Mike Reed wants to see freshmen play this season

Shelton Lewis enrolled last January and spent some time at Orange Bowl practice.

by Nikki Hood - Staff Writer - Wed Jul 19 12:30:30 GMT-04:00 2023

CLEMSON – At age 50, assistant head coach and cornerbacks coach Mike Reed is quick to tell his young players that he’s not getting any younger, so their time to play and add their stamp to the program is now.

Newcomers Misun Kelley, Branden Strozier, Shelton Lewis, and Avieon Terrell received just that message when they stepped on campus earlier this year.

Reed said to the media at Tuesday’s Media Day in the Allen Reeves Football Operations Complex that he told his freshmen that it’s go time.

“The plan is I recruited them to play. I'm not here to put guys on the bench,” Reed said Tuesday morning. “Heck, I may die tomorrow, so I want to see these guys play, and I'm sure they want to play too. The plan is to get them to learn the playbook, make that transition from high school to college and let's go.”

Lewis was the lone early enrollee and was able to go through some of Clemson Orange Bowl practices as well as all of spring practice. Reed said he likes what he’s seen so far and that Lewis is just different.

“You don't see them cut like that a lot anymore,” Reed said of Lewis. “He's a young man who is focused, who has leadership qualities and is not afraid to voice his opinions with the older guys. A lot of times, you have freshmen that come in who sit over there, and you never hear them. Shelton is a guy that he's going to get on the older guys. He wants to be good. He wants to be coached. It's a pleasant surprise to see him go to work. It kind of gives you that Mackensie Alexander type of feel and work ethic where he's just going to work.”

Kelley, a local product out of Daniel High School, can play both offense and defense, and Reed wants to see him figure out a way to get on the field no matter what role he’s playing.

“Year one is to get on the field in any aspect - special teams, offense, defense, wherever he can find a role and flourish,” Reed said of Kelley.

“You want to make sure the kid has a strong foundation on either side of the ball. You don't want him to flip-flop around, and he's out there like a fish out of water. You want to get him to a place where he has a strong foundation, and he can now have confidence. That's the one thing kids don't have when they transition from high school to college is that confidence that they need to be very good.”

Reed said he’s happy to have Kelley in his cornerback’s room after watching him grow up just down the road.

“When you say underrated, I don't know,” Reed said. “We've been able to watch this young man grow up over the years. Maybe if his school played the No. 1 school in the country, I don't know. We're excited to have him here. I'm glad he's rocking with me.”

Another player that Reed has had the benefit of knowing for over a decade is Terrell, who is the younger brother of former Clemson and current Atlanta Falcons cornerback AJ Terrell. Reed hopes to see the younger Terrell step out of his brother’s shadow.

“He is what we saw when he was eight or nine years old. A young kid who is scrappy, who had a chip on his shoulder, who was always living behind his brother,” he said. “Now, it's his opportunity to step out of the shadows. The word on the street is that he is what he's supposed to be. He's a worker. Great footwork and good football IQ. I'm looking forward to now being on the other side and being able to coach him.”

As for Strozier, Reed wants him to be who he was in high school.

“Seeing him at high school and seeing him up here with the big guys, it's going to be interesting,” he said. “My expectation for him is like the rest of them, 'Let's go!' I want to see him go out there, and I want to see the things I saw out of him in high school. It may be a little different, a little slower because he's still learning and getting adapted, but that's why we recruit these kids. I want to see them play. I'm not getting any younger.”