Sage Ennis recalls from an early practice 'I got rag-dolled around'

With Braden Galloway (concussion protocol) and Davis Allen (targeting) out of the Boston College game, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney had to turn to a combination of walk-on Luke Price, Jaelyn Lay, and Sage Ennis at tight end. Of the three, only Ennis recorded a reception, the first of his career.

The redshirt freshman had previously only played 27 snaps over four games in 2020. 

Ennis on playing the first significant snaps of his career against the Eagles:

"It was pretty exciting. I was excited. I just had to tell myself this is what I came here for. You just got to be prepared. [It] goes into that preparation that we talked about all week and going back to mat drills all the way back in the offseason, and winter. Just goes back to that preparation and be mentally tough and being ready for the moment."

Ennis on what Swinney said to him after Galloway and Allen were unavailable:

"He just said next man up, you know, this is what we always say during team meetings, you know, this is what we're made for so just be prepared. You put in the preparation and so it's next man up mentality."

A versatile 6-foot-4 standout for Lincoln High in Tallahassee, FL, Ennis lined up at tight end, quarterback, and defensive end. He came to Clemson weighing just 220 pounds. He is now 230 pounds, wiser, and remembers a day when he knew he wasn't at Lincoln anymore.

Ennis recalls that day:

"Yeah, I remember when I early enrolled before the pandemic hit. I just remember everything was going so fast and bullets were flying. I really just remember one time I got ragdolled around, and I wasn't used to that.

"I just wasn't used to that and so when that happened I kind of never wanted that to happen again. I didn't want to get manhandled. So from there on, I made it a choice and a priority to make sure that I was gonna put myself in the best situation, and learn from others and continue to get stronger and understand the blocking game better, so I wasn't being thrown around by KJ [Henry], XT [Xavier Thomas], and [Justin] Mascoll."

Ennis on what he knows about the Syracuse offense thus far:

"So far, we just got done with some player led segments, and Syracuse does a great job at flying around. You can see with how they just played Wake. They ran a lot of blitzes up the middle trying to stuff that run game -- the RPO game that they have -- and I think they did a really good job doing that. I really think at the end of the day, we just got to be prepared, because they do have a lot of movement. They do a lot of three down type of guys, so that gives them the ability to have four backers in the box. And I think we got to, tight ends especially, be on our P's and Q's and in the passing game -- when we're pass protecting and just understand who we got and do a great job communicating with the offensive line."