Ricardo Jones Etches Name Into Palmetto Bowl History With Defensive Performance

The Clemson Tigers’ Palmetto Bowl win on Saturday would not have been as easy without safety Ricardo Jones, who fans will remember for years to come with his performance.

In a game where the South Carolina offense brought one of the biggest offensive threats, LaNorris Sellers, to the table, Jones had the best performance when the two units were on the field. He recorded two interceptions, one that he took back 12 yards to put the game up two scores.

Jones credits cornerback Corian Gipson for the pass breakup, saying that when he gets the chance to take advantage of a turnover opportunity, he’s going to take it.

“My teammate made a good PB on it, and I saw it up in the air,” he said after the game. “As soon as I see it in the air, like I said before, that’s my ball and I’m going to go get it, and once I got it, I got to find that end zone, and it’s right there.”

Saturday was the sophomore’s first Palmetto Bowl starting in the secondary, but he watched from the sideline when South Carolina pulled out a last-minute touchdown from Sellers to win in Death Valley against the Tigers.

This year, the Clemson defense held the Gamecocks’ quarterback to only two rushing yards, with Jones saying the unit made Sellers uncomfortable.

“Pressure-wise, we had him uncomfortable all day, I feel like,” he said. “He couldn’t run around a lot like he wanted to.”

With it being his first important Palmetto Bowl with significant snaps, Jones said that the atmosphere was fun and, compared to the high school rivalries he saw in south Georgia, he said those games “were nothing like this.”

At the end of the day, the Warner Robins, Georgia, native will let the numbers on the scoreboard do the talking.

“It was fun,” Jones said. “Fans out here are real rowdy, so they’re talking crazy, so to leave with the win, that’s all the talking that we can do right now is the scoreboard.”

Head coach Dabo Swinney has seen a lot of growth from Jones over the course of the season. Swinney describes him as an “emotional player”, detailing how it was important for him this year to understand how to channel that energy in a way that can benefit the team.

Using that, and Swinney’s acknowledgement of him loving to just play the game, it’s allowed the standout to lead the team in interceptions this season with six, leading the ACC in the statistic after Saturday’s performance.

“That’s the one thing about him: he loves to play,” Swinney said. “He loves to practice, he loves his teammates. He’s as tough as they come, and he knows his limitations, but he’s just a very smart, instinctive player.”

Defensive end T.J. Parker was excited to see his teammate get in the end zone for the first time in his collegiate career, calling it deserved.

“I’m so proud of Ricardo,” Parker said after the game. “He’s been making a lot of plays for us this year, man, just his ability to track the ball, man, it’s been great. I’m glad he finally got in the end zone, you know, you've got to give him that once, so happy about that.”

Clemson only has one more game this season, a bowl game, which it will find out officially next Sunday. However, being only a sophomore, there can be a new star that is beginning to emerge in the Tigers’ secondary for years to come.

Jones is now ready to continue to build off of this performance, excited to see the fruits of his labor.

“It feels good, man, it feels good,” he said. “It just shows that all that hard work paid off.”