Former Clemson Safety Shining At Jacksonville State

The Clemson Tigers may have overlooked a helpful talent on defense, and now he is a standout at Jacksonville State

Caleb Nix got a shot after leaving Clemson, and he's made the most of it | HELEN COMER/The Daily News Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Clemson Tigers’ secondary has one of the team’s most apparent weaknesses throughout the 2025 season. They rank among the ACC’s top half with 250.5 passing yards per game. 

Outside of Aveion Terrell, the unit struggled to keep up with high-powered offenses due to struggles in man coverage and inconsistent open-field tackling.

One player they may have overlooked was Caleb Nix, a former walk-on safety who played just 22 total snaps over three seasons with the Tigers.

After graduating a year early and heading to Jacksonville State University as a graduate transfer, Nix has established himself as one of the most productive safeties in college football throughout this season.

Now in his first season with the Gamecocks, the former Tiger leads the nation in interception return yardage (191) and has also hauled in four interceptions this season, the second-most in  Conference USA.

The Alabama native has earned Conference USA Player of the Week honors twice this season after wins against Kennesaw State and UTEP.

His best game of the season came against Kennesaw State, who they later lost to in the Conference USA Championship. Nix racked up career-highs in both interceptions (2) and tackles (11) while helping lead the Gamecocks to a 35-26 win.

Up to this point of the season, he leads the team with four interceptions and is also fourth on the team with 56 total tackles, to go along with three fumble recoveries.

During his final season at Clemson, Nix saw action on special teams during games against Georgia and Appalachian State before his season ended early due to an ACL tear.

Nix suffered the injury during Clemson’s 66-10 win over Appalachian State, where Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney said that he continued playing despite clearly feeling like something was off.

He played the whole game with a torn ACL, on all the special teams. I’m talking covering kicks, the whole deal," Swinney said.

In 2023, he made his first career tackle during a game against Florida Atlantic, and later earned a spot on the ACC All-Academic Team.

Nix graduated from Clemson last May, just a month after entering the transfer portal shortly after spring practices finished.

Nix’s brother, Bo, is the starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos, who selected him with the 12th overall pick in the first round after a five-year collegiate career at Oregon and Auburn. In 2018, Bo and Caleb won an Alabama 6A State Championship together during their time at Pinson Valley High School.