Calm down, Todd Ellis and USC fans. Clemson pregame walk a tradition, not taunting
As part of the Clemson football team’s pregame routine, the Tigers lock arms and march toward the end zone. It’s called the walk of champions, and it happens every game whether Clemson is at home, on the road or in a neutral environment.
At South Carolina’s Williams-Brice Stadium, that means Clemson marches directly toward South Carolina’s student section.
South Carolina play-by-play announcer and former Gamecocks quarterback Todd Ellis suggested that Clemson tradition puts USC fans “in a tough position,” a notion Dabo Swinney made it clear he disagrees with.
When the Tigers last played in Columbia in 2017, that led to some hostility as some USC students threw items — mostly bottles — into the end zone.
“The Tigers put us in a tough position as well. One of the things they do, and God bless them, it’s one of the things they want to do in pregame, is grasp those arms and they walk from midfield towards our student section,” Ellis said during USC coach Will Muschamp’s call-in show last week. “Maybe that’s something they could modify if they felt like it was provoking them in some way.”
Swinney voiced his displeasure with Ellis’ comments twice this week, first during his own call-in radio show Monday and again Tuesday during his weekly news conference.
“It’s just ridiculous,” Swinney said. “It’s not any type of taunting. It’s a unity thing for our team. It’s something we do every single game — at home, on the road — it’s just who we are. It’s what we do. I don’t think anybody should be distracted by how a team warms up, how a team gets itself ready to play a game.
“The bottom line is, you can yell and scream and holler. That’s just part of it. But when you start throwing things at people, it’s all fun and games until somebody gets their eye knocked out. That’s why I got frustrated a couple years ago and really lost my cool and got a penalty.”
Swinney made it clear: He’s not talking about all South Carolina fans, adding that he has friends who are Gamecocks supporters. But the select few students throwing items need to stop, he said.
Swinney understands the yelling, hollering and hand gestures but believes there is a line that shouldn’t be crossed.
“It’s a rivalry game. … It’s emotional. But that’s dangerous. And it’s just not something that you should do. But to suggest that it could be OK … That’s ridiculous,” Swinney said in response to Ellis’ comments. “When somebody’s flipping me a bird, does that mean I can throw something at them? I get a lot of those at a lot of places, not just South Carolina. I get them at a lot of places. There’s a lot of stuff that I think, sooner or later, people have to be adults”
No matter what happens Saturday, don’t expect Clemson to modify its walk of champions any time soon.
“It’s just something that we do. It gets us in the mode,” Clemson offensive lineman Gage Cervenka said. “We don’t ever pick what side of the field we warm up on or anything like that. It’s always predetermined at each stadium. But it just happens. We walk into their student section. We’re not trying to get them going or anything like that.
“It’s just something that we always do and something that we’re always gonna do. It’s not something we’re going to change.”
