Clemson footballs C.J. Spiller finds new career path as assistant coach with Tigers -

CLEMSON, S.C. — It’s a sunny Friday afternoon in Clemson right around 4 p.m., and as usual, the Tigers’ practice fields are buzzing.

Front and center, sophomore quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei is leading an up-tempo drill downfield with the Tigers’ receivers and tight ends.

On the back field, the defense is broken up by individual position groups.

And on a smaller side field — not far from where Clemson’s “graveyard” commemorates all the powerhouse teams the Tigers have defeated through the years — there stands C.J. Spiller.

The 33-year-old former star Clemson running back — who is widely considered the most important recruit of coach Dabo Swinney’s career — is wearing an orange hat with a gray long-sleeve shirt and orange Clemson shorts. A laminated sheet of notes is stuffed into his back pocket.

It has only been about a month since Spiller started his new job as the Tigers’ running backs coach after Swinney moved former tight ends coach Danny Pearman into an off-field scouting role, shifted offensive coordinator Tony Elliott from running backs to tight ends and promoted Spiller from an unpaid graduate intern role to a two-year contract that pays him $300,000 annually on the field. But despite Spiller being just weeks into his new role, he looks just as much the part of a coach as he did a star player from 2006 to 2009.

“Be ready to make ’em miss,” he instructs senior Lyn-J Dixon, the Tigers’ presumed starter to replace star Travis Etienne.

Dixon is running through a line of pop-up tackle dummies with a football in his hand.

“Let’s go Lyn-J,” Spiller continues. “Nice!”

Spiller is here because about a year ago, he finally said out loud to Swinney words he never before had been quite ready to utter.

After the Buffalo Bills selected Spiller in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft with the No. 9 overall pick, he played with the Bills from 2010 to 2014 before spending 2015-17 bouncing from the New Orleans Saints to the New York Jets, Seattle Seahawks and Kansas City Chiefs. Having not been on an NFL roster since playing one game for the Chiefs in 2017, Spiller was ready to hang up his playing career.

He wanted to coach — and what better place to start his career than his alma mater, where he’s still believed to be the only student-athlete to receive a standing ovation from the Board of Trustees at graduation.

So here he is.

“It seems like yesterday I was chasing C.J. Spiller all over the place trying to recruit him, and now he’s our running backs coach,” Swinney said last week. “We had talked many times about him joining the staff, I just wasn’t sure for a while which capacity it was going to be. But he made his decision last year that he really wanted for his career to be in coaching, so I was excited about that. … Here we go.”

C.J. Spiller starred for the Clemson Tigers from 2006 to 2009 and still holds the ACC record with 7,588 all-purpose yards. (Max Knipstein / Clemson Athletics)

When James Davis heard the news that the “Lightning” to his “Thunder” had been named Clemson’s new running backs coach, he sent Spiller a text message laughing. Davis, who alongside Spiller made up one half of the most celebrated running back duo in Clemson history under then-coach Tommy Bowden, was thrilled for his longtime pal.

But initially, the news caught Davis by surprise considering all the conversations he and Spiller had on Clemson’s practice field in the late 2000s.

“I remember us playing together, we told each other, ‘Man, we will never probably coach because we know how much time it takes — and dedication,’” Davis said. “But I think C.J., he’s settled in, and he’s in a good place where I think the opportunity is right, now.”

Davis and Spiller have stayed close friends since their Clemson careers ended, with Davis’ 3,881 career rushing yards ranking third in program history and Spiller’s 3,547 ranking fourth. Only Etienne, the most prolific running back in ACC history with 4,952 career rushing yards, and Raymond Priester with 3,966, top them in Clemson’s record books.

Through the years, Davis has asked Spiller why he chose to build his offseason home in the Clemson area at Keowee Springs, instead of returning to Lake Butler, Fla., where he was raised.

“But he always felt like Clemson was a place he could call home,” Davis said.

In that sense, maybe Spiller’s new job doesn’t surprise Davis after all.

After Spiller played his final NFL season in 2017 with the Kansas City Chiefs, the former consensus All-American moved back to South Carolina and started thinking about how he wanted to spend the rest of his life.

Settling in South Carolina made sense: His now-wife, Daysha, is from the area, and he had picked Clemson during the recruiting process in the first place in large part because of his love for the community. It wasn’t long before Spiller was elected to IPTAY’s Board of Directors in July 2019 to work with the athletic department’s fundraising organization.

