Really big rings: National Championship rings to be unveiled at spring game

Clemson's seniors will get their championship rings Saturday

by Nikki Hood - Staff Writer - Mon Apr 03 20:05:31 GMT-04:00 2017

CLEMSON – A song that is often played during championships is called “Big Rings” by the artist Drake, and part of the lyrics say, “Cause I got a really big team and they need some really big rings.”

That song will come to life Saturday, and Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney says he wants 70,000 fans to be a part of the festivities.

Not that the Clemson faithful needed another excuse to attend Saturday’s spring game, but head coach Dabo Swinney told TigerNet Monday evening that the team’s championship rings will be unveiled at the game, along with a few other new wrinkles.

“We're going to have a Tiger Walk. It's the first time that we're in this scenario so at 1:05, we're going to do Tiger Walk. We're going to come down the hill at about 2:25 or 2:30,” Swinney said after practice. “We've got the spring awards right there at the beginning and then we'll kick it off and play the first half.”

The fans will then get a chance to see players like Deshaun Watson, Mike Williams, Ben Boulware and others receive their championship rings.

“Then at halftime, we're going to have a really special presentation and celebration for our seniors. We're going to do our ring ceremony Wednesday night with our team,” he said. “I'm really excited about that. Saturday at halftime, that's going to be all about those seniors and the winningest group in the history of the school and presenting them with their rings at halftime in front of the crowd. We've got a really cool video that I think the fans are going to enjoy that will go along with that. Then, hopefully we'll have a very competitive game.”

There will be three rings that will be presented, and all three will have a special touch or significance.

“We're going to talk about that on Wednesday and I'll go through that in detail because there are a lot of really neat things that we did,” he said. “There are actually three rings. They're going to get a really nice case that has all three rings in it. The CFP does a ring and we had a little bit of input in that. Then we have the back-to-back ACC Championship ring and then we have the National Championship ring.

‘You like for the ring to tell a little bit of a story and have some meaning to it that these guys can remember years down the road. I'm really excited to have a special moment with them on Wednesday. One thing, for sure, on the national championship ring is there are 89 stones. We've had 89 wins since I've been the head coach and I wanted everybody to feel a part of that National Championship ring. Then there are other things that will come out as we unveil the rings this week. It's going to really cool and really nice.”

Swinney named the number of fans he wants to see Saturday.

“If we can get 70,000 here for a parade, surely we can get 70,000 for the spring game,” he said.