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A year ago, Clemson linebacker Sammy Brown burst onto the college football scene as one of the most productive freshmen defenders in the country. In Saturday night’s 17-10 loss to LSU, the sophomore reminded fans why his name is on the Butkus and Lombardi Award watch lists.
Brown finished with 11 tackles, second only to safety Ronan Hanafin’s 12, as the Tigers’ defense, under new coordinator Tom Allen, held LSU’s high-powered attack in check for most of the night. But in Brown’s eyes, the unit let an opportunity slip away.
“We do have some stuff to work on, but we played very well,” Brown said after practice on Wednesday. “We went into the half up, there’s no reason we shouldn’t have won the game. So obviously, we did play better, but still, a lot of things that we can fix, a lot of things we can work on.”
Those things aren’t schematic breakdowns or mismatches, according to the Peach State native. Instead, he pointed out avoidable mistakes.
“The biggest thing is penalties,” Brown said. “You can’t have costly penalties like that in a big game. But it’s a lot of easy things. It’s nothing like personnel or anything like that. It all comes back to the really small things, like holding on to a jersey, or first play of the game, giving up a big run.”
That emphasis on “the small things” is no accident. It’s a theme Allen and co-linebackers coach Ben Boulware drives into their players daily.
“The biggest thing with Coach Allen and Boulware is that they are so adamant about the little things and effort,” Brown said. “If we come out here and practice and we’re focusing on the little things, it’s going to add up, and all the little things create one big group.”
Brown also credits effort as a cornerstone of Clemson’s defensive identity under Allen.
“When you’re playing with high effort, even if you do mess up, you’re still going to be around the ball, and you can still make a play,” Brown explained. “There have been multiple times where I’ve not fit the right gap or didn’t drop to the right place, but I was playing so hard that the effort made up for it.”
While Allen calls plays from the booth, Brown benefits from Boulware’s presence on the sideline. The former Clemson linebacker and ACC Co-Defensive Player of the Year brings credibility to his coaching.
“The biggest thing is I know that he knows what he’s talking about because he’s made that stop before,” Brown said. “He has made that correction before. So, it gives me more confidence coming from him to know that he’s played the game before.”
The result in Death Valley wasn’t what Clemson wanted, but Brown’s growth and the standard set by his coaches suggest the sophomore and defense are only scratching the surface.
Tune in tomorrow at 3:30 to see how Brown and the entire Clemson defense look as the Tigers host Troy in Memorial Stadium.
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