Seckinger a Dawg no more

Stanton Seckinger's game-winning touchdown catch against Georgia. (TigerNet Staff)

by Nikki Hood - Staff Writer - Thu Sep 05 10:04:06 GMT-04:00 2013

CLEMSON- Stanton Seckinger Stanton Seckinger
RS So. Tight End
#81 6-4, 210
Isle of Palms, SC
View Full Profile grew up with a foot in both ponds – Clemson and Georgia – but his headfirst dive into the endzone Saturday night marked him as forever a Clemson Tiger.

Seckinger’s father, Stan, attended Georgia and his mother, Terrye, played volleyball at Clemson, leaving his allegiances divided between the Bulldogs and Tigers as he was growing up. So, it came as no surprise that Saturday’s game had a little different feel.

“It was a little different. My mom played volleyball here and my dad went to school at Georgia so I’ve kind of been grown up on both sides- my foot in both ponds,” Seckinger said during Monday’s interview session in the WestZone. “It was definitely different to walk out and think, ‘okay, here I am playing for Clemson and we are playing Georgia.’ Through my whole childhood, I was split between the two so it was definitely a different feeling.”

It also came as no surprise that Stan – with tears in his eyes – greeted his son with a huge hug as he emerged from the locker room after Clemson’s 38-35 win over the Georgia.

“It was a very special moment. My dad went to Georgia,” Seckinger said. “He grew up a Georgia fan and to be honest with you, he grew me up a Georgia fan. I’ve been watching them ever since I was a kid, except for the past couple of years. To come away with a win against them, especially in the first game that I get a legit amount of playing time and to be able to share that with him was really special.”

Seckinger went airborne into the endzone on a third-and-goal play that turned out to be the game-winning touchdown Saturday night, but despite knowing that he had cleared the goal-line it took the officials a little longer to make the correct call.

“I thought I was in bounds. When he signaled out of bounds, I was a little shocked,” he said. “I don’t know if y’all saw or not, but I was just standing there shaking my head and saying, ‘No, you have got to review that.’ I was pretty sure that I had stayed in bounds. After the review, it was a little closer than I thought it was.”

After avoiding a walk-on year, Seckinger came to Clemson as a wide receiver, but was moved to tight end last season due to a lack of depth; however it took a full off-season in the weight room for him to transform his body into that of a tight end.

“The offseason definitely helped me a lot as far as confidence goes, learning the offense and overall maturity as a player,” he said. “I was able to develop my body more into a tight end which I think really helped my confidence.”

Having success against the fifth ranked team in the country went a long way for his confidence at his new position.

“I feel like success builds confidence in anybody,” he said. “When you score and to be able to have all of your teammates there with you really helps you believe that your teammates and coaches believe in and that you can actually do it. That whole atmosphere builds confidence.”