Clemson LB Sammy Brown Reacts to LSU Matchup, Relationship With Ben Boulware

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Clemson football honed in on uptown Charlotte this week, where the ACC Kickoff took place.

The Tigers brought head coach Dabo Swinney, linebacker Sammy Brown, edge rusher Will Heldt and tight end Olsen Patt-Henry to the event this season, with each player and coach being available for the coaches and media across the day on Thursday. Each Tiger had an opening statement over the course of the event on the second floor.

Brown, the only junior in the group, delivered his thoughts ahead of the season on stage. Here’s what he said via ASAP Transcripts.

Q. Sammy, earlier this week, coach Ben[Boulware] had talked about for this position, it's going to take a lot of communication, and he said that, you know, you called him and kind of told him how you all were kind of dealing with how to come about with that. Can you explain, you know, the importance for you to be able to step up and be a leader on this defense verbally?

SAMMY BROWN: Yeah, I would say this goes back to my freshman year, just looking at the linebacker room. We had Barrett Carter and Wade Woodaz in there. I think they set the tone and set the example for me coming into this leadership role. So I picked up a lot from both of them on understanding not only what a leader is, but how to be a leader and how to lead not only a linebacker room, but a defense and a team.

I give a lot of praise to them. Like you said, I talked to Ben. I have talked to Ben multiple times about becoming a leader, and I think Ben is a very good resource to have because he's climbed that mountain before. He's gotten to the top of the mountain. He's a really good resource to have and a really good resource to lean on when it comes to not only being a leader, but playing the linebacker position.

Q. Coach has talked about in the past about guys being all in. What's the mindset of you taking that motto going into this season after what happened last season and the magnitude of that Game 1, CV stepping out there in Baton Rouge and the whole real battle, real Death Valley and Lane Kiffin, him and Coach never faced each other before as head coach? The magnitude. The Cajuns are going to be waiting on you guys. It's one of the hardest places to play at night down there, Baton Rouge, at 7:30, Week 1. What do you think about that? How are you going to get set for a game of that type of magnitude to kick off the 2026 season?

SAMMY BROWN: Yeah, first off, going from last year to this year, I think the biggest thing is that you want to put that in the past. I don't think you want to dwell on that, but at the same time, you don't want to completely forget it because there are many aspects of not only the game of football, but the game of life that you can learn from a season like that last year. How to overcome adversity, how to be a man and face adversity and be able to overcome it. There are a lot of lessons you can learn from last year.

At the end of the day, we really are focusing this offseason on resetting and, you know, resetting our goals, resetting our standards and learning from last year, but this is a new season, this is a new team.

Then for the first game, it is a big game, and you know, there's a lot of headlines around it, but at the end of the day, that football game is going to be the exact same football game that you're going to play Week 7. For me there's not going to be any different kind of preparation or anything like that that will go into the game. I'm still going to come in on Monday and, you know, really watch tape for two or three hours. Throughout the week, my preparation will be the same.

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