Clemson’s Will Swinney waited to run the hill, found his dad, Dabo, at the bottom

Will Swinney wanted to wait until he was a player for the Tigers before running down the hill prior to a Clemson game. He finally got the chance to do so on Saturday.

Dabo’s son, who is the holder and a reserve receiver for the Tigers, got to experience the hill for the first time in front of a packed house at Death Valley prior to the opener against Kent State.

“I’ve always seen them run down the hill. I’ve always loved it. But I’ve never ran down it for a game… Just like, the stadium was empty, just playing around,” Will said. “So yea, that was awesome running down the hill. It was crazy getting to the top of the rock. I was looking at the stadium and stuff and I almost forgot. I was like, ‘Now here we go down.’”

When Will reached the bottom of the hill he found his dad, Clemson’s head coach.

“He had told me before like, ‘Hey, whenever you come down come by and give me a hug,’ or whatever. I was like, ‘Well, I don’t know. I’ll probably be so in the moment...’ I was like, ‘Well, we’ll see. We’ll see,’” Will said laughing. “But I got down there, I was jogging and he was right there. I went up to him and gave him a quick hug. It was a really neat moment.”

Will added that getting to run down the hill and touching Howard’s rock prior to a game was a dream come true.

“We always take pictures at the rock and stuff and you look out there and see the stadium empty and you always wonder what it would be like to see it filled up,” Will said. “Just coming off the bus, it was everything I imagined and more.”

Will also discussed what it is like playing football while his dad is the head coach.

He played sports growing up with his dad as the head coach and said the transition has been an easy one.

“He treats me like any other player,” Will said. “If I mess up he’ll let me know. It’s pretty much the same.”

This story was originally published September 7, 2017 at 11:26 AM with the headline "Clemson’s Will Swinney waited to run the hill, found his dad, Dabo, at the bottom."