Clemson Defense Sets Tone Early, Then Kept It Going

ATLANTA – From the start, fourth-ranked Clemson set the tone on what kind of night it was going to be for Georgia Tech’s offense in a 41-10 victory at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

On the Yellow Jackets’ opening play from scrimmage, quarterback Jeff Sims was smacked by Clemson defensive end K.J. Henry, while safety Andrew Mukuba was there to pick off the long pass.

“It was exciting. I mean, it should be illegal to have that much fun in one sitting,” Henry said. “I thought it was crazy, but that was a good time.”

It was not a good time for Tech (0-1, 0-1 ACC).

With the exception of Georgia Tech’s last drive of the first half and its first of the second half, it did very little against the Tigers. Clemson held the Yellow Jackets to 238 total yards, including 75 rushing yards on 30 carries.

Dating back to last season, the Clemson defense has held each of its last five opponents to under 100 yards rushing. The first time that has happened since the last five games of the 2010 season.

Overall, the Tigers (1-0, 1-0 ACC) had nine tackles behind the line of scrimmage and held the Jackets to just 2-of-16 on third down.

“We really played well,” defensive coordinator Wes Goodwin said. “I wish we could have come out and played the start of the second half a little better. That was the touchdown drive. We had them in a second-and-long situation and kind of let them off the hook there.

“Overall, we executed really well. We have to clean up some tackling on the perimeter and a couple of rush lane scramble issues. Other than that, our guys played at a really high level.

No one on Clemson’s defense played at a higher level than Henry. He finished the night with a team-tying-high six tackles, including 2.5 tackles for loss, a sack, and a forced fumble. He also had two quarterback pressures.

“K.J., obviously, battled back from the knee last year. By the end of the year, he started getting back to his normal self,” Goodwin said. “He had a tremendous off-season. He has been such a leader and been such a solid guy in the locker room.

“He has really been instrumental in a lot of things in what we have asked our defense to do over the summer. Being a leader in skills and drills. It is just unbelievable to see him go out there and perform the way he did.”

Henry has had at least a half of a sack in five straight games, dating back to last season.

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