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Brayden Jacobs’ second career game day snap didn’t exactly go according to plan.
After his first-ever college play — a one-yard touchdown run by running back Adam Randall in Clemson’s season-opening 17–10 loss to LSU — the freshman offensive tackle found himself back on the field against Troy a week later.
It was a brief and humbling stint. Filling in at left tackle for Collin Sadler, who slid to guard after starting at tackle for injured starter Tristan Leigh, Jacobs was called for holding on his first play and later beaten for a sack that killed a drive.
“Y’all don’t worry about Brayden. He’s getting a chance to play,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said following the 27–16 win over Troy. “He’ll grow from it, learn from it. He’s going to be one special guy around here for a long time.”
Since that rocky debut, Jacobs, the 6-foot-7, 355-pound son of former New York Giants running back and two-time Super Bowl champion Brandon Jacobs, has quietly become one of the Tigers’ most promising young linemen.
He’s appeared in every game this season except the 24–21 loss at Georgia Tech, steadily earning more reps along the way. After logging a then-career-high 21 snaps against North Carolina, Jacobs, a former four-star recruit from Milton High (GA), more than tripled that total with 65 snaps in last weekend’s 41–10 victory over Boston College.
He even showed off some versatility, lining up at fullback to pave the way for defensive tackle Peter Woods’ two-yard touchdown plunge.
“I was so proud of Brayden,” Swinney said of the performance. “I mean, because I didn’t notice him, and that’s a good thing. So, I’m really proud of Brayden. He grew up tonight, and he needed a game like that. He’s had a couple of instances where he kind of got thrown in there, and it’s fast. But to see him play like that was awesome.”
Jacobs credits his steady improvement to the technical focus of offensive line coach Matt Luke.
“Honestly, that’s just with drills we do at practice,” Jacobs said. “Coach Luke, he’ll have a focus each week. We’ll watch the game film and [he’ll] be like, we need to work on this this week and focus on that some. Obviously, we’ll do everything, but we put points of emphasis on hand placement, footwork, stuff like that.”
It also helps to have a father who knows what it’s like to play and thrive at the highest level.
“He was telling me everyone has to get thrown in the fire at least once to see what it’s like,” Jacobs said of his father’s advice. “He was telling me basically the same thing that Coach Swinney did, ‘You can’t let the game speed you up.’ You’ve got to treat it like practice. He just wanted me to breathe. That was the main thing. He was like, breathe, calm down. You know what you’re doing. You just have to have the technique with it.”
Brandon Jacobs, who once terrorized NFL defenses at 6-foot-4 and 264 pounds, still trains with his son during the offseason, though these days, Brayden towers over him.
A viral video from July showed the two working out together, the younger Jacobs noticeably looming over his father. The clip drew national attention, including a repost from the NFL’s official X account that read, “Brayden Jacobs is a 6'7", 320-pound LT freshman at @ClemsonFB đź’Ş.”
Brayden retweeted the post with a playful correction: “6’8” but who’s counting?!”
Asked this week if he really had grown since the video, the freshman laughed.
“I was six-eight in that clip, too."
As it turns out, that height correction wasn’t his doing.
“Well, to be honest with you, I used to not run my own social media accounts. So that comment — was actually my mom leaving that comment," he noted with a smile. "I didn’t leave that comment.”
Still, for all the viral buzz, Jacobs doesn’t view his father as a towering football legend so much as a guiding presence.
“I guess I never really acknowledged I was bigger than him because he’s always been my dad,” said Jacobs, who passed his father’s height in ninth grade when he reached 6'5. “I don’t really see him as this huge athletic figure. I just see him as someone who helps me with life, and just does what he does.”
Now, after his best game yet, Jacobs is beginning to carve his own path in orange and white.
And if Swinney’s words are any indication, Clemson fans might be watching the early stages of something special.
