TJ Parker playing with confidence, believes in Clemson team that can 'conquer'

TJ Parker has been an immediate boost to the Clemson defense.

by Ariana Pensy - Correspondent - Sun Oct 01 13:11:02 GMT-04:00 2023

SYRACUSE, NY - Clemson’s win against Syracuse Saturday was certainly a victory for the defense. In their most dominant performance upfront yet this season, they recorded five sacks and three turnovers. The Tiger offense was able to get touchdowns off all three turnovers as well. True freshman defensive end TJ Parker attributes this to all of the hard work that the team has put in.

“I see the work that we’ve put in throughout the offseason, during the season. A lot of people don’t see the extra work we put in to prepare ourselves for the season,” Parker said. “For me, seeing what the whole team is doing outside of here to make sure that we’re ready physically, mentally. I still have belief in the team, what we can do and what we can conquer.”

Right from the start, Clemson established their defensive dominance in this game. Sixth-year defensive end Justin Mascoll forced a fumble out of Syracuse senior quarterback Garrett Shrader. Parker says the play gave Clemson momentum; they retained this momentum for most of the game.

“We (did) a great job getting the ball loose, started off with Mascoll,” Parker said. “He came in, hit the quarterback, got it out loose, first drive. That kind of sparked the defense, sparked the offense, put the momentum toward us. We just got to the ball, flew to the ball, just a great job by the defense, and it carried over through the whole game.”

Syracuse came into this game undefeated, relying a good deal on their rushing offense. Shrader had a 195-rushing yard performance against Purdue, with four rushing touchdowns. Against Clemson, he was limited to 24 rushing yards, his lowest of the season. This was also his first game since the season opener without a rushing touchdown.

“On film, Schrader, he runs the ball a lot. The offense runs through him, obviously. I think he was averaging about 100 yards rushing [He was actually averaging 79]. We did a good job with that today,” Parker said. “I think he had 24 rushing yards today, something like that. We knew coming into the game that it’d be a run-heavy team. Once we stopped the run, it opened up a lot of things for us in the pass rush.”

Parker is yet another example of a true freshman stepping up right away to make an impact on the team. He has three sacks overall this season and 7.5 tackles for loss, which both lead the team. The four-star prospect believes that trusting the process and the coaches are some of the keys to his success thus far this season.

“I’m just trusting the process, trust my ability that my coach put me in, did a lot of work in the coming day (and) getting the playbook down so I can understand what I got to do,” Parker said. “From that transition from high school to college, it’s just been a smooth transition for me. I’m blessed to be in this position.”

Part of what has made this transition a little easier is the experience and maturity in the defensive end position group. Mascoll, as well as fellow sixth-year end Xavier Thomas who had a fumble recovery against the Orange, have both made an effort to teach Parker about what it takes to be a defensive end at Clemson and play to the standard.

“They understand what it is to win and take that next step to grow and be a better player,” Parker said. “So, (they) took me under their wing when I first got here and showed me the ropes and (I’m) thankful for them because without them, I don’t know where I’d be.”

Parker, Mascoll, Thomas and the rest of the Clemson defense should have fun going against Wake Forest in their fourth home game and fourth ACC game of the season this coming Saturday (3:30 p.m./ACC Network). The Demon Deacons gave up eight sacks in their last game, so these players should have a lot of opportunities to cause disruptions upfront.