No fairytale ending for Skalski, but he goes out as team leader and valued teammate

Skalski (47) and Nolan Turner dump Cheez-Its on head coach Dabo Swinney.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sat Jan 01 08:00:05 GMT-04:00 2022

It wasn’t the fairytale ending James Skalski wanted. He wanted to walk off the field at Camping World Stadium Wednesday wearing the MVP belt and celebrating with reckless abandon. Instead, he was wearing a walking boot, but in the true fashion of a team leader, he was celebrating just as hard as he would have had he won the belt. That’s what good teammates and team leaders do.

Clemson’s undisputed team leader and sixth-year senior had to sit out much of the last three quarters of the Tigers’ 20-13 victory over Iowa St. in the Cheez-It Bowl after a plantar injury (foot) ended his collegiate playing career.

“Yeah, it's upsetting. Everyone wants the fairytale ending, but it's just something I've been dealing for a while and doing everything I could to be on the field,” Skalski said after the game. “I just couldn't. So, I had to make the call. I'm really proud of the guys though, how well they played. I thought we played great on defense, so it was good to see.

“I played a million games, and of course, I wanted to finish it, but it was so good to see guys like (Keith) Maguire, and LaVonta Bentley, and (Jeremiah) Trotter and Barrett (Carter) training new guys and do their thing. I think Maguire played great, if you watch the tape or you understand what we're trying to do, and he's playing my linebacker spot, leading the charge and making the calls. So, I thought he did a great job. I'm super proud of him.”

Skalski the player turned into Coach Skalski for the remainder of the game, never straying far from the side of new defensive coordinator Wes Goodwin. Coaching is something he sees in his future.

“I've learned that you're supposed to do things you like and then it's not a job. Just show up every day and I get to... So yeah, I do,” Skalski said. “I do see myself one day coaching. I'm going to pursue the NFL, obviously, and I'm going to try to chase that dream, but when that door has been closed, I definitely see myself coaching one day.”

Clemson’s defense held on the final Iowa St. drive of the night, a drive that ended on a failed fourth down when cornerback Mario Goodrich knocked the ball loose from quarterback Brock Purdy.

“Hey man, that's how it should have ended, right? If you think about the whole year and the situations we've been in,” Skalski said. “So when we knew they needed a touchdown, they had two minutes or however much it was, and we're all looking at each other like... we've got them right where we want them.”

It was Goodrich who wound up winning the MVP after forcing the late fumble and earlier returning an interception for a touchdown.

“I remember it was probably a Tuesday, week three, me and Nolan (Turner) were watching tape. And Mario comes in there and he's playing his ass off,” Skalski said. “I look at Rio and like, ‘Dude, you're balling.’ And just to see the year he's had and then to put freaking exclamation point on it like that, it's safe to say he made himself some money tonight. But dude, just the work he's put in and the kind of guy he is, the kind of teammate he is, the kind of friend he is to me personally too, just man, he deserves all of it. So, it's great to see that.”

Skalski was also happy for Goodwin.

“Oh yeah, good old Wes Goodwin. We love Weslichick. Weslichick, he's doing it his own way. You know? It's cool. Even growing up playing football, I always had coaches like Coach V, in your face, intense,” Skalski said. “And don't get me wrong, Wes will get your face and all, but it's just been really cool these past weeks to see him kind of do it differently, do it his way. And I think everyone was very curious to see what tonight was going to be like, even we were, us players, we knew the preparation we put in and the buy in we had, so we expected that, a good performance. But everyone was curious, and that was just a great first go around for him and a great first game for him. I've been really excited for that first game and we've been building on that.”