Barrett Carter and Jeremiah Trotter Jr. Have "Elite" Goals For Clemson's Defense

Barrett Carter and Jeremiah Trotter represent the best duo of linebackers in college football in 2023. The two backers combined for 169 tackles in 2022, and enter their junior season's as the team's undisputed leaders.

The two players met with the media for the first time this spring, and it's fascinating to hear the similarity in the messages the two deliver.

“Even if we had the No. 1 defense in the country, I still think we’d have so much room for improvement. That’s just the mindset we all have. We’re just striving to get better. We just have to watch a lot of film and learn from the mistakes, but I’m proud of the way we competed last year.” said Carter of the improvements the defense can make from last year.

“We want to definitely make improvements. Watch the film, make those corrections from last year, and try to learn from our mistakes, because we definitely made some mistakes that we shouldn’t have made.” echoed Trotter in a separate interview.

Carter was asked to specifically identify some of the issues that had been mentioned.

“Sometimes just technique, bad eyes, and just taking your eyes off your key. Once you lock in on your key, you should be fine.”

The defense will be replacing a ton of talent, but having Carter and Trotter Jr. back is huge for a Clemson team that has lofty expectations in 2023.

“We’ve definitely got something to prove this year. We didn’t end off last year like we wanted to... We can clean up things to make our defense elite, and one of the top defenses in the country.” said Trotter.

Carter summed up where Clemson's mindset is entering the season.

“We have a long way to go to be where we want to be, and that’s the national championship.”

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