Sammy Brown Says Clemson Tigers Had Personnel, But Couldn't Execute in Pinstripe Bowl

Following his sophomore season with the Clemson Tigers, linebacker Sammy Brown reflected on what needs to change within the team, especially the defense.

Clemson fell to the Penn State Nittany Lions in the Pinstripe Bowl on Saturday afternoon, which had a 16-point Penn State fourth quarter to put the game out of hand. The Tigers have seen this before, seeing times where the defense was unable to handle teams like Duke and SMU, unable to close the gap on key defensive plays to succeed over the course of this season.

Despite thoughts of the wrong players and coaches, Brown keeps it simple with what has to change. It’s the execution that has fallen short all season.

“You actually have to go out there and perform and make the plays, but I know without a shadow of a doubt that we’ve got the guys in the locker room to do it,” he said after the game. “It’s just a matter of, you know, doing it.”

A unit made up of plenty of five-star and four-star players, Brown believes that it is an attitude that the Tigers need to begin to buy into, going into this upcoming offseason. Entering his junior year at Clemson, the Commerce, Georgia, native naturally becomes one of the biggest leaders on the team, meaning his role will be elevated off the field.

Going forward, into things like spring practices and fall camp, Brown will look to push his team to “go even harder” towards the 2026 season.

“What we did this year was obviously not enough,” he said, “So, you know, coming back next year, we’ve got a bar that we’ve set, and we’ve got to press that bar even higher.”

Other things will be involved as Clemson travels through the offseason. The first, and perhaps most important, will be the transfer portal. Head coach Dabo Swinney has said that there will be more of an emphasis on the portal from last season to this season, and Brown will look forward to finding more pieces like Will Heldt, this season’s key transfer piece.

If more players like Heldt can improve a defense coming from another school, then there could be more on the way with the transfer portal period opening up on Jan. 2.

Even if there is a greater emphasis on the transfer portal or not, Brown says that the quality is in the room, but the team will need to execute when the lights shine brightest. That helped lead to the Clemson loss to finish its season at a 7-6 record, its worst record in 15 years.

That is the mindset that Brown wants to implement as a leader: when the lights shine brightest, the Tigers play at their best. That’s what he will challenge his teammates to do in this offseason.

“I think it’s a mindset,” the linebacker said. “I think a lot of it comes from confidence and knowing that we can do it and we’ve got the guys in the locker room to do it.”