Mike Reed is Growing Up Clemson's Young Corners in a Hurry

Sophomore Nate Wiggins and freshman Toriano Pride Jr. are taking to coaching and showing progress in Clemson's young secondary.

Nate Wiggins made a play on the road against Boston College last Saturday that he didn't make at Wake Forest two weeks earlier. 

With the ball in the air and the receiver looking to make a catch, the Clemson cornerback read the opponent and turned his head around in time to break up the pass instead of getting a pass interference call or giving up big yards. 

"It's one of those plays...it's a sign of maturity but also a sign of being taking coaching and taking the drill work from the practice field onto the game field," Clemson associate head coach/cornerbacks coach said. "A sign of maturity is being able to take the coaching and go back to work and really believe in what you're being told."

Wiggins is one of many young cornerbacks for No. 4 Clemson who's having to do some growing up on the fly this season. The Tigers entered 2022 with some depth question marks at that position, but it's been truly tested with injuries to starter Sheridan Jones and nickleback Malcolm Greene. Andrew Mukuba, a safety who's also played some corner, has missed time as well in the first half of the season. 

Wiggins is in his first year as a starter after playing just 130 snaps as a true freshman last year. He's gone through some battles, some won, some lost. In the Wake Forest game, Wiggins got beat a few times, but he made a pass breakup in double overtime to seal the win.

"It's one of those things where a kid who's very competitive has never been really in that situation before because he's a first-time starter and so, (Wake Forest game) got the best of him a little bit because he wants to make plays, he's anxious, you know, he's hard on himself."

Getting Wiggins ready to play hasn't been Reed's only challenge. Because of the injuries, he's had to use two freshmen corners in Toriano Pride Jr. and Jeadyn Lukus. Neither had any idea how much playing time they'd actually get in their first years. 

"In recruiting, you tell these young men that you know they're one play away from playing and it's I guess recruiting talk for a lot of these young men because there are a lot of people that you know give these kids that false prophecy that hey you will come in and you're going to start from day one," Reed said. "And so a lot of times kids sit back and they count the guys that are in front of them and truly don't really understand that they're literally one play away from playing."

Reed called it a "culture shock" to go from a few plays a game to 40 or 50, but his young corners are starting to ask more questions and be more involved in the improvement process. 

Pride Jr. said he realized in Week 2 against Furman just how fast the college game can get. The next week, he went against that daunting Wake Forest receiving corps and got shown what it takes to really play at this level.

Pride had his first interception the following week against NC State and has shown real signs of progress. 

"It was a wake-up call but it was one where he was ready for it," Reed said. "He's grown tremendously."

Reed might be getting reinforcements this week with a road game against Florida State.t's good to see we're getting more depth in that position that we need." 

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