Younger players ready to step up and play in Clemson defense, Conn says

Andrew Mukuba was named to a watch list for the Thorpe Award this week, given to the nation's top DB.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Tue Jul 26 08:00:05 GMT-04:00 2022

CLEMSON – Clemson safeties coach Mickey Conn has to replace valuable leader Nolan Turner, but he has plenty of talented pieces already in place to make his group one of the best in the ACC.

Turner was a two-year team captain who played in 65 games over his six-year career, but Turner also missed time with injuries last season, leaving Conn with players who gained valuable experience in 2021. He has Andrew Mukuba, Jalyn Phillips and Lannden Zanders, just to name a few.

“Throw R.J. Mickens in the mix and Tyler Venables in the mix, too. You ask them to do a lot of different things. Malcolm Greene. You have guys that can play a lot of different positions and it gives them the chance to be here and play,” Conn said last week at the Tigers’ media day. “This gives us a chance as coaches to use them as different personnel groups that will help us be successful. All these guys we are talking about can really, really run and change directions. Credit to them for getting in the film room and learning it and learning the different spots.”

Not that Turner won’t be missed.

“He gave us such great leadership. Those guys sitting under him, humbly waiting, those guys are ready to go,” Conn said. “Take a guy like Jalyn Phillips, who has really benefitted from Nolan’s leadership and seeing how Nolan came up to — Nolan was a 2-star guy that everybody thought was just cheering to be here and he turned out to be an all-conference, All-American type player. Those guys have really learned from him and those guys have taken over some leadership roles he left behind. Just paving the way.”

Leading the way is Mukuba, who started more games (10) in the defensive backfield in 2021 than any Clemson true freshman in the modern era. But don’t think of Mukuba as just a safety.

“He’s a good corner, too. He can do a lot of things. When you got a physical guy like that who can run, he’s a match-up problem for offenses, because he can match up with your best guy,” Conn said. “And you know a lot of guys, that’s what they want to do. They want to get a match-up with a linebacker or safety and Mukuba’s the type of guy that can cover. He covers like a corner and hits like a linebacker.

“I think he’s comfortable anywhere on the field. He’s a really good player. He can even return some kicks and punts sometimes.”

Conn said his group is just a part of what might be the fastest defense at Clemson since 2018.

“I think so, just looking around. This is a really fast defense, especially those linebackers,” Conn said. “Those guys can really, really run and that’s what you want. Up front we can really run. Xavier Thomas, those guys coming off the edge, they are really, really fast. Bryan Bresee coming back, Myles Murphy, there will be a lot speed. Get out of the way and let them run.”

Conn and co-defensive coordinator Wes Goodwin have tried to simplify things since taking over, but they also want to take advantage of their strengths.

“Well, we need to make sure we don’t move too many pieces. We need to make sure we hone in on what they are best at. I think as a defensive coordinator this is exciting,” Conn said. “I feel like I’m not handcuffed and everybody can stay healthy, knock on wood. I feel like we can play a lot of guys and that’s what we want to do. That’s coach Swinney’s whole philosophy, which is development and playing guys. That’s our whole goal on defense, to have guys in there and train them to play different spots.”