His real breakthrough arrived when he realized how much he enjoyed volunteering at Liberty High School with the school’s track team. Spiller was not made available for comment for this story but spoke about the experience at a Clemson signing day event last month.

“That’s kind of where that itch of coaching came in,” he said in February. “But I didn’t really know what level.”

With a sense of clarity that maybe coaching was the path for Spiller after all, he and Swinney had a conversation about Spiller joining the Clemson staff ahead of the 2020 season.

Swinney said last week that he always knew he would have an opportunity to hire Spiller in some capacity, but it had to be on Spiller’s timeline.

“He was ready to hang (his cleats) up, and that’s the first time that he’s been ready to do that and was really ready to commit,” Swinney said. “(He) made a full commitment to really just kind of dive in.”

While he earned his master’s degree in athletic leadership, Spiller wasn’t allowed to have any on-field duties as an unpaid graduate assistant, per NCAA rules. But he could mentor Etienne, a role he enjoyed. And Spiller could get a glimpse into coaching by sitting in on Elliott’s segment meetings with the Tigers’ running backs.

That paid dividends when Elliott ultimately tested positive for COVID-19 before Clemson’s Sugar Bowl national semifinal, which prompted Swinney to make Spiller the running backs coach for the Ohio State game.

About a month later, the Board of Trustees made Spiller’s hire official, with a handful of the members who gave Spiller the standing ovation at his graduation now approving his new contract.

“It’s a great, great hire for Dabo,” Bowden said. “You saw NFL talent (with Spiller). The coaching aspects, you don’t really know at that age or have a good feel. But did he have all the intangibles? Yes. He’s dependable, a tough guy, very responsible, a team guy. Those are characteristics for a player, and there’s some carry-over value in the coaching profession.”

Talk to anyone about Spiller as a player, and it quickly becomes evident that it’s impossible to pick out just one moment of his in a Clemson uniform that stands out. Davis’ favorite memory of the two of them was when Spiller ripped off a 90-yard touchdown on a kickoff return against Wake Forest in 2007 with Davis serving as the lead blocker.

“I think I laid a couple guys out,” Davis said with a laugh.

Speaking of kickoff returns, Andre Powell, Spiller’s running backs coach at Clemson who now holds the same role at Pittsburgh, brought up Spiller’s 92-yard return for a touchdown against Maryland in 2009 that featured running the final 70 yards with one shoe.

“He outran like, three guys with one shoe,” Powell said. “If I started telling you about all the memories, it’d take a while.”

CJ Spiller (@CJSPILLER) taking a kickoff 92-yards to the house in one shoe against Maryland will forever be one of my favorite highlights. pic.twitter.com/YsCmDb2Yr6

— Austin Pendergist (@apthirteen) July 1, 2020

And don’t forget this catch and run against Georgia Tech in 2006 when Spiller was just a freshman. Powell watched that one on television, not yet Clemson’s running backs coach at the time.

“I was thinking, ‘What’s a man gotta do to get a deal like that?’” he said. “There’s a lot of those.”

But while it’s difficult to pick out Spiller’s top moment at Clemson without a bit of debate, those who know him well agree that Spiller had a natural curiosity as a player that should now serve him well as he transitions into a coach.

Davis remembers Spiller constantly asking questions — mainly about assignments. Spiller took copious notes, both mental and written. Powell remembers Spiller’s football IQ increasing with each passing season. He called Spiller “The Eraser” for his ability to erase almost any mistake made by the offensive line. And Bowden remembers Spiller poring over details, especially in pass protection.

“Usually a running back is mismatched against a defensive end or a bigger linebacker, therefore technique is important. So as you watched him pay attention to detail, you could see that he had the mental capabilities, the curiosity of his job, to take protection and technique (seriously),” Bowden said. “He’s not a very big guy, so technique was very important. I would think because of that, he’s going to be really good as far as coaching technique.”

Spiller, who was listed on his NFL profile at 5-foot-11 and 200 pounds, was the textbook example of the complete college running back NFL scouts look for. Not just a sprinter, he was diligent in his assignments, could catch the ball out of the backfield and was an ace on special teams.

He left Clemson with 7,588 all-purpose yards, which is still an ACC record. He ran for 3,547 yards and 32 touchdowns on 606 carries while catching 123 career passes for 1,420 yards and 11 touchdowns. His eight kick returns for touchdowns also set an ACC record, and he was the 2009 ACC Player of the Year.

