I feel like just everybody was vocal. Everybody was still there, and there was still a smile on my face. I mean, we’re here to play football.”

“I feel like we still are the best secondary in the country, I feel like we are that,” he added.

The Tigers and Eagles will kick off at 7:30 p.m.