Kylon Griffin rises to the occasion after staying patient

Kylon Griffin came up with one of the game’s biggest plays last week with his first career interception.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Fri Nov 10 08:00:04 GMT-04:00 2023

CLEMSON – Redshirt freshman defensive back Kylon Griffin didn’t find out he was going to play against Notre Dame until two days before the game, but came up with one of the game’s biggest plays with his first career interception.

Griffin, out of Montgomery (AL) Catholic Preparatory School, entered this season having played just four snaps in two games while redshirting last season. Griffin entered Saturday’s contest against the Irish with 57 snaps on the season, but 37 came against Florida Atlantic. He played 42 against the Irish, however, with starting safeties RJ Mickens and Jalyn Phillips on the shelf.

“Coach (safeties coach Mickey Conn) came to me Thursday morning, before my classes and stuff, I tried to come and watch film earlier,” Griffin said. “And he just caught me and pulled me aside and said, ‘Hey, this is an opportunity, and we’re going to need you’. Thankfully, I was ready, even in the beginning of the week, I was still preparing, so it wasn’t nothing that got me too rattled up.”

Griffin said he knew that with so much talent ahead of him on the depth chart, he knew he needed to be patient.

“At first it was a challenge because all your life you’ve been playing, and every player goes through that,” he said. “I looked at it from the bright side, and a good thing to really train myself and practice the patience and trust in the Lord. Really maturing and growing in that area, and it was really a good lesson that I took out from it.”

With the Irish driving late, Griffin intercepted Notre Dame quarterback Sam Hartman, and it looked like the Tigers might be able to run out the clock. A Clemson fumble gave the Irish another chance, but the Clemson defense was able to hold a final time.

Griffin said he knew going into the game that the defense was going to be a big interception.

“That was a very slow-motion play. I just had a feeling that whole game, somebody's gonna get one. I was talking to myself the whole game, ‘I’m getting a pick, I'm getting an interception’. I see the ball, and I see as soon as he throws it, I see it’s gonna be high,” Griffin said. “Get under the ball and don’t drop it. I thought about that like ‘do not drop this ball,’ and I caught it, and I just see Xavier Thomas and his hands go up, and I’m like ‘score’ and then I see Barrett Carter telling me to go down, so I just fall. But man, it was a slow-motion moment, and I am very blessed to be in that situation.”