After the 2025 season, the Clemson Tigers lost their best corner in second-round NFL Draft pick Avieon Terrell. However, position coach Mike Reed’s group seemingly got better as a whole in just one offseason. 

It’s not hard to see why. 

On Tuesday, Reed expressed the formula for Clemson’s success. The Tigers are ranked in the top six in passing defense, interceptions and defensive efficiency in the entire ACC, including the four turnovers that the secondary helped force in the program’s win over Florida State last weekend. 

The formula? The culture is being laid out when freshmen and transfers are thinking about Clemson.

“People fail to realize is that there is a portal, but most of the time, when you have success out of the portal, these kids come in, they buy into the culture,” Reed said. “It’s not one of those things where they come in with a selfish reason, like, ‘Hey, I’m just coming here to ball out and that’s it.’”

That’s been the key for players like Penn State transfer Elliot Washington II and Auburn transfer Donovan Starr, who are now starters at the cornerback spots alongside Ashton Hampton, who is playing like a top NFL Draft pick so far this season. Another positive with the group is that everybody is versatile; Reed can use all the pieces in plenty of different ways. 

It’s allowed for much more dynamics over the course of this season already. 

“You got some camaraderie there,” he said. “It allows up to do a lot of things from a matchup standpoint, and so, when you got guys that are interchangeable and mix things, it allows you as a playcaller to open up the whole book and not really say, ‘Okay, this is the only thing I can do.’”

A former defensive back himself, Reed has consistently coached cornerbacks since the beginning of this century. He sticks with what he knows, and while being at Clemson for the last 13 years, the number of players that have gone to the NFL has shown itself. Reed hasn’t shown any signs of changing roles either, and for the Tigers, it’s the best-case scenario. 

“I’m not satisfied,” he said. “That’s just me, like I said, and that’s no pun against guys who’ve coached positions that they’ve never played. This is what I do; this is what I was bred.”

In a group that is led by Hampton and Washington, the blend of homegrown talent and transfers has been a success over the course of the 2026 season, being the standout group that has helped take over games on the defensive side of the ball. Reed will look for that group to finish strong as Clemson hangs by a thread for what could be an ACC Championship berth. 

A lot needs to happen, though, and the secondary will certainly help its chances. 

“We’ve done a great job of identifying some young men who fit our culture and been able to come in and actually bring a little bit more into it,” Reed said, “and so it’s been a good thing for us.”