Jeadyn Lukus happy to be healthy, making impact in Clemson secondary

Jeadyn Lukus had some time in the air while waiting on his interception to drop in his hands versus Stanford.

Ariana Pensy - Correspondent - Saturday, October 05 2024

CLEMSON - For junior cornerback Jeadyn Lukus, it has been a battle just to get back on the field.

Last season, he was plagued with injuries, but that has not been a problem for him in 2024. In the season opener, he recorded seven tackles, including 0.5 tackles for loss, and against Stanford this past Saturday, Lukus got his first interception since 2022.

“With the injuries last year, (it) was really discouraging. But, just coming back from that, I feel like it was good,” Lukus said. “Just happy to be back out there.”

Despite all that was going on around Clemson in the wake of Hurricane Helene, 80,295 people came to Death Valley to watch the Tigers defeat the Cardinals.

“It was awesome,” Lukus said. “I know it was a crazy week for everyone, but it was definitely cool seeing that there (were) that many people still watching us play.”

What fans saw was a defense that allowed Stanford to get down the field on multiple occasions, but forced turnovers when it counted, including an interception in the end zone by sophomore cornerback Avieon Terrell. Lukus said the defense has a lot to work on, but he was proud that they were able to make plays when it counted to prevent Stanford from scoring.

“I feel like everybody, including myself, has to get better at leveraging the football and being in the right gaps and all that type of stuff. So, we’ll definitely improve on that this week,” Lukus said. “Just bend, don’t break. I feel like we had made the plays we needed to.”

Clemson heads to Florida State for its first true road game of the season Saturday (7 p.m/ESPN). Florida State, who came into the season No. 10 in the AP Poll, has started off the season 1-4. Their only victory was against ACC newcomer, California, in a game where the Golden Bears outgained them by over 100 yards.

Clemson has faced the Seminoles a total of 36 times, with their most recent coming in an overtime loss for the Tigers last season, 31-24. Florida State’s roster has changed drastically since then. Former Clemson Tiger, D.J. Uiagalelei, was their starting quarterback in the first five games, but after suffering a broken finger in their recent loss to SMU, redshirt freshman Brock Glenn will get the start against the Tigers.

Clemson is known for playing to a standard. So, Lukus and the rest of the defense are not treating the Seminoles any differently than they ever have, despite their record and quarterback situation.

“A really away, night game environment, I feel like, we haven’t really had this year. So, it will be good to be tested like that,” Lukus said. “It’s definitely a lot harder to win away. So, we got to go down there, be prepared, and just do what we do.”