His job is now to take the running backs on Clemson’s roster — a group that consists of Dixon, Chez Mellusi, Michel Dukes, Darien Rencher, Kobe Pace, Will Shipley and Phil Mafah — and help them evolve into complete players, much like Etienne did as a junior and senior. Spiller will need to teach them to think like he did, understanding the “why” and not just the “what.”

As for the off-field part of his gig, once the NCAA lifts dead period restrictions due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, he’ll hit the road to recruit. Although that might be the easiest part of his new job.

“He will be very attractive to kids on the recruiting trail,” Powell said.

“He’s lived it first-hand,” Bowden said. “Most coaches have not.”

Spiller called over to Geneva County High School in Hartford, Ala., about three weeks ago to speak with coach Jim Bob Striplin for the first time. Striplin coaches Class of 2022 running back Emmanuel Henderson, a five-star recruit who is the nation’s No. 2 running back and No. 28 overall prospect by the 247Sports Composite.

Henderson is one of two running backs the Tigers have offered for 2022, along with Etienne’s younger brother, Trevor. Henderson is set to make his college decision this week and is projected by 247Sports to land at Alabama. Regardless of his running back’s decision, Striplin said he and Henderson both were drawn to Spiller.

“He reached out to me first, so it was really nice. He’s really on the ball. He’s really working hard,” Striplin said. “I think that was probably one of the most impressive things about him. He, in my opinion, has taken on the appearance of anybody else on the Clemson staff.”

Striplin and Spiller hit it off as they talked ball and chatted about Henderson, who according to Striplin remembers Spiller from his playing days and relates to him as a big-time prospect.

It wasn’t long ago — only about 15 years — when Spiller was a five-star running back navigating the recruiting process before he ultimately chose Clemson and stunned the programs in Florida. The pressure, the offers, the media attention, how every fan seems to have an opinion — Spiller can relate to all of it with a five-star recruit in a way that uniquely bonds them.

“He understands what they go through,” Powell said.

Spiller told The Athletic in a podcast interview in 2019 that what helped seal his decision to come to Clemson was the night Swinney got a flat tire on a dark highway recruiting him in Florida. Swinney, then Clemson’s wide receivers coach, had taken the lead on Spiller’s recruitment and called Spiller for help once he finally got cell service.

Spiller joked that if a coach was going to have a roadside emergency on his behalf around 10 p.m., he had to go play for him. At the signing day event last month, Spiller indicated that the way Swinney recruited him will have an impact on how he approaches prospects.

“I remember him always telling me, ‘Hey, if you don’t like Clemson, just tell me and I’ll stop recruiting you.’ You know how it is. You have these five-star guys, you tell them that, they’re going to look at you kind of weird, like, ‘What?’” Spiller said. “A coach had never told me that before. Once he said that, I knew that was very authentic.”

Powell said Spiller will also relate well to parents and already brings a deep understanding of when to push for recruits and when to back off. Life as a five-star prospect means constant text messages and cellphones.

It’s also significant that Spiller played for Swinney once Swinney got the interim job in 2008 and the full-time job in 2009, returning for his senior season when many thought he would leave for the NFL.

“Clemson is surely a lot more marketable now than when I was there, but I think he’s going to bring that aspect to his recruiting repertoire that a lot of coaches can’t as a four- or five-star (recruit),” Bowden said. “(He can say), ‘This is what I did to make a really difficult decision. This is how I can help you. Or these are things you ought to consider.’ He’s lived it first-hand.”

Indeed, Spiller is the only former five-star recruit on a Clemson staff headed up by Swinney, a walk-on at Alabama. Elliott was a walk-on at Clemson, and quarterbacks coach Brandon Streeter didn’t earn the starting quarterback job until his final two seasons with the Tigers in 1998 and 1999. Wide receivers coach Tyler Grisham played at Clemson but was a three-star recruit in the Class of 2005.

Striplin believes that Spiller-like hires ought to become the norm for coaches across the country and said he’s looking forward to talking to Spiller again soon. Bowden couldn’t think of any downside to the hire, Powell said it was “fantastic,” and Davis thinks the timing is ideal.

Davis, however, does want to make one thing clear to his friend.

“I told C.J., I said, ‘Man, I hope nobody tries to come grab you early after one year of success in Clemson.’ You know a lot of coaches around the country, they’re always trying to come pick from Clemson’s coaching staff,” Davis said. “So I told him, ‘You need to stick it out at Clemson. Don’t be trying to leave us.’”

(Top photo: Max Knipstein / Clemson Athletics)

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