How a 208-Pound Freshman Became Clemson Football's Model of Development

Clemson Football's fall camp started yesterday, and the staff officially kicked off the period with the program's annual big weigh-in at the Allen N. Reeves Football Complex.

All numbers used to be public, but since the 2025 offseason, head coach Dabo Swinney and the staff have kept them private.

That privacy carried on into this year. Still, Swinney made sure to let the fans and media know that many players' weights stood out to him, yet he decided not to emphasize them for one reason: weight doesn't win games.

"There were a lot of them, but I'm not going to highlight any of them because we ain't going to win any games standing on the weight scale," the veteran coach said. "But we look good, you know, we're a good-looking football team. We look good on paper. We look good in the weight room. Hopefully, we're going to look good on the practice field today."

However, he couldn't resist dropping one guy's name: senior defensive end Jahiem Lawson.

"The one guy I will call out, and there's a bunch, but one, because he's such a good example to if you buy in and you do the work — and he's a product of our development here — and that's Jahiem Lawson. Maybe 208 [pounds] when he got here, not a very highly recruited guy."

Coming out of the local pipeline of D.W Daniel High School in Central, South Carolina, Lawson was certainly one of the most overlooked players in the 2022 class. It's not like he didn't put up great numbers, either, as he totaled 153 tackles, 40 for a loss and 25 sacks throughout his four-year varsity tenure with the Lions.

Nevertheless, the 6-foot-4 lanky edge rusher ranked as just the No. 1,404 overall player and the No. 165 defensive lineman in his class, according to the 247Sports Composite. However, Swinney saw something special enough in Lawson to take him on board.

Now, four years later, Swinney credits himself and his staff for the evaluation and development work that helped Lawson become the player he always believed he could be.

"You know, we've been successful around here because we've evaluated well, and then we've developed well," he stated. "Not that we're perfect, but we've put a lot of guys in the pros that have come through this program."

But at the end of the day, the credit doesn't all fall on the people who helped him get there. Lawson also has to take pride in how he approached this journey in the first place, starting with self-awareness to know what he needed to work on.

"He's a perfect example of a guy that came in and had self-awareness, too," Swinney emphasized. "Jahiem knew when he came here that, 'Man, I got to get bigger. I got to get stronger.' You're going to be a situational guy only until you change that."

Over the years, it hasn't come easy for the now-bulky edge rusher. He didn't see much playing time across his first two seasons with Clemson. Then, in 2024, he made significant strides as a backup, finishing the year with 24 tackles, 3.5 for a loss, 3 pass deflections and 1 sack.

His true breakout season, though, came as a redshirt junior last season, when he became one of the key rotational edge rushers for the Tigers, totaling 20 tackles, 6.5 for a loss, 3.5 sacks and three pass deflections across just 11 contests.

Heading into his final season with the program, Lawson has increased his weight by almost 50 pounds since he was a true freshman, now standing at 251 pounds, and looks to have a big senior year.

Swinney describes him as a "frickin' brickhouse," and even made a bold statement that we'll see the fifth-year's name come off the board during draft night.

"If you buy in and you do the work, it's going to work for you," Swinney finished. "That's the epitome of what this program is all about."

Add us as a preferred source on Google