Clelin Ferrell: Comments on towel stealing; Plans "to come back" to Clemson

Clelin Ferrell went from being a relatively obscure 4-star recruit into an elite level defensive end on Clemson's line the past two seasons. Earlier today, the Richmond, Virginia native was selected for the second time this season, as the ACC's Defensive Lineman of the Week.

Ferrell spoke with the media at Clemson's indoor practice facility earlier today.

Clemson entered the Championship Phase this past weekend in Raliegh. Ferrell said, "This is our favorite time of the year because each week we are playing for a championship." 

Looking back on Clemson's 38-31 win, Ferrell said, "We were playing them pretty well against the run, but we had some small discrepancies as far as our passing game. That was really tough to deal with because we thought we had a really good gameplan."

Clemson's first half wasn't great defensively, but the Tigers slowed N.C. State in the third quarter. "Coming out in the second half, it was just the small things that we had to clean up. I think we shut them out in the third quarter, there was a bunch of three and outs," Ferrell noted.

As the week moves forward, Florida State awaits the Tigers and Ferrell knows that the expectations for this Clemson, FSU game were high heading into the 2017 season.

However, since losing Deondre Francois in the opener, Florida State's year has taken quite a turn. The Seminoles come into the Clemson game 3-5 overall and a disappointing 3-4 conference play. Not what was expected.

"We know Florida State has a bunch of dudes who can play here and a bunch of dudes who are going to play in the NFL one day. We know that when we see them, we've got to play our best."

One thing is for sure, Ferrell is focused on the game, not cute antics to frustrate opposing quarterbacks.

Saturday afternoon, N.C. State's Bradley Chubb tried to make his way into the head of Clemson quarterback Kelly Bryant by stealing his towel from around his waist. 

After the game, Bryant was asked about what went down between him and Chubb and Bryant was quick to smile and say it was "just football," a game within a game. 

Clelin Ferrell was asked Monday afternoon if stealing an opposing quarterback's towel has ever crossed his mind.

"I've never introduced that into my game," Ferrell said laughing. "But I definitely do stuff to get into the opposing quarterback's head. I would say I am more of a trash-talker."

Asked about his future and if he was thinking about his final games in Death Valley Ferrell stated, "Not at all man, that's not fair to my teammates or fair to myself. As far as that, I plan to come back and graduate next December. I haven't thought about that at all."

Clemson's defensive front has been as strong as any in college football, if Ferrell stays true to his words, the 2018 defensive line might be stronger than many anticipate.

Other quotes from Ferrell

On Clemson vs. FSU:

Yes, but not just because of the stats that you just said, but I would say mostly just because it’s a very heated matchup between the two of us. Obviously, coach Swinney talked about it. We feel like coming into this season, the committee who decides on the schedule, they kind of set it up so that if Florida State had had the season a lot of people wanted them to have, this would have been the game where this decides on who goes to the ACC Championship. But mostly just because we know Florida State is a very good team regardless of how their season has gone so far. We know that when we play them, it’s going to be a very heated matchup because that's how it is every year we play them. We just want to prove ourselves against another really, really good program against a team like Florida State.

On wearing orange britches:

Oh man, it’s huge, man. I was just talking to Christian about it. This is our favorite time of the year because every week we’re playing for something big. It’s like we’re playing for a championship every week now. Obviously N.C. State, we needed that to have a chance to play in this game and win the division after that, The Citadel for military appreciation and South Carolina is Is going to be the state championship and hopefully, we can make it to the ACC championship game. So every week going, it’s just another big game and another championship game. That’s what I love about it man.

On ACC honors:

First off, just hats off to the guys and my teammates, because you know, coming into this week or preparation, man, it was really tough because we know just how tough it is to go against that stretch … going against a team like N.C. State, who we’ve had trouble with the last three years. That’s just a hats off to just my preparation, my teammates’ ability to put me in the right positions to make the plays that I did. I was happy to go out there and have success because I knew it was going to be a tough game and me being a leader on the team, coaches always say when you’re playing against a good team, your best players have to play well. So I was happy I was able to go out there and perform with a great effort for my team.

On the betting line:

Oh yeah, definitely man (we’re going to get FSU’s best game of the year). That’s why I said man, regardless of their record, that doesn’t mean nothing to us. We know Florida State has a bunch of dudes who can play here and a bunch of dudes who are going to play in the NFL one day. We know that when they see us and when we see them, we know we’ve got to play our best game. Regardless of how we’re doing that particular time of the season, we’re going to get each other’s best bet. Then coming to Death Valley just adds to it, man. They’re going to want to come here and have a big-time performance against us so it doesn’t really matter how well they’re playing.