It’s Homecoming for 3 Miami Hurricanes

Radakovich, Steele and Ladson all return to Death Valley on Saturday

Sam Navarro / USA TODAY Sports

CLEMSON, S.C. — If one plays, coaches or is around athletics long enough, they will experience many reunions in their careers.

Such is the case for three Miami Hurricanes when they visit No. 9 Clemson Saturday at Memorial Stadium.

Athletic director Dan Radakovich, defensive coordinator Kevin Steele and wide receiver Frank Ladson are all returning to Death Valley for their 3:30 p.m. kickoff with the Tigers. Radakovich and Ladson are making their first trip back to Clemson since leaving last December, while Steele is making his second since he and Clemson parted ways following the 2011 season.

Steele returned to Death Valley back in 2017, when he was the defensive coordinator at Auburn.

“He is a great coach,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said. “He has always been a great coach.”

Since leaving Clemson after the Tigers won the 2011 ACC Championship, Steele worked on Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama and has been the defensive coordinator at LSU and Auburn. The Dillon, South Carolina native also served as the interim head coach for a short time at Auburn and Tennessee.

Steele spent three seasons at Clemson from 2009-’11.

This is Steele’s first year at Miami. The Hurricanes currently rank seventh in the ACC in total defense, while ranking second in tackles for loss and third in sacks. Also, their 12 interceptions rank third in the conference.

“Usually, four-down (lineman), that is typically how he has played,” Swinney said. “A lot of man coverage and is multiple with his coverages. Aggressive, an attack-type of defense, that is kind of how he has always done it.”

Radakovich left Clemson last December to take over as Miami’s new athletic director. He spent nine years (2012-’21) at Clemson. His vision for Clemson played a big role in the building of the Allen Reeves Football Complex, the new additions to Memorial Stadium, as well as state of the art renovations to Littlejohn Coliseum and the players’ facility at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

He also played a huge part in starting the softball program at Clemson, which has gone to the NCAA Tournament and played in a Super Regional in two of its first three seasons. The only reason the program did not go all three years was due to the global pandemic in 2020.

Swinney said earlier this week he knew Radakovich was thinking about taking the job at Miami, and even came over to his house to talk about it and to let him know what was going on.

“We talked through it and kind of talked about the opportunity and why and all of that. It was just a great opportunity for him,” Swinney said. “He went to grad school there and it is just kind of the next chapter for him and something he wanted to go do.”

Ladson also left Clemson last December and transferred to Miami following an injury riddled career at Clemson. He comes into Saturday’s game tied for third on the team with 27 catches for 298 yards and one touchdown.

The 6-foot-3 wide receiver has played in all 10 games thus for the Hurricanes. His best season at Clemson came in 2020, when he played in seven games and had 18 catches for 281 yards and three touchdowns. He played in just four games in 2021 due to a groin injury, while he played in eight games as a true freshman in 2019.

During his three seasons at Clemson, Ladson played in 19 games, caught 31 passes, had 440 yards, and scored nine touchdowns.

Want to join in on the discussion? 100% FREE! Interact with fellow Tiger fans and hear directly from publisher Zach Lentz, deputy editor Brad Senkiw, recruiting analyst Jason Priester and staff writer Will Vandervort on any subject. Click here to become a member of the ALL CLEMSON message board community today!
Get your Tiger tickets from SI Tickets HERE
Do us a HUGE favor and like, subscribe and follow us on social media:
►LIKE us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/allclemson
►SUBSCRIBE: https://www.youtube.com/c/AllClemson
►FOLLOW All Clemson on Twitter:https://twitter.com/All_Clemson
More on All Clemson: /college/clemson/