Panthers have a history with Clemson ... except when it comes to draft picks (2024)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — When the Carolina Panthers made the trip down I-85 to Clemson, S.C., this week, it represented a trip through the team’s history books.

The Panthers’ FanFest/intrasquad scrimmage at Memorial Stadium on Thursday marks a return to the ACC school where the team played its home games in its inaugural season, where former team president Mark Richardson was a member of the Tigers’ 1981 national championship team … and a school from which the Panthers have never drafted a player.

It’s one of the quirkiest facts in the franchise’s 30-year history. Despite Clemson’s standing as one of college football’s powerhouses, its reputation as a talent-rich, NFL pipeline and its close-ish proximity to Charlotte, the next Tigers’ player to be drafted by the Panthers will be the first.

“It’s crazy to think about it, that they’ve never had a Clemson player, especially (with) the ties to the Panthers. … and just being that close,” said former Clemson defensive lineman Brentson Buckner, who played five seasons with the Panthers after signing as a free agent in 2001.

“And now, especially the recent years with the amount of talent that’s come out of Clemson, it’s funny how a player’s never fell to them in the draft or been selected.”

The Panthers have drafted 224 players from 93 schools — a list ranging from college football royalty (Alabama, Michigan, Southern Cal) to obscure programs that aren’t exactly regular stops for NFL scouts (Bentley College, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Midwestern State).

Since 1995 when the Panthers joined the NFL, a total of 121 Clemson players have been drafted, including 21 first-rounders and 42 taken in the first two rounds. The Tigers have sent franchise quarterbacks (Deshaun Watson, Trevor Lawrence) to the league over that span, along with every other position. As recently as 2019, three former Tigers were among the first 17 picks in the draft (Clelin Ferrell, Christian Wilkins, Dexter Lawrence).

But none pulled on a Panthers hat on draft night.

“It is kind of weird,” said Bill Polian, the Panthers’ general manager their first three seasons. “Certainly we’ve had Clemson guys on the boards. And since Dabo (Swinney) has been there, I’m sure they’re on there by the dozens. So it’s just kind of a happenstance, a crazy occurrence, that it hasn’t taken place. But certainly they’ve turned out a lot of good players.”

Adding to the intrigue is this: The school that has produced the most Panthers’ draft picks is South Carolina, the Tigers’ hated, in-state rival. While Clemson has won three national championships, the Gameco*cks — other than a few years under Lou Holtz and Steve Spurrier — have traditionally languished in the bottom half of the SEC standings.

But the Panthers have drafted a total of seven South Carolina players, including a pair of first-rounders (Xavier Legette, Jaycee Horn) in the past four years.

“You’d think it’d be the other way around,” Buckner said. “But lucky for them the guys that they have gotten from South Carolina have been top players. The program hasn’t been one of the top programs. But the players being evaluated have been considered some of the top players in the draft.”

Buckner is one of 11 Clemson players on the Panthers’ all-time roster. He appeared in 71 regular-season games for Carolina, the most of any ex-Tiger.

Buckner was an Arizona Cardinals assistant in 2020, when he and other Cardinals coaches and scouts thought the Panthers would take Clemson linebacker Isaiah Simmons, who had started his college career as a safety. Buckner knew the Panthers had drafted Thomas Davis and Shaq Thompson — two other safeties-turned-linebackers — in the first round in previous drafts.

“But it didn’t happen,” Buckner said. “It’s just one of those things, like two magnets trying to stick together. It don’t work.”

When the Panthers selected Auburn defensive tackle Derrick Brown with the No. 7 pick, the Cardinals scooped up Simmons at 8. A former Panthers scout said the team viewed Simmons as too much of a project to take in the top 10.

In 2013 in Dave Gettleman’s first year as GM, the Panthers had a high grade on Clemson receiver DeAndre Hopkins, according to two of the team’s former scouts. But Gettleman wanted to fix the defensive front, and took Utah’s Star Lotulelei with the 14th pick. When Hopkins went to Houston at 27, the Panthers added another “hog molly” in the second round when they selected Purdue’s Kawann Short at 44.

Don Gregory, the Panthers’ former college scouting director, said the Panthers weren’t biased when it came to Clemson.

“There’s nothing to it. Half of it is if we liked a guy, he was gone before we could pick him,” he said. “Because we have nothing against Clemson guys. It’s a great program. It’s a great (scouting) visit, especially since Dabo has been there. … We’d spend all day there watching tape. It’s just we never were in a position to draft a Clemson player.”

Clemson isn’t the only Power 5 school not represented on the Panthers’ all-time draft list. In fact, the Panthers have never drafted a player from four other ACC schools as the league is currently constituted: Duke, Virginia, Wake Forest and SMU. By comparison, the Panthers have drafted at least one player from every SEC school.

“Where a guy happens to fall on the board, what you’re looking for — it’s really happenstance,” said Polian, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. “I thought Deshaun was a terrific quarterback. I was with ESPN at the time and I remember talking to Dabo about it before the draft. And he just raved about the kid. And he was right.”

When the Texans drafted Watson in 2017, the Panthers still had Cam Newton, whose later years with the Panthers were impacted by injuries. When Lawrence was taken No. 1 by Jacksonville in 2021, the Panthers held the eighth pick, which they used to select Horn.

“If any years I would think in that three-year run where Clemson was in the national championship every year, that you’re like, all right, if you need a player they’ve got ‘em all. They’ve got everything you need,” Buckner said. “They’ve got Dexter Lawrence. They’ve got Christian Wilkins. They’ve got Clelin Ferrell. They’ve got the DBs. They’ve got the linebackers. They’ve got the wide receivers. It’s funny how that thing falls, though.”

For one reason or another, the draft has fallen the same way for 30 years when it comes to the Panthers and Clemson. Buckner said he’d never given that draft oddity much thought until he was asked about it this week.

“But now that’s just something every April I’m gonna look (for),” Buckner said. “All right, is this the year?”

(Photo of DeShawn Williams: Kara Durrette / Getty Images)

Joe Person is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Carolina Panthers. He has covered the team since 2010, previously for the Charlotte Observer. A native of Williamsport, Pa., Joe is a graduate of William & Mary, known for producing presidents and NFL head coaches. Follow Joseph on X @josephperson Follow Joseph on Twitter @josephperson