Why Clemson's Transfers in the Secondary Have Tom Allen Impressed Entering Week 1

Entering his second season with the Clemson Tigers, defensive coordinator Tom Allen saw the issues in the secondary that his unit gave up at times in 2025.

So he completely rehauled it with transfer talent. Now, those players will help lead the defense into LSU this weekend.

Perhaps the standout on defense over the course of the offseason was Penn State transfer Elliot Washington II, who played under Allen when he was in the same role at Penn State in 2024. He’s grown to be the Tigers’ most impactful player in the turnover margin in this spring and fall.

“Elliot Washington has won our Takeaway King Award in the spring, and he won it again in fall camp,” Allen said on Tuesday. “He’s just done a tremendous job of really attacking the football, and he’s flashed early and often.”

In losses last season, Clemson gave up 274.8 passing yards per game. To put it in perspective, in 2024, the Tigers only allowed about 213 yards per game across all contests. Allen picked up Old Dominion transfer Jerome Carter III and Southern Miss ballhawk Corey Myrick to help fix that.

The duo has joined Washington in players who keep getting better as they get used to the defensive scheme.

“Then the two safeties, Corey Myrick and Jerome Carter, man, I just think with every passing practice, with more comfort with the system, they just continue to do a better job,” Allen said.

Clemson picked up second-year cornerback Donovan Starr from Auburn to help out in the depth chart. However, he has gotten better with each week as well, potentially seeing more snaps than many think going into Baton Rouge, Louisiana, this weekend.

Allen said that he’s “really took a jump”, believing that his boost in confidence from the offseason has helped him do so.

“He’s got real speed, and he’s learning how to play in our defense,” he said, “and so he’s got some flexibility to play both the corner position as well as the TIGER spot.”

The Clemson defensive coordinator added a double-digit number of transfers to bring more competition into the fray, as well as compete with the top returning guys to get better through it. That’s happened all over the defense, but the secondary is seeing the most guys enter Week 1 with starting spots under their belts. Of course, we won’t know this until the official depth chart comes out, but that won’t be until Saturday.

For now, though, Allen is happy with the transfers he brought in throughout the offseason, and they fit the archetype for who he wanted on his roster.

“So, those guys I’ve been pleased with, all those guys that we brought in and they’ve given us the speed and the length and the athleticism that we were looking for.”

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