Finding roles that allowed them to keep from staying on the sideline represented reasonable early goals for Sheridan Jones and Jordan Williams, but picking up table scraps for playing time wasn’t why they left South Hampton Roads to go to Clemson.
Sure, getting on the field for extended stretches as young players for one of the nation’s elite college football programs is no small achievement, but the bar was set higher for both Jones and Williams, who will help No. 1 Clemson on Saturday night when it hosts Virginia (1-0, 1-0 ACC).
“The biggest thing I probably learned last year was just mindset,” said Jones, a 6-foot, 185-pound sophomore cornerback from Maury High in Norfolk. “Being a freshman last year, there’s a lot of things going on from a mental standpoint. … Just knowing that you’re (at Clemson) for a reason, and now that you have the opportunity to go out here and play, just play to the best of your ability. Nobody can really mess with you, and just getting that confidence back that you are that player to do the things that they brought you here to do.”
A 160-pound beanpole when he arrived at Clemson (2-0, 2-0), Jones was initially concerned with simply packing on pounds. A newfound devotion to eating his vegetables and downing protein shakes did the trick, but he had to adjust to his morphing body.
“I think I lost a little bit of my speed,” said Jones, who was the Class 5A Defensive Player of the Year in 2018 at Maury and was considered by some recruiting analysts as one of the nation’s top 15 cornerbacks in the 2019 class.
“When I came in (to Clemson), I was trying to put on weight so fast being that I came in a little small. … I’m around the same weight I was last year, but it’s more lean. I’m back to how I was in high school. I’ve got my hips back to a better mobility and I’m faster than I was last year.”
After spending last season as a backup in 14 of Clemson’s 15 games, including the Tigers’ 62-17 win against U.Va. in the ACC championship game and Clemson’s 42-25 loss to LSU in the College Football Playoff national title game, opportunity arose early this season for Jones. He started Clemson’s first two games at Wake Forest and The Citadel.
Jones, who said he learned how to stay focused on proper technique from former Clemson cornerback A.J. Terrrell before he was drafted in the first round this year by the Atlanta Falcons, could be supplanted as a starter against U.Va. Clemson cornerback Mario Goodrich is back from an injury, and cornerback Derion Kendrick might play a larger role after sitting out against Wake Forest and working as a backup against The Citadel.
Williams, a 6-4, 310-pound graduate of Cox High in Virginia Beach, could be facing a similar scenario, but he’s making a bigger impact after waiting his turn.
Coming to Clemson as one of the nation’s top 15 defensive ends in the 2017 class in the eyes of many recruiting analysts, Williams was moved to the interior when he arrived at Clemson. He got shuffled down the depth chart as former Clemson defensive linemen Dexter Lawrence, Christian Wilkins and Clelin Ferrell, a Richmond native, all paved paths to becoming first-round draft picks in 2019.
Williams represented a bit of recruiting breakthrough for Clemson. He was the first player from Hampton Roads – and the second for Dabo Swinney, who became Clemson’s coach in 2008 – to sign with the Tigers since 2009, when quarterback Tajh Boyd from Phoebus High went to Clemson.
Playing in 27 games as a backup in the 2018 and ’19 seasons, posting 44 tackles and four sacks, Williams wasn’t satisfied. With some depth chart maneuvering created by some injuries, he was able to push into a starting spot in Clemson’s first two games this season.
“I feel like I had to put more work in,” Williams said. “If I wanted to get where I wanted to get, I definitely couldn’t stay the same. … I just feel like my hard work didn’t go unnoticed.”
Since getting back to campus during the coronavirus pandemic this summer, Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables saw positive changes in Williams’ approach.
“Jordan is doing very well,” Venables said last week. “I think he’s made improvement, he’s playing faster and I’m really proud of Jordan. He’s really come on.”
Williams, who helped Cox win its first Beach District championship in the 2016 season since the school opened in 1961, might find himself in a rotation at defensive tackle against U.Va. if Tyler Davis, a second-team All-ACC selection last season, is back from an injury. Regardless, Williams has earned a larger share of playing time.
“I’m definitely looking forward to it, for sure,” Williams said of playing U.Va. again. “U.Va. was definitely a team that was really high on me in recruiting, and I was definitely high on them as well. It’s always cool playing against a team from where you’re from. It just brings a different type of fire out of you in a sense.”
Norm Wood, 757-247-4644, nwood@dailypress.com
