Beaux Collins has never experienced the Palmetto Bowl up close and personal. Neither has Will Shipley or the rest of the Tigers’ true freshmen.
And they’re not the only ones.
For many of them, that will change Saturday when the teams renew their rivalry at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia. Collins, the Tigers’ first-year receiver from Bellflower, California, said he’s been hearing ever since the final second ticked away on the Tigers’ rout of Wake Forest on Saturday just how important the annual in-state clash is to the program.
“(Clemson coach) Dabo (Swinney) had mentioned it in our locker room after the game saying how many games consecutively we’ve beat them,” Collins said. “And if we beat them again this year, it’ll make history. So it’s a pretty big deal.”
Shipley, the Tigers’ leading rusher, is a little more familiar with it being from this part of the country. The former five-star recruit signed with Clemson out of Weddington High in North Carolina, but that hasn’t stopped Clemson’s coaches and some of his older teammates who’ve been through it a few times already from driving home the point even more.
“Already this week, there’s kind of word going around,” Shipley said. “I definitely understand the importance. Even being recruited, it was a huge thing in my recruitment and a big reason why I came here as well. I’m really ready for it. It’s going to be a fun week.”
Saturday will also be a Palmetto Bowl first for the Tigers’ sophomore class. The teams didn’t play last season after the SEC decided to play a conference-only schedule in response to the coronavirus pandemic, ending a 111-year streak of the rivals meeting on the football field.
Among those second-year players who will play in the game for the first time is quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei, who, as Trevor Lawrence’s backup at the time, may not have played in the game last year even if it had happened. Another California native, Uiagalelei said he doesn’t know too much about the history of the rivalry, but he he has seen it play out in person before. He was in attendance for the teams’ 2018 meeting at Memorial Stadium as a recruit, a game Clemson won 56-35.
That’s when Uiagaleleli began to realize just how much it means to both sides.
“It means a lot to us as a program, but it means a lot to a lot of people here in the state of South Carolina,” Uiagalelei said. “It’s a big part of why I wanted to come here, is to be able to play in big rivalry games like this. But I just know this game means a lot to more people than just me and more people than just the program. It’s a very important game.”
Clemson is vying for its seventh straight win in the series, which would match the longest such streak ever on either side. In order to do it, the Tigers will have to win in an environment in which none of their first- or second-year players have competed.
The game rotates locations each year with South Carolina hosting in odd years and Clemson during even years. Since last year’s game was cancelled, though, that means the Tigers will be making back-to-back trips to Williams-Brice Stadium, where they won the most recent matchup, 38-3, in 2019.
Shipley said he took in a game there during his recruitment when the Gamecocks hosted Georgia, calling the atmosphere inside South Carolina’s home stadium “probably one of the craziest experiences I was a part of.”
“I know how crazy it gets,” Shipley added. “I know the fans are kind of all over the place, but I’m really looking forward to it. I really am. I think it’s going to be a great experience. It’s something I’ll remember for sure.”
Exactly what the extent of that experience will be remains to be seen.
The home fans haven’t been the most welcoming for Clemson during some of the Tigers’ more recent trips to Williams-Brice, which has gone beyond the typical taunting and trash talk. Some of Clemson’s players have experienced bottles and other objects thrown at them from South Carolina’s student section in the past, which has drawn the ire of Swinney and South Carolina athletic director Ray Tanner.
Clemson’s newbies have been brought up to speed on that as well.
“The fans are wild over there,” Collins said. “I just heard it’s a hostile environment, and I’ve got to get ready for it mentally and not let anything affect me during the game. They might throw stuff, say things about your family and all that stuff. We’ve just got to get ready mentally.”
Said Uiagalelei, “I have heard about that. It will be interesting to see what happens when I go down there.”
They’re bracing for anything and everything come 7:30 Saturday night.
“I learned it’s one of the nastiest rivalries,” Collins said.